Discrepancies at the dispensaries: Study finds THC potency much lower than labeled
Apr 2023, phys.org
Never again
There's a theme here that you can't trust the commercial sector it's basically the exact opposite of science and the pursuit of knowledge.
Also can we give these guys an award for the best title: Uncomfortably High
Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Mile High Lab techs tested 23 samples (1–2 grams per sample) representing 12 strains purchased from 10 Colorado dispensaries. Strains were chosen to represent a diversity of reported THC % by dry weight from 12.8% to 33.0%.It was unclear to researchers if the single values printed on packaging were an average of multiple tests or the result of a single test.The average observed THC potency was 23.1% lower than the lowest label reported values and 35.6% lower than the highest label reported values. Overall, ~70% of the samples were more than 15% lower than the THC potency numbers reported on the label, with three samples having only half of the reported maximum THC potency. 13 of 23 tested samples had observed values that were more than 30% lower than the lowest reported value.As the legal cannabis market continues to grow, it is essential that the industry moves toward selling products with more accurate labeling or risk losing trust in the industry as a whole.
via University of Northern Colorado and Mile High Labs in Colorado: Anna L. Schwabe et al, Uncomfortably high: Testing reveals inflated THC potency on retail Cannabis labels, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282396
Image credit: AI Art - Wildly Terrified Man - 2023
Testing of smartphone apps that identify plants shows most are not very good
Apr 2023, phys.org
Most smartphone apps that identify plants are inaccurate. All of the apps are based on deep-learning technology and have been trained using images posted on the internet.This, they further note, leads to errors because so many images of plants on the internet are mislabeled. (emphasized for those AI fans out there who forget that humans are and will always be the weakest link; and we are the ones who label.)
- large differences in accuracy between the apps and variation across species
- most of the apps did better when asked to identify plants by their flowers than by their leaves
- none had an accuracy above 90%
- some scored as low as 4% on some tasks
- none of the apps are good enough to use as a field guide for people foraging for food in the wild
- nor are they good enough for use by environmentalists or farmers to determine which plants to protect and which to eradicate
- they can be used by hobbyists hoping to learn more about their local environment
via University of Galway's School of Natural Science and University of Leeds' School of Geography: Neil Campbell et al, A repeatable scoring system for assessing Smartphone applications ability to identify herbaceous plants, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283386
The Laws of Metaphysics Strikes Again:
Accountants' tricks can help identify cheating scientists, says new study
Apr 2023, phys.org
You cannot escape Benford's Law, or any of the Laws Metaphysical (not until you get yourself a quantum random number generator to clean up your fake data).
The trick behind these tools is that it is actually harder than you might imagine to fabricate essentially random numbers, like the last digit in everyone's bank balances. Financial auditors have known this for a long time and have a variety of tools for looking at lists of numbers and highlighting ones that seem odd (and thus requiring investigation for fraud).
via University of St Andrews: Gregory M. Eckhartt et al, Investigating and preventing scientific misconduct using Benford's Law, Research Integrity and Peer Review (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s41073-022-00126-w
Post Script:
Retractions of scientific papers neared 5,000 globally in 2022 according to Retraction Watch, amounting to almost 0.1% of published articles:
Retraction Watch - Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process
Post Post Script:
Part of the problem, he says, stems from publication bias: "There are virtually no incentives for publishing papers that provide confirmation or refutation of previous studies." This emphasis placed on exciting results, which ultimately affects the success of scientists' careers, may be a key factor to consider in future reforms.
Read more at Megadata vs Magadata
Read this like it's the Onion:
Fox News settles Dominion defamation case for $787.5m - In a statement, Fox said Tuesday's settlement in one of the most anticipated defamation trials in recent US history reflected its "commitment to the highest journalistic standards".
