They look like flash drives (and can be charged on the USB port of a computer), come in sweet flavors like mango and fruit medley, and oh, yes – they deliver a strong dose of nicotine. Their popularity among American middle and high schoolers is raising alarm among public health and medical organizations, six of whom sent a letter to the FDA yesterday calling for strong and immediate action on the teen use of Juul e-cigarettes.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) says the House Agriculture Committee’s draft Farm Bill proposal will leave many lower-income Americans hungry. “As it stands, millions in our country already don’t have access to enough food, or to the healthy food that can help a community thrive,” said Georges Benjamin, MD, APHA executive director. This is not the time for Congress to weaken SNAP benefits and take food away from families that need it.”

Falls remain a persistent cause of work-related death, and workers in construction and oil and gas extraction are more likely than other workers to die from falling, according to NIOSH research published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

A new report from the American Lung Association (ALA) finds 133.9 million Americans at risk from air pollution – much of it ozone pollution that is worsening significantly due to warmer temperatures. The ALA’s 2018 "State of the Air" report found that the four in ten Americans (41.4 percent) who live in counties with unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution are at greater risk for premature death and other serious health effects such as lung cancer, asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is focusing on a missing fan blade in its investigation of a Southwest Airlines plane that made an emergency landing Tuesday after its left engine failed. One passenger on the plane was killed in the dramatic incident, which occurred on Southwest Flight 1380 as the plane was flying from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Love Field in Dallas.

Ten. Six. Zero. Those are important numbers for a Utah animal feed manufacturer Balchem Corporation. The company recently celebrated ten years in OSHA’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, and six years of maintaining an annual recordable injury and illness case rate of zero. That last accomplishment resulted in reductions in its worker compensation insurance premiums.

While a great deal of roadside safety attention is focused on construction zones, garbage collectors are also at risk of being struck by motorists who don’t slow their speed and give refuge trucks sufficient space.

Strong wind gusts may have been a factor in a fall that killed a Houston-area construction worker last week, according to the Star-Telegram. The April 13 incident occurred at the Hurst Conference Center and claimed the life of an employee working for a roofing contractor.

In a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee today, Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta today refused to commit not to rescind OSHA’s electronic recordkeeping rule. The rule, issued in 2016, requires employers to send injury and illness information into OSHA and prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for reporting injuries.