This week saw several new policy statements from presidential hopefuls, and bloggers have opinions about them. David Roberts at Gristmill responded to Barack Obama’s energy plans, while Amie Newman at RHReality Check focused what Obama’s saying in Iowa about abortion and abstinence-only sex ed. Jacob Goldstein at the WSJ Health Blog reported on John McCain’s healthcare plan, and Chris Mooney at The Intersection devoted several posts to Hillary Clinton’s statements on science.

And, to add to the discussions about children’s health insurance, Rob Cunningham at the Health Affairs Blog reports on a new study about quality concerns in children’s health care, and Mike Dunford at The Questionable Authority compares employer-sponsored health insurance coverage in states with and without legislation that tends to undercut unions.

Elsewhere:

Orac at Respectful Insolence evaluates TIME Magazine’s feature “The Changing Face of Breast Cancer.”

Merrill Goozner at GoozNews explains how the news about conflicts of interest in an NIH trial of routine CT scans for current and former smokers is “a classic example of everything that ails the health care technology assessment field.”

Gavin Yamey at PLoS rounds up reactions to an essay about how much of the medical literature is shaped behind the scenes by the pharmaceutical industry.

April Harding at Global Health Policy explains why the bed-net giveaways recently lauded in a New York Times article don’t necessarily translate into more net usage (or fewer malaria cases).

RH Reality Check explores the factors behind child marriage and the initiatives aimed at stopping the practice.

Matt Madia at Reg Watch alerts us to the dark side of the EPA’s settlement with a utility, and to the EPA’s lax enforcement of Clean Water Act regulations.

Jack Sterne at Shifting Baselines reports on a state of emergency in Florida that makes the case for red tide legislation.

Kate at The Anterior Commissure encourages her fellow scientists to put more faith in the non-scientific public.