Back in the first week of this month, I posted about a paper (Prada 2025),[1] which featured a so-called navigation-guide systematic review of the scientific evidence on the issue whether pregnant women’s ingestion of acetaminophen causes their children to develop autism.[2] The focus of my post was on some dodgy aspects of the Prada review, […]| Schachtman Law
Specific causation causes some courts to become costive, and sometimes, courts overuse so-called differential etiology as a laxative. The phrase “differential etiology” is an analogy to differential diagnosis, the reasoning process by which clinicians assess the identity of a disease or disorder. Differential etiology, like laxatives, can be overused and misused.| Schachtman Law
A few weeks ago, four scientists published what they called a “navigation guide” systematic review on acetaminophen use and autism.[1] The last named author, Andrea A. Baccarelli, is an environmental epidemiologist, who has been an expert witness for plaintiffs’ counsel in lawsuits against the manufacturers and sellers of acetaminophen. Another author, Beate Ritz, frequently testifies […]| Schachtman Law
Back in September 2023, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with its Center for Scientific Responsibility and Justice, sponsored a two day meeting on Scientific Evidence and the Courts. If there were notices for this conference, I missed them. The meeting presentations are now available online. Judging from camera views of the […]| Schachtman Law
Back in November 2024, I posted that the fourth edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence was completed, and that its publication was imminent. I based my prediction upon the National Academies’ website that reported that the project had been completed. Alas, when no Manual was forth coming, I checked back, and the project was, and is as of today, marked as “in progress.” The NASEM website provides no explanation for the retrograde movement. Could the Manual have been DOGE...| Schachtman Law
Another multi-district litigation (MDL) has hit a jarring speed bump. Claims for Parkinson’s disease (PD), allegedly caused by exposure to paraquat dichloride (paraquat), were consolidated, in June 2021, for pre-trial coordination in MDL No. 3004, in the Southern District of Illinois, before Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel. Like many health-effects litigation claims, the plaintiffs’ claims in these paraquat cases turn on epidemiologic evidence. To make their causation case in the first ...| Schachtman Law