Trisha Pasricha’s Jan. 19 Ask a Doctor column, “Five ways to lower your colorectal cancer risk as cases rise,” provided some interesting information. But the most important paragraphs of the article were the two explaining how epidemiology studies can’t prove that one habit causes cancer. And that definitive randomized controlled studies cannot be ethically or feasibly conducted to address some of these sorts of health questions. However, an accumulation of such studies together with other research provides a “picture that cannot be ignored.” These points are relevant to practically every discussion of scientific advances, whether in health or other fields. It would be great to see similar points made in other science-based news articles.
We would all prefer short, easy answers, but most scientific advances are an ongoing process. Researchers gather information over time and are constantly learning more information that points toward the truth. This all argues for the importance of sustained scientific research and avoiding relying on simple summaries of complex topics.
Paul C. Brown, Silver Spring
The writer is a former associate director for pharmacology and toxicology at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Guide policy through data
Regarding the Jan. 15 Health article “RFK Jr. adds to key panel 2 who have criticized vaccines.”:
I was astounded by the comments attributed to Kimberly Biss, a physician recently appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a federal vaccine advisory panel.
According to the article, Biss believes that the notion that pregnant women have suppressed immune systems and are more likely to get sick from the flu is “shtick to get all these women injected with flu vaccines.” Biss also said she never had a pregnant patient die from the flu. These comments illustrate a fundamental misunderstanding of public health. Individual clinical experience is not evidence. Population-level data are.
Influenza infects millions of Americans each year and kills up to tens of thousands. The CDC uses modeling to estimate the true toll in part because flu deaths are underreported on death certificates. Vaccination is estimated to prevent millions of illnesses, over a hundred thousand hospitalizations and thousands of deaths annually.
More telling is where the medical profession itself stands. A survey indicates that more than 75 percent of health care personnel reported receiving influenza vaccinations during the 2023-2024 season. And major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continue to endorse routine vaccination, including during pregnancy, based on extensive evidence of safety and effectiveness.
Public health policy should be guided by data, not anecdotes — especially when the lives of children and vulnerable adults are at stake.
Arnie Moskowitz, Sarasota, Florida
The unsturdy silicon shield
Regarding Jim Geraghty’s Jan. 22 op-ed, “Would Trump abandon Taiwan? This deal is slightly ominous.”:
The recently announced trade deal between the United States and Taiwan heralds closer ties between the two countries, further integrating their supply chains, economies and business communities, even as both sides continue to lack clarity over details of the pact’s implementation.
That Geraghty attributes much of Taiwan’s deterrent power against a Chinese invasion to the world’s dependence on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s advanced microchips is a result of years of misguided messaging by Taiwan’s government and business community. As he points out, this has led to prominent political figures, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, to call for stepping back commitments to defending Taiwan after achieving “semiconductor independence.”
In reality, the U.S. committed itself to maintaining Taiwan’s independence decades before Taiwanese engineers even dreamed of semiconductor fabs. Then, as now, the U.S. recognized the importance of defending Taiwan. A free Taiwan at the center of the First Island Chain is essential to the defense of American territory on the Second Island Chain, and ensures protection of the U.S. homeland.
TSMC’s increased production overseas is not eroding Taiwan’s global edge; it is enhancing it, integrating Taiwan’s suppliers into the U.S. and other allied economies, while enhancing its contacts. None of its overseas facilities are able to match Taiwan’s production of the most cutting-edge microchips, let alone compete on next-generation fabrication.
Geraghty posited that America’s goal should be driven by a desire to protect Taiwanese democracy. This is a noble aim, but it ignores the decades of U.S. support for the authoritarian KMT regime of Chiang Kai-shek on Taiwan, which oppressed Taiwanese desires for self-rule in their own state under their own name.
Taiwan is fortunate that the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy articulates a clear and evergreen strategy for its defense.
The “silicon shield” looks unsturdy because it never was.
Sasha Chhabra, Taipei, Taiwan
A window into Scottish life
Regarding the Jan. 21 front-page article “Americans are warming to Germans’ obsession with opening windows”:
Opening windows to replace indoor air on a daily basis has long been commonplace in Scotland. We call it giving the house a guid blaw, or a good blow. As one might predict, to save money, we switch the heating off before opening the windows.
Stuart Whitelaw, Dumfries, Scotland
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