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News digest
This frequently updated news digest on the subject of Public Health highlights key articles from major journals, news publications and blogs. The digest is a free service of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All rights reserved. Sign up to receive the digest free via email.
| Feb 10, 2012 |
California Sets Trends in Health Regulation CNN, Madison Park, 02/10/2012 Beyond skateboards, Silicon Valley and hippies, California has a trendsetting streak of a different kind. The state has been first to pass major public health initiatives that have spread throughout the country. California was first to require smog checks for clean air, pass anti-tobacco initiatives and bike helmets laws. |
| Feb 9, 2012 |
When Flu Pandemics Hit, Closing Schools Can Slow Spread NPR Shots blog, Ted Burnham, 02/09/2012 A study of swine flu transmission in Alberta, Canada, published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, lends weight to the benefits of school closure. Researchers compared rates of new diagnoses of swine flu from the beginning of the pandemic, in April 2009, through summer vacation and into the following school year. |
| Feb 9, 2012 |
State Pushes Whooping Cough Booster as Outbreaks Rise The Wenatchee World, K.C. Mehaffey, 02/09/2012 Rising whooping cough numbers — including a few infant deaths in the last two years — has led the state to recommend a pertussis vaccination for pregnant women. |
| Feb 9, 2012 |
Editorial: N.J. Should Restore Funds for Anti-Smoking Programs to Save Lives, Cut Healthcare Costs [OPINION] Times of Trenton, Editorial Board, 02/09/2012 Here's a suggestion for the state legislature's #8220 "to do" list: Restore the state's commitment to anti-smoking programs that have the potential to save lives and healthcare costs. |
| Feb 8, 2012 |
Recall Reveals an Egg’s Long Path to the Deli Sandwich NPR The Salt blog, Nancy Shute, 02/08/2012 More than 1 million eggs bound for supermarkets, delis and convenience stores have been recalled since late January for possible contamination with listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that causes fever, nausea and diarrhea, and can be deadly in children and the elderly. |
| Feb 8, 2012 |
HHS Seeks to Cut Preterm Births Kaiser Health News Capsules blog, Phil Galewitz, 02/08/2012 The Obama administration launched a $40 million effort Wednesday to reduce premature births, especially early elective deliveries, but it has no plans to stop Medicaid from paying for those deliveries. |
| Feb 8, 2012 |
An Innovative Approach to Violence Prevention in Philly The Philadelphia Inquirer The Public’s Health blog, 02/08/2012 Healing Hurt People (HHP) is a hospital-based violence intervention program in Philadelphia designed to break cycles of violence by reaching victims (and potential perpetrators) of violence at a critical moment in their lives: right after someone has tried to kill them. |
| Feb 8, 2012 |
Teen Pregnancies Hit New Low, But Disparities Remain NPR Shots blog, Shefali S. Kulkarni, 02/08/2012 Teen pregnancies are at their lowest rate in nearly 40 years, according to the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on sexual and reproductive health. While overall rates have dropped, there is still a major gap separating white, Hispanic and black teenagers. |
| Feb 8, 2012 |
Wash. Health Officials Investigate Reports of Illness After State Cheerleading Event The Washington Post, Associated Press, 02/08/2012 Washington state health officials said Tuesday they are investigating reports of intestinal illness affecting at least 19 squads that participated in a weekend state cheerleading tournament in Everett. |
| Feb 7, 2012 |
Salmonella Outbreak Spurs Call to Expand List of Banned Bacteria Bloomberg Businessweek, Stephanie Armour, 02/07/2012 A public health group is pressing the Obama administration to ban sales of uncooked meat containing drug-resistant salmonella after an outbreak sickened 20 people in seven states. |
| Feb 7, 2012 |
