Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [public-health]

Use this tag for questions about the health of people on a community or population level. Do not use this tag for questions about the health of individuals or biological mechanisms.

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. Overall, public health is concerned with protecting populations. These populations can be small, for example, a local neighborhood, or large, for example a country or region of the world.

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Does playing slower music in gyms reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections?

I read (mirror 1, mirror 2) that South Korean authorites have introduced some rules to enforce slower (in terms of BPM) music in gyms to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections: Music with more than 120 beats per minute (bpm) is forbidden during…
Franck Dernoncourt
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Is plant-based food healthier for humans than animal-based food?

The website attached to the film "The Game Changers" says: The preponderance of scientific evidence suggests that a standard animal-based diet — where foods like meat, eggs and dairy are at the center of most meals — decreases overall health,…
oyvind
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Does central heating contribute to obesity?

I remember a letter sent to the Financial Times some time last year from a farmer who claimed it wasn't surprising that obesity rates have increased because nowadays, with the ubiquity of central heating, we expend less energy simply on keeping…
thosphor
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Is the illegal nuclear waste at the Coldwater Creek Nuclear Landfill a risk to public health?

NOTE: This is not a copy of: Is the illegal nuclear waste at The Westlake Nuclear Landfill a risk to public health? which is a different nearby nuclear landfill that has a different issue of a Subsurface Smoldering Event (SSE) aka: underground fire.…
RustlerSteakHouse
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Is mustard oil dangerous for human consumption?

I see warnings of the erucic acid contained in mustard oil, e.g. 15 amazing facts and uses of mustard oil (Times of India): According to celebrity nutritionist Sandhya Gugnani, "There was a myth attached to mustard oil...unfortunately it was…
Aquarius_Girl
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Do half of Americans "live in areas that are deemed acoustically unsafe by [their] government"?

A teacher of mine has several clippings from the local paper in his room. I'm not sure how old this clipping was or what paper it was from, but it claims that: According to the US Census, noise is the most frequent complaint of urban Americans.…
rootmeanclaire
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Do higher levels of medical intervention lead to better outcomes for patients?

There is a lot of variation in levels of medical treatment and spend across the USA. That variation has been studied by, for example, The Dartmouth Atlas Project. They conclude that more isn't better: In regions where there are relatively fewer…
matt_black
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Does fluoridated water increase the risk of fractures amongst osteoporosis patients?

I have heard claims that it is unsafe for those with osteoporosis to drink tap water in municipalities that add fluoride to it, because it increases risks of fractures. For example: Fluoridation.com short-term high-dose fluoride studies show the…
A L
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Did UNAIDS and the CDC recommend circumcision for African countries?

In this article in the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz (Hebrew; may be paywalled), Prof' Bentowicz, head of the Center for Tropical Diseases and AIDS in the faculty of Health Science in the Ben-Gurion University in Be'er-Sheva, Israel, makes the following…
einpoklum
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Is it possible to die from overwork?

There have been several claims that people will die from overwork like Miwa Sado1 this is related to overwork but death came from suicide. Gamers are like Brian Vigneault2 which died after 24h of gaming which seems health related. Is it possible to…
DrDread
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Does chlorine in water harm humans?

Some sources claim chlorinated tap water is harmful. Global Healing Center, for example, claims links to cancer, heart disease, asthma and atherosclerosis. The risk of developing cancer is 93% higher in people who drink or are otherwise exposed to…
cham
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Was it only Johnson & Johnson which hid the link between its Talcum powder and Cancer risk?

Recently a woman successfully sued Johnson & Johnson for not giving enough warnings about the Cancer causing risks of its baby powder. But why only Johnson & Johnson? Do other Talcum powder product companies give enough warnings about Cancer? Is…
simplfuzz
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Is the first stall of a public restroom the cleanest?

I have read so during a quick search on google, are there proofs for this theory?
Ido Yoely
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Can kitty litter cause adverse health effects in humans?

Is there any danger to humans from co-habitating with a housecat that poops in a litterbox, and occasionally cleaning out that litterbox? Assuming you use litter you can find at the pet store, and have a cat without extraordinary circumstances, like…
Kevin Burke
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Is there a link between blood pressure and salt intake?

So I was reading Cracked article about health risk myths. The first entry was interesting: [Myth #5] Salt Causes High Blood Pressure [...] Countless more recent studies have utterly failed to back up the relationship between salt intake and high…
bharal
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