Apr 2023, BBC News
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| Image credit: AI Art - Ghost Scream - 2022 |
Fewer than half of new drugs add substantial therapeutic value over existing treatments
Jul 2023, phys.org
They used publicly available data to identify 124 first and 335 supplemental indications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 88 first and 215 supplemental indications approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) between January 2011 and December 2020.Among FDA-approved indications with available ratings, 41% (44 of 107) had high therapeutic value ratings for first, compared with 34% (61 of 179) for supplemental indications. In Europe, 47% (41 of 87) of first and 36% (67 of 184) of supplemental indications had high therapeutic value ratings.Among FDA approvals, when the sample was restricted to the first three approved indications, second indication approvals were 36% less likely to have a high value rating and third indication approvals were 45% less likely when compared to the first indication approval. Similar findings were observed for Europe.
via Institute of Law, University of Zurich, Harvard Medical School, Yale School of Medicine, Yale School of Public Health: Therapeutic value of first versus supplemental indications of drugs in US and Europe (2011-20): retrospective cohort study, The BMJ (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2022-074166
Researchers find 89% of sports supplement labels false, ingredients fraudulent and some laced with illegal drugs
Jul 2023, phys.org
- Sports supplements, not just any supplements
- Supplement manufacturing (all of it) is not monitored.
- US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists them as a food subcategory, but synthetic drugs being slipped into supplements are not food or botanical ingredients—they are unapproved pharmaceutical drugs (words from the article not mine).
- The U.S. Department of Justice has previously charged individuals with conspiracy to defraud consumers and the FDA by selling products labeled as dietary supplements that contained unapproved drugs.
- Finding unlabeled and unapproved drugs in supplements is equivalent to experimenting on humans without their knowledge. Most concerning is the product found to contain four different drug compounds. While none of these drugs are well tested on humans, a cocktail of multiple combined banned substances has never been tested in any scenario.
They analyzed the ingredients in a selection of sports supplements purchased online with liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry:
- 89% inaccurately labeled
- 12% included unlabeled banned drug substances
- 57 products contained one of five popular supplements, R vomitoria (n=13), methylliberine (n=21), turkesterone (n=8), halostachine (n=7) and octopamine (n=8).
Vomitoria though?
- 23 products (40%) did not contain a detectable amount of the labeled ingredient
- Of the 34 products that contained detectable amounts of the listed ingredient, the actual quantity ranged from 0.02% to 334% of the labeled quantity (***so even when you do list it, it's so far off that it doesn't matter***)
- 6 products (11%) contained an ingredient quantity within 10% of the label
- 7 products (12%) were found to contain at least one FDA-prohibited ingredient
- 5 different FDA-prohibited compounds were found, including four synthetic simulants, 1,4-dimethylamylamine (DMAA), deterenol, octodrine (DMHA), oxilofrine and omberacetam
- 6 products contained one of these prohibited ingredients, and one contained a combination of four prohibited ingredients: 1,4 Dimethylhexylamine, or 1,4-DMAA, analog of 1,3-DMAA, Deterenol (Betaphrine), Octodrine, Oxilofrine, Omberacetam (seem like mostly stimulants, hypertension, not approved for use in humans)
via Cambridge Health Alliance, Massachusetts; Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts; University of Mississippi; and NSF International, Michigan: Pieter A. Cohen et al, Presence and Quantity of Botanical Ingredients With Purported Performance-Enhancing Properties in Sports Supplements, JAMA Network Open (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.23879
Study shows how the meat and dairy sector resists competition from alternative animal products
Aug 2023, phys.org
Researchers compared government spending of major agricultural policies and lobbying trends from 2014 to 2020 that supported either the animal food product system or alternative technologies, and compared government spending on both systems.In the U.S., about 800 times more public funding and 190 times more lobbying money goes to animal-source food products than alternatives. In the EU, about 1,200 times more public funding and three times more lobbying money goes to animal-source food products. In both regions, nearly all plant-based meat patents were published by a small number of private companies or individuals, with just one U.S. company, Impossible Foods, owning half of the patents.
But the fake take:
Similarly, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act would prohibit the sale of alternative meats unless the product label included the word "imitation" and other clarifying statements indicating the non-animal origin.
via Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability: Simona Vallone, Public policies and vested interests preserve the animal farming status quo at the expense of animal product analogs, One Earth (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.07.013
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