Rotavirus Vaccine Doesn’t Boost Risk of Intestinal Problem NPR Shots blog, Nancy Shute, 02/07/2012 When a vaccine for rotavirus debuted in 1998, it was hailed as a huge plus for children's health. Before that, rotavirus killed more than 400,000 young children a year worldwide by causing severe diarrhea. Problem solved? Not quite. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Healthy San Bernardino: Getting Healthier NewPublicHealth.org, 02/06/2012 San Bernardino is in the midst of a public health crisis. The Healthy Communities team at the Bernardino County Public Health Department set out to tackle that crisis—on a staff of three. "We knew partnerships would be critical," said Evelyn Trevino, Program Coordinator for the program. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Business Leaders Back Early Education as Economic Development MaineBiz, Randy Billings, 02/06/2012 Jim Clair says four years ago he was probably the least likely person to become involved in early childhood education. That all changed when he was appointed by then-Gov. John Baldacci to participate in a business roundtable discussion about early childhood investment. Clair says he accepted the invitation "out of a sense of civic duty," but what he learned turned him into an advocate. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Smoking May Be Especially Tough on Men’s Brains HealthDay News, 02/06/2012 Smoking appears to speed declines in memory, thinking, learning and processing information in men, but not in women, new research suggests. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin Signs Order to Ban Tobacco Use on State Property The Oklahoman, Michael McNutt, 02/06/2012 Tobacco products at all state-owned and leased properties and in state-owned and leased buildings and vehicles will be banned effective July 1 under an executive order signed Monday by Gov. Mary Fallin. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Study: Child Abuse Affects More U.S. Kids than SIDS TIME Healthland, Bonnie Rochman, 02/06/2012 The rate of hospital admissions related to SIDS is actually lower than the rate of child abuse — 50 per 100,000 children under age 1 for SIDS, compared with 58.2 per 100,000 births, according to research published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. |
| Feb 6, 2012 |
Too Many Kids Are Breathing Secondhand Smoke in Cars TIME Healthland, Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press, 02/06/2012 In the first national estimate of its kind, a report from government researchers says more than one in five high school students and middle schoolers ride in cars while others are smoking. |
| Feb 3, 2012 |
Many Hits, Rather than One Big One, Pose Greatest Concussion Risk NPR Shots blog, Nancy Shute, 02/03/2012 High school football players have changes in their brain function long before they have recognizable signs of a concussion, according to a new study. The more hits a player got, the more brain function changed. The findings support the growing belief that a concussion comes as the result of a succession of insults, not just one bad hit. |
| Feb 3, 2012 |
Advocates Say Flu Vaccine Should Be Mandatory for Health Workers NPR Shots blog, Shefali S. Kulkarni, 02/03/2012 Consumer and business groups met in Washington Thursday to show their support for a recommendation from the National Business Group on Health that hospitals require all health care workers to be vaccinated annually against the flu. |
| Feb 3, 2012 |
Minn. Food Company Recalls About 1 Million Eggs in 34 States USA Today, Associated Press, 02/03/2012 A Minnesota food company said Friday it is recalling more than a million hard-cooked eggs distributed to 34 states after testing revealed some may be contaminated with listeria. |
| Feb 3, 2012 |
35 Cases of Illness Tied to Pa. Farm’s Raw Milk USA Today, Associated Press, 02/03/2012 The confirmed cases of campylobacter bacterial infection include 28 people in Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, two in West Virginia, and one in New Jersey. |
| Feb 3, 2012 |
Vaccines: They’re Not Just for Kids (But Too Few U.S. Adults Are Getting Immunized) TIME Healthland, Alexandra Sifferlin, 02/03/2012 Shots are never fun no matter what your age, but according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults may dread them (almost) as much as children. Each year, 45,000 Americans die from vaccine-preventable diseases. Despite that, U.S. adults are not getting the immunizations they need. |
| Feb 2, 2012 |
High Levels of Mercury Founds in North Shore Babies Star Tribune, Josephine Marcotty, 02/02/2012 One in 10 babies along Minnesota's North Shore are born with unhealthy levels of mercury in their bodies, according to a new report on contamination around Lake Superior, the first to look for the pollutant in the blood of U.S. infants. |
