Makeup is getting safer

You know the Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, right? You don’t near much about the cosmetic part, though. That’s because the FDA doesn’t actually regulate beauty products* (only 11 ingredients are regulated, compared to more than 1,600 in the EU).

But now California is going to change all that. The state — with buy-in from industry — has banned 24 chemicals “including mercury, formaldehyde and several types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS.”

And if California is banning them … “This type of landmark legislation has the effect essentially of setting a national standard.”

* “The FDA couldn’t even intervene when asbestos was found in cosmetics sold at the youth-oriented Claire’s and Justice stores.”

And now there are three

AstraZeneca is the third company to report that its Covid-19 vaccine is mucho effective — at least 90 percent effective in preliminary results.

The big deal: Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, AZ’s doesn’t need to be stored at freezing temperatures; a refrigerator will do the trick.

Fauci said it, I believe it, and that settles it

“Santa Claus Has ‘Innate Immunity’ from COVID-19”

CDC channels Captain Obvious

Some counties in Kansas mandate mask wearing in public. Some don’t. What a great way chance for a scientific experiment!

The CDC looked at the numbers on both sets of counties and concluded, “Covid-19 incidence decreased in 24 counties with mask mandates but continued to increase in 81 counties without mask mandates.”

Fish odor breakthrough

As much as we’d like to joke about “fish odor syndrome,” aka trimethylaminuria, it’s actually a nasty, debilitating, and incurable condition. We know what causes it (trimethylamine isn’t broken down by the liver), and even the enzyme responsible (CntA/B), but no one’s been able to stabilize that enzyme to study it.

Until now. British researchers have figured out not only how to stabilize (sorry, stabilise) CntA/B, but also how to inhibit its production. Next step: developing drugs to target it.

Fear not the McRib

With the nationwide return of McRib only a week away, here’s some good news: “Infection with SARS-CoV-2 via pork meat unlikely according to current state of knowledge” — so say researchers at the Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment).

CRISPR vs cancer

Scientists at Tel Aviv University have found a way to use the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system to attack cancer cells at the genetic level.

“It must be emphasized that this is not chemotherapy. There are no side effects, and a cancer cell treated in this way will never become active again. The molecular scissors of Cas9 cut the cancer cell’s DNA, thereby neutralizing it and permanently preventing replication.”

The Long Read: China followup

In Saturday’s Buzz we told you about the effective — but rather authoritarian — way “China crushed coronavirus“. Now here’s a bit more insight: The biggest reason China got the virus under control (argues this professor of international and global studies) was that it had learned its lesson from the SARS epidemic of 2002-2003.

The Chinese government learned from SARS the important role public health plays in protecting the nation. Following SARS, the government improved training of public health professionals and developed one of the most sophisticated disease surveillance systems in the world.

Read “China beat the coronavirus with science and strong public health measures, not just with authoritarianism“