GLP Podcast: Science ‘flip-flops’; Pig-to-human organ transplants; Glyphosate lawsuits and tort reform

An expert advisory panel recently revised the decades-old recommendation to take aspirin daily to prevent a first heart attack or stroke. Is this a flip-flop or scientists just following the evidence wherever it leads? Recent media reports claimed a breakthrough procedure moves us closer to performing animal-to-human organ transplants. Once specialist says that’s “hype and bullshit.” Do the costly glyphosate-cancer lawsuits prove we desperately need tort reform in the US?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Join geneticist Kevin Folta and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 145 of Science Facts and Fallacies as they break down these latest news stories:

• Recent flip-flop on aspirin recommendations for heart disease is a sign of good science at work. Here’s why

For decades, middle-age Americans have been encouraged to take low-dose aspirin daily to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently updated this guidance based on new evidence showing that an everyday-aspirin regimen may be unnecessary for many people. The shift comes at a time when Americans are already frustrated by ever-changing infection control measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also suggests that scientists are willing to update their recommendations as new data come in.

• ‘It is hype and bullshit’: Scientist challenges claims that pig-to-human xenotransplantation is close to realization

Calling it a “breakthrough” procedure, the media reported recently that surgeons kept a brain-dead patient alive for 54 hours by sewing a pig kidney onto her leg. The risky surgery, outlets like the New York Times and AP reported, moves us closer to using animal organs to save human lives. The problem? Such a procedure has been possible since the early 1990s; reporters unfamiliar with the relevant science amplified a story that didn’t deserve the attention. The misplaced hype suggests that news consumers need to be skeptical of what they read in the headlines.

• Class action tort reform: Why ‘outrageous’ judgements against Bayer in glyphosate cancer scare makes a case for dramatic legal changes

Biotech giant Bayer has set aside more than $10 billion to settle roughly 100,000 lawsuits alleging that its weedkiller glyphosate causes cancer. Many experts have argued that the litigation was entirely unjustified, because there is no evidence that the herbicide is actually carcinogenic. The contradiction between the scientific consensus and the progress of the litigation has reignited calls for tort reform, to limit the growing wave of frivolous pesticide lawsuits being filed in US courts.

Kevin M. Folta is a professor, keynote speaker and podcast host. Follow Professor Folta on Twitter @kevinfolta

Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow ACSH on Twitter @ACSHorg