| Feb 2, 2012 |
New Vaccine Recommendations for Boys and Diabetics The New York Times Well blog, Anahad O’Connor, 02/02/2012 In releasing a new immunization schedule on Thursday — published in The Annals of Internal Medicine — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used much stronger language, explicitly recommending HPV vaccination for boys 11 to 12 years old and catch-up vaccination for those 13 to 21. |
| Feb 2, 2012 |
Analysis: “Restaurant A” Revealed to be Taco Bell Food Safety News, James Andrews, 02/02/2012 On Wednesday, Food Safety News editor Dan Flynn broke news of the identity of "Restaurant Chain A" as Taco Bell in the 10-state outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis that sickened at least 68 individuals in October and November 2011. |
| Feb 1, 2012 |
New Partners for Smart Growth Conference Begins Tomorrow NewPublicHealth.org, 02/01/2012 In advance of the conference, NewPublicHealth spoke with several presenters about the conference and the growing efforts to use smart growth to help improve the lives of all Americans. |
| Feb 1, 2012 |
Child Abuse, Neglect a Major Public Health Problem: CDC HealthDay News, 02/01/2012 Child abuse and neglect cost the United States $124 billion a year, which is comparable to the costs of other major public health problems, a new government study shows. |
| Jan 31, 2012 |
Chronic Conditions Toll Tallied The Los Angeles Times Booster Shots blog, Melissa Healy, 01/31/2012 The Institute of Medicine on Tuesday put a dollar figure on the cost of caring for chronic illness in the United States--$1.5 trillion yearly, fully three-fourths of annual healthcare spending. |
| Jan 31, 2012 |
U.S. Advisors Explain Call to Censor Bird Flu Research U.S. News & World Report, Margaret Steele and Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, 01/31/2012 The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity’s (NSABB) main concern "is that publishing these experiments in detail would provide information that could help some person, organization or government to develop similar mammal-adapted influenza A/H5N1 viruses for harmful purposes," the advisers said in a statement Tuesday. |
| Jan 31, 2012 |
Pennsylvania Health Department Says More People May Have Been Getting Sickened by Raw Milk The Patriot-News, David Wenner, 01/31/2012 The state now says 20 people have been sickened by a digestive ailment that may be related to raw milk from a Chambersburg-area farm. All of the people who are sick had consumed milk from the farm, called The Family Cow. |
| Jan 31, 2012 |
Bill Seeks Surcharge for Utah Smokers on Medicaid USA Today, Brian Passey, 01/31/2012 If private health insurers can add a surcharge for smokers, why not Medicaid? That's the argument behind a bill Utah Republican Rep. Paul Ray has proposed that could become a first-in-the-nation state law imposing a higher co-payment for tobacco-using residents enrolled in Medicaid. |
| Jan 30, 2012 |
Health Risks, Public Awareness Focus of This Week’s Tobacco-Free Oklahoma Campaign Enid News and Eagle, James Neal, 01/30/2012 This year’s Tobacco-Free Oklahoma Week, which officially began Monday, is broadening its focus to include not only public awareness campaigns on the health effects of smoking, but also on the financial costs to smokers and non-smokers. |
| Jan 30, 2012 |
Food Industry Urges Obama Administration to Reject Food Safety Fees The Hill Healthwatch blog, Julian Pecquet, 01/30/2012 A coalition of more than 30 food industry groups wrote to the Obama administration Monday urging officials to request more congressional funding for food safety efforts instead of relying on food taxes. |
| Jan 30, 2012 |
Parents Cheat on Booster Seats, Despite Safety Risks NPR Shots blog, Nancy Shute, 01/30/2012 Grade-schoolers are supposed to be riding in booster seats. But anyone who's ever chauffeured a bunch of second-graders can tell you that the day will come when you don't have enough boosters to go around. Faced with this obvious safety risk, most parents (including this one) buckle up the kids without boosters, and pray. |
| Jan 30, 2012 |
Communities Learn the Good Life Can Be a Killer The New York Times Well blog, Jane E. Brody, 01/30/2012 Developers in the last half-century called it progress when they built homes and shopping malls far from city centers throughout the country, sounding the death knell for many downtowns. But now an alarmed cadre of public health experts say these expanded metropolitan areas have had a far more serious impact on the people who live there by creating vehicle-dependent environments that foster obesity, poor health, social isolation, excessive stress and depression. |
