No, CRISPR gene editing technology is not going to “cure” heart disease. But a New York Times story by Gina Kolata on an extremely early study in animals prominently plays up just this extremely unlikely claim. The Times story is based on a press release issued by Verve Therapeutics, a new biotechnology company founded by Sekar Kathiresan, an influential cardiologist and genomic…
Cardiovascular Research Foundation Blocks Press Access to TCT2018 Meeting
September 19, 2018 by 8 Comments
(Updated) The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) has denied press credentials for the TCT2018 meeting to a legitimate, fully accredited journalist. The meeting, which starts this weekend in San Diego, is the premiere interventional cardiology meeting. Legitimate journalists are routinely granted access to cover medical and scientific meetings. By any standard, Cat Ferguson is a respected and…
Don’t Believe The Hype
September 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
What is the most common flaw in health journalism? “Conveying certainty that doesn’t exist.” That’s Gary Schwitzer’s terrific response to this important question. At last week’s Presenting Overdiagnosis 2015 conference in Washington, DC Schwitzer, the publisher of HealthNewsReview.Org, listed the most common mistakes journalists make: Exaggerating effect size– relative not absolute data Using causal language to describe observational studies Idolatry…
No, Too Much Jogging Probably Won’t Kill You
February 3, 2015 by 1 Comment
One again lazy health journalists have fallen down on the job and performed a disservice to the public. The new outrage: a multitude of media reports about a small study on the effect of jogging on mortality. Here are just a few headlines, published minutes after the study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology:…
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