Just Say No to Abstinence Funding

Via the NY Times:

New York is rejecting millions of dollars in federal grants for abstinence-only sex education, the state health commissioner, Dr. Richard F. Daines, announced yesterday. The decision puts New York in line with at least 10 other states that have decided to forgo the federal money in recent years.

New York has received roughly $3.5 million a year from the federal government for abstinence-only education since 1998. The abstinence program was approved as part of welfare overhauls under the Clinton administration and was expanded and restructured under President Bush.

Well, that’s one way to make sure you have plenty of people using the welfare system.

In a statement posted on the Health Department’s Web site, Dr. Daines said [...] the policy was “based on ideology rather than on sound scientific-based evidence that must be the cornerstone of good public healthcare policy.”
[...]
Both Dr. Daines and Ms. Sherwin cited recent studies, including one by the federal Government Accountability Office, which concluded that abstinence programs have not proven to be effective and have sometimes taught teens inaccurate medical information about sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

I spent my Junior and Senior year of high school at a private evangelical school. Our high school “sex education” consisted of this:

Rice and Bean

Via rawstory.com:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice co-owned a home and shared a line of credit with another woman, according to Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler, who reveals the information in his new book, The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy.

The woman’s name is Randy Bean.

That’s right. Rice & Bean.

Adorable.

Good news, bad news in cancer research

Via BBC news:

Good news:

A compound extracted from tangerine peel can kill certain human cancer cells, research shows.
A team from Leicester School of Pharmacy found Salvestrol Q40 was turned into a toxic compound in cancer cells, destroying them.
[...]
it proved to be 20 times more toxic to cancer cells than their healthy equivalents

Bad news:

Salvestrol 40 is a type of phytoalexin – a chemical produced by plants to repel attackers, such as insects or fungi. It is converted into a toxic compound by the P450 CYP1B1 enzyme

Which means a side affect of a drug based on Salvestrol 40 will likely be liver damage.

Canada won’t fund creationism in science classes

Via CBC news:

Faith-based schools that teach creationism in science class won’t receive the public funding Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have proposed, a party spokeswoman said.

“If there are schools that teach creationism in science class, they would not be eligible to be funded as part of this proposal,” Ingrid Thompson said Wednesday afternoon, clarifying controversial remarks made by PC Leader John Tory earlier in the day.
[...]
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, who is the Liberal candidate running against Tory in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, told the Canadian Press that teaching creationism is allowed in Ontario schools, but only in religion classes.