| Jan 29, 2012 |
Health Department: Two-Thirds of Miss Residents with HIV Don’t Get Medical Treatment Associated Press, 01/29/2012 More than two-thirds of the Mississippi residents who test positive for the AIDS virus don't get medical treatment, state health officials say. Those people not only shorten their own lives but increase the risk of spreading the virus, State health officer Mary Durrier told The Clarion-Ledger. |
| Jan 28, 2012 |
Utah Health Officials Warn of Brain Injuries from Snow Sport Accidents; Urge Safety Associated Press, 01/28/2012 Health officials say residents can protect themselves by wearing a helmet. Two-thirds of brain injury victims in Utah were not wearing a helmet at the time of their accident. |
| Jan 27, 2012 |
Areas with Most Smoking-Related Illness Have Most Exemptions to Smoking Ban St. Louis Beacon, Robert Joiner, 01/27/2012 Many establishments that are exempted from St. Louis County's public-smoking ban are in areas with the highest incidences of smoking-related illnesses, according to an analysis byTobacco-Free St. Louis. It also argues that the exemptions could undo the health benefits of the Clean Air Act and that they are unfair to the majority of county establishments that have banned smoking. |
| Jan 27, 2012 |
Study: 1 in 4 People Has Oral HPV Infection NPR Shots blog, Scott Hensley, 01/27/2012 So how many people have human papillomavirus in their mouths? Quite a few, say researchers who got more than 5,000 volunteers across the country to spit into a cup and answer detailed questions about their sex lives. |
| Jan 27, 2012 |
Pennsylvania Enters the Modern Age of HIV Prevention The Philadelphia Inquirer The Public’s Health blog, 01/27/2012 Act 59, which became effective in September, amends the state’s antiquated HIV testing regulations and aligns state policy with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back in 2006 that call for all patients ages 13 to 64 to be tested in all health-care settings. |
| Jan 26, 2012 |
Smoking: Focus on Workers Quitting, Not a Hiring Ban [OPINION] The Tennessean, Aaron Milstone, 01/26/2012 The idea that businesses should not hire tobacco users may look good on paper, but it doesn’t provide a solution to the larger issue: ending addiction to a deadly substance. |
| Jan 25, 2012 |
Some Progress on Curbing Early Elective Deliveries The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Katherine Hobson, 01/25/2012 A new report out today suggests that getting the word out has done some good, but that there’s still a ways to go on reducing the rate of elective early deliveries via induction or C-section. |
| Jan 25, 2012 |
Teenage Tin Men: Addictive Smokeless Tobacco Making Comeback The Arizona Republic, Scott Bordow, 01/25/2012 You haven't heard much the last couple of years about smokeless tobacco and high school kids. But that's changing. This past November, Major League Baseball banned players from carrying tobacco packages and tins in their back pockets when fans are in the ballpark. Also, players can't use tobacco during pregame or postgame interviews. |
| Jan 25, 2012 |
State Cuts to Anti-Smoking Programs Anger Health Groups Buffalo News, Tom Precious, 01/25/2012 Health groups are condemning the governorâs new budget plan for reducing efforts to control smoking, a move they claim will disproportionately hit low-income residents. |
| Jan 25, 2012 |
It Takes a CEO to Save the U.S. Health-Care System [OPINION] Bloomberg, Darrell Moon, 01/25/2012 Employees and employers alike -- but first and foremost the boss -- need to be held accountable for reducing the cost burden that is damaging so many companies’ bottom lines. |
| Jan 25, 2012 |
NJ Offers Help to Quit Smoking, but Health Experts Say It’s Not Enough NJSpotlight.com, Beth Fitzgerald, 01/25/2012 New Jersey is spending $1.2 million this year on anti-smoking programs through the state Department of Health. Public health experts say that’s not enough, and discussions are underway in Trenton to find more money to discourage the use of tobacco, whose annual statewide toll is estimated at more than 10,000 deaths and several billion dollars in healthcare costs. |
