A chickenpox outbreak at a private school in North Carolina drew extensive national news coverage in November. The thrust of most stories was the public health threat of unvaccinated children and superstitious beliefs about vaccine risks.
The EPA’s proposed rollback of Obama-era limits on greenhouse gases emitted by coal-fired plants is drawing opposition from health and environmental groups. At issue: Carbon Pollution Standards for New, Modified and Reconstructed Power Plants, enacted in 2015, which were intended to slow climate change and reduce its effects.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Serving as the largest civil settlement in U.S. history, this 1998 court settlement was between 46 states and the District of Columbia and the four major tobacco companies at the time, and provided new protections against the marketing of tobacco products to kids and the opportunity for funding to address tobacco-related diseases in our nation.
Mexican authorities in March blamed "asphyxia by inhalation of toxic gases" for the deaths of four Iowa family members vacationing in the Caribbean resort town of Tulum. Members of the Sharp family — identified by authorities in their home state of Iowa as Kevin Sharp, 41, Amy Sharp, 38, and their children, 12-year-old Sterling and 7-year-old Adrianna — were found during a welfare check at the resort condominium they rented.
Pay attention to local air quality reports. Listen and watch for news or health warnings about smoke.
If you are advised to stay indoors, keep indoor air as clean as possible. Keep windows and doors closed unless it is extremely hot outside. Run an air conditioner if you have one, but keep the fresh-air intake closed and the filter clean to prevent outdoor smoke from getting inside.
Exposure to environmental noise appears to increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes by fueling the activity of a brain region involved in stress response. This response in turn promotes blood vessel inflammation, according to preliminary research to be presented in Chicago at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2018, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.
The National Toxicology Program (NTP) concluded there is clear evidence that male rats exposed to high levels of radio frequency radiation (RFR) like that used in 2G and 3G cell phones developed cancerous heart tumors, according to final reports released this week.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined NSC President and CEO, Deborah Hersman, for a press unveiling of the Prescribed to Death opioid memorial on Monday at the National Safety Council Congress & Expo in Houston. The memorial has been touring the country since last November, stopping in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Buffalo, N.Y., Fayetteville Ark., and Washington, D.C., where it sat on the South Lawn of the White House.
Sales of JUUL, an e-cigarette shaped like a USB flash drive, grew more than seven-fold from 2016 to 2017, and held the greatest share of the U.S. e-cigarette market by December 2017. The findings, from an analysis of retail sales data from 2013-2017, were released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in JAMA.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week banned seven cancer-causing chemicals added to a variety of food and beverages – although the agency said the chemicals do not pose a public health risk. The chemicals are used to add artificial flavoring like cinnamon, floral and mint to everything from ice cream and baked goods, to gum and beer.