| Jan 25, 2012 |
Distracted Teen Driving: The Hazards of Friends in the Car TIME Healthland, Alexandra Sifferlin, 01/25/2012 Car accidents are the No. 1 cause of death among U.S. teens, who are four times as likely as adult drivers to be involved in fatal crashes. Two new studies published in the Journal of Adolescent Health pinpoint which teens are likely to drive with friends and how extra passengers can hinder their driving before a crash. |
| Jan 24, 2012 |
Transportation and Health By the Numbers NewPublicHealth.org, 01/24/2012 At the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting a workshop called “Intersection of Transportation and Health” underscored the concept that transportation plays a critical role in determining health outcomes. |
| Jan 24, 2012 |
Building for Health: Improving Our Cities, Homes and Lives The Huffington Post, Steve Heilig, 01/24/2012 How does where we live impact our health? It's a big and complex question, but Richard Jackson, MD, MPH is leading the way towards answers -- and interventions. |
| Jan 24, 2012 |
Food Safety Auditors Too Tied to Industry [OPINION] USA Today, 01/24/2012 The system has an inherent conflict of interest: While retailers generally require audits before buying from a supplier, the suppliers often hire and pay the auditors who evaluate them. It's like authors hiring their own book reviewers. |
| Jan 24, 2012 |
Common Chemicals Could Make Kids’ Vaccines Less Effective NPR Shots blog, John Hamilton, 01/24/2012 The more exposure children have to chemicals called perfluorinated compounds, the less likely they are to have a good immune response to vaccinations, a study just published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association shows. |
| Jan 23, 2012 |
Only 1 in 4 Young Teens Uses Sunscreen Regularly, Study Finds HealthDay News, 01/23/2012 Despite the fact that sunburn in childhood greatly raises a person's lifelong risk for skin cancer, just 25 percent of 14-year-olds in a new U.S. study said they used sunscreen regularly. |
| Jan 23, 2012 |
Tall Task for Underprivileged to Stop Smoking PsychCentral.com, Rick Nauert, 01/23/2012 When a smoker decides to quit, the task is never easy. New research finds the task is doubly hard if you are poor and uneducated. |
| Jan 23, 2012 |
Some Cancer Patients Continue to Smoke After Diagnosis CNN The Chart blog, 01/23/2012 According to new data, published in the online version of the journal CANCER, researchers have found a large number of colon and lung cancer patients did not give up smoking, even though they knew it was not good for them. |
| Jan 23, 2012 |
Can Better Access to Health Care Really Lower Costs? TIME Healthland, Dr. Jesse M. Pines and Dr. Zachary F. Meisel, 01/23/2012 Concierge medicine versus patient-centered medical homes: debating the benefits of enhanced patient access to care. |
| Jan 20, 2012 |
Avian Flu Scientists Will ‘Pause’ Controversial Research for 60 Days The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Katherine Hobson and Christopher Weaver, 01/20/2012 The authors of a pair of studies on a deadly strain of H5N1 virus — also known as avian or bird influenza — have signed a letter saying they will “pause” such research for 60 days to allow an international scientific discussion about the controversy. |
| Jan 20, 2012 |
USDA Proposes Reducing Government Inspectors at Poultry Slaughter Plants The Washington Post, Associated Press, 01/20/2012 The Agriculture Department on Friday proposed to reduce the number of government inspectors at poultry slaughter plants in a move the agency says will make inspections more efficient and improve food safety. |
| Jan 20, 2012 |
The Food Safety Modernization Act—One Year Later Food Safety News, Helena Bottemiller, 01/20/2012 Just over a year ago, President Obama used 15 pens to sign the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law. The most sweeping update to U.S. food safety law in more than 70 years, FSMA is a huge undertaking for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and, not surprisingly, the agency is already behind on some major deadlines in its efforts to implement it. |
| Jan 20, 2012 |
Dissolvable Tobacco Products Draw FDA Scrutiny NPR Shots blog, Taunya English, 01/20/2012 The Food and Drug Administration has a gathered a group of scientists and other experts to study flavored melt-in-your-mouth tobacco products. |
| Jan 20, 2012 |
More Americans Practicing Safe Sex USA Today, Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, 01/20/2012 The number of Americans who practice behaviors that put them at risk for HIV infection has declined significantly, federal health officials reported Thursday. |
| Jan 19, 2012 |
Big-City Mayors Dig In To Food Policy NPR The Salt blog, Nancy Shute, 01/19/2012 Food policy can sound like a dreary enterprise best left to Washington, D.C. But big-city mayors are starting to see local food policy as a key step in getting healthy, affordable food to their constituents. |
| Jan 19, 2012 |
Salmonella Linked to Labs Infected 109 Food Safety News, James Andrews, 01/19/2012 Between August 2010 and June 2011, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counted 109 people in 38 states infected with a commercial strain of Salmonella Typhimurium most commonly found in microbiology laboratories. On Tuesday, the CDC released its final report on the outbreak, which Food Safety Newsfirst reported on in April 2011. |
| Jan 19, 2012 |
Tobacco Policies ‘Abysmal’ in U.S. States, Lung Association Says Bloomberg, Molly Peterson, 01/19/2012 Anti-tobacco efforts by U.S. states were “abysmal” last year as their collective spending on anti- smoking programs declined 11 percent and only two raised cigarette taxes, the American Lung Association said. |
| Jan 18, 2012 |
Public Health Law Research Trends: Q&A with Lawrence Gostin NewPublicHealth.org, 01/18/2012 NewPublicHealth spoke with Lawrence Gostin, JD, Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, about his keynote address at this week’s Public Health Law Research (PHLR) Annual Meeting and emerging trends in public health law. |
| Jan 18, 2012 |
Lower Lead Levels Deemed Harmful for Kids USA Today, Wendy Koch, 01/18/2012 This month, an advisory scientific panel reported that lead in older homes harms children at lower levels than previously believed. It urged federal officials to protect more kids. Yet as the U.S. government considers this, Congress slashed from $29 million to $2 million the funds for a major lead-poisoning prevention program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
| Jan 18, 2012 |
Mobile Devices Help Ensure Food Safety Forbes, 01/18/2012 Mobile devices can ensure food safety and quality, as companies like IBM develop systems to trace and track food through the supply chain. |
| Jan 18, 2012 |
A Win-Win: Job Creation Will Grow the Economy and Improve Health [OPINION] The Health Care Blog, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey and Mark Pinsky, 01/18/2012 The current economic recovery effort presents an opportunity to build stronger, healthier communities. That’s a central goal for the Create Jobs for USA Fund that Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) and Starbucks launched late last year to support job creation and retention. |
| Jan 17, 2012 |
Stop-smoking Programs Pay Quick Dividends [OPINION] Sun Journal, Editorial Board, 01/17/2012 We've always known that smoking cessation programs pay their way, but the benefits were always thought to come slowly and over time… But a new study says there is only one thing wrong about this assumption: The savings are nearly immediate. |
| Jan 17, 2012 |
Organic, Local Foods Not Always Safer Arizona Republic, Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press, 01/17/2012 Shoppers nervous about food-borne illnesses may turn to foods produced at smaller farms or labeled "local," "organic" or "natural" in the hopes that such products are safer. But as sales for food produced on smaller operations have exploded, a new set of food-safety challenges has emerged. |
| Jan 17, 2012 |
U.S. Obesity Rates Have Leveled Off—But Why? The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Betsy McKay, 01/17/2012 While obesity rates climbed sharply in the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, their increase has slowed or leveled off in many population groups since then, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published today in two articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association. |
| Jan 17, 2012 |
Study: Children’s Drowning Injuries, Deaths Decline USA Today, Ellin Holohan, HealthDay, 01/17/2012 More than 1,000 children die from drowning in the United States each year and another 5,000 are injured, but these casualties have declined dramatically since the early 1990s, a new study shows. |
| Jan 16, 2012 |
Hospitals Can Be a Smoking-cessation Link Los Angeles Times, Michelle Andrews, 01/16/2012 Most hospitals make little effort to screen patients for tobacco use or to help them kick the habit permanently. That's a missed opportunity. |
| Jan 16, 2012 |
NashVitality Week Preaches Healthy Nashville The Tennessean, Jessica Bliss, 01/16/2012 The week will feature three key events: the third annual Healthy Eating/Active Living (HEAL) Summit, a Youth Serving Organizations Workshop and a trio of Health Impact Assessment Workshops. Each event will include active discussion from city officials and community leaders about how to make Nashville a healthier place in 2012. |
| Jan 16, 2012 |
Health Enterprise Zones to Target Disparities in State The Baltimore Sun, Meredith Cohn, 01/16/2012 Frustrated by Maryland's high rate of health disparities, state leaders are proposing a new attack — one more commonly associated with economic development. |
| Jan 16, 2012 |
Anti-smoking Efforts Often Fall Short Los Angeles Times, Michelle Andrews, 01/16/2012 There are government and business-based programs to help smokers quit. But much of the funding goes unspent, and worker efforts can be tied to insurance costs. |
| Jan 13, 2012 |
The Doctor Prescribes Clean Air The Boston Globe, Karen Weintraub, 01/13/2012 The Boston Globe interviews Dr. Megan Sandel, an associate professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston Medical Center, and an expert on asthma and air pollution. |
| Jan 13, 2012 |
At More U.S. Workplaces, Smokers Need Not Apply U.S. News & World Report, Mary Brophy Marcus, HealthDay, 01/13/2012 Following the lead of the Cleveland Clinic and a growing number of other hospitals, Pennsylvania's Geisinger Health System will turn away job applicants who smoke starting next month. |
| Jan 13, 2012 |
U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program Might Avert 885,000 Cases USA Today, Serena Gordon, HealthDay, 01/13/2012 A national community-based diabetes prevention program in the United States could prevent or delay 885,000 cases of type 2 diabetes over 25 years, a new federal government study says. |
| Jan 12, 2012 |
Healthy Babies Minnesota: A Q&A with State Health Officer Edward Ehlinger NewPublicHealth.org, 01/12/2012 Healthy Babies Minnesota is an umbrella of activities aimed at using prenatal and first-year initiatives to make Minnesotans healthier throughout their lives. NewPublicHealth spoke with Edward Ehlinger, MD, the state’s commissioner of health, about the program. |
| Jan 12, 2012 |
Cruise Lines Tighten Tobacco Rules Orlando Sun Sentinel, Arlene Satchell, 01/12/2012 Several cruise lines have further limited smoking on ships, leaving a few designated areas as the last refuge to light up at sea. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
U.S. Death Rate from Homicide Drops to a Near 50-Year Low The Washington Post, David Brown, 01/11/2012 Things weren’t so hot for the American economy and a lot else in 2010, but for the health of the American people, it was a pretty good year. Life expectancy improved, mortality rates fell for all five leading causes of death, and the homicide rate was as low as it has been in almost 50 years, according to data released Wednesday. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
No Smoking Policy Expanded at 40 Miami-Dade Parks Miami Herald, 01/11/2012 The new policy extends the ban beyond youth ball fields and includes tobacco-free zones at all community parks where children participate in after-school program and at all playgrounds in all county parks. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
Alabama in Top Five Least “Quit-Friendly” States in U.S. Times Daily, Hannah Mask, 01/11/2012 Alabama health officials say more support from the state is needed to offset the cost of smoking cessation programs. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
Bird Flu and the Future of Biosecurity Nature, 01/11/2012 In December, the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) decided that two papers on avian flu (H5N1) could pose a biosecurity risk if published in their entirety). The NSABB advised against full publication of the papers. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
Oregon Issues Draft Report on Health Impacts of Wind Energy Sustainable Business Oregon, Christina Williams, 01/11/2012 The Oregon Public Health Division released a draft report this week, disclosing its preliminary findings on the potential health impacts of wind farms in the state. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
House Democrats Call for Tougher Food Safety Audits Following Deadly Listeria Outbreak The Hill, Julian Pecquet, 01/11/2012 House Democrats are urging federal regulators to craft tough new standards for food safety audits in the wake of the deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in 25 years. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
OJ Recoils as Fungicide Fears Fade Reuters, Rene Pastor and Josephine Mason, 01/11/2012 Orange juice futures lost almost 10 percent in value on Wednesday, reversing the previous day's sharp gains as traders reckoned fears of an import ban on Brazilian juice were overblown. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
Bay Area’s Urban Planning Must Address Public Health, Study Says California Watch, Bernice Yeung, 01/11/2012 According to a recent analysis by Oakland’s Pacific Institute and a group of public health and air-quality advocates known as the Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative, California’s efforts to build sustainable communities as mandated by the state law could unintentionally threaten the health of Bay Area residents. |
| Jan 11, 2012 |
Google Helps Emergency Room Docs to Predict Flu Trends TIME Healthland, Laura Blue, 01/11/2012 Google, the search-engine giant, may be able to help doctors anticipate when they’ll get a surge in the number of patients they see with flu symptoms. |
| Jan 10, 2012 |
USDA Closings Won’t Affect Food Safety, Vilsack Says Bloomberg Business Week, Alan Bjerga, 01/10/2012 A U.S. Department of Agriculture plan to close 259 domestic offices as part of a $150 million budget-cutting measure will have “no impact whatsoever” on food safety, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. |
| Jan 10, 2012 |
Food Facility Audits Largely Ignore FDA Guidance The Wall Street Journal, Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press, 01/10/2012 Congressional investigators looking into an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe linked to 30 deaths last year found that third-party auditors who gave Colorado's Jensen Farms a "superior" rating just before the outbreak largely ignored government guidance on food safety. |
| Jan 10, 2012 |
CDC: 38 Million U.S. Adults Binge Drink USA Today, Janice Lloyd, 01/10/2012 One in six adults in the USA is a binge drinker, consuming an average of eight drinks per occasion and doing so about four times a month, according to a major government report released Tuesday. |
| Jan 10, 2012 |
Closing of 259 USDA Offices Raises Safety Concerns Associated Press, Michael J. Crumb, 01/10/2012 The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide, a move that won praise for cutting costs but raised concerns about the possible effect on food safety. |
| Jan 9, 2012 |
Nicotine Gum and Patch Don’t Help Smokers Quit Long Term TIME Healthland, Alice Park, 01/09/2012 Researchers report in the journal Tobacco Control that nicotine gum and nicotine patches designed to help smokers quit aren’t any more effective than going cold turkey when it comes to keeping smokers off cigarettes for longer than a few months. Beyond that, their ability to curb the need for cigarettes isn’t as clear. |
| Jan 9, 2012 |
FDA Steps Up Testing for Fungicide in Orange Juice USA Today, Associated Press, 01/09/2012 The Food and Drug Administration says it will step up testing for a fungicide that has been found in low levels in orange juice. |
| Jan 9, 2012 |
Weak Economy Curbs U.S. Health Spending NPR Shots blog, Julie Rovner, 01/09/2012 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that total health spending in the U.S. increased by 3.9 percent in 2010, just a notch above the slowest rate since the government started keeping track — 3.8 percent in 2009. |
| Jan 9, 2012 |
Economic Toll of Diabetes Begins Early The New York Times Well blog, Anahad O’Connor, 01/09/2012 Diabetes may be more than a hazard to health. A new study shows that young adults with the disease have lower lifetime earnings and fewer job prospects than their peers. |
| Jan 9, 2012 |
New Clues Revealed in Studies of Stillbirth The New York Times, Nicholas Bakalar, 01/09/2012 In two new studies, researchers have pinpointed the most common causes of stillbirths and have found that known risk factors explain just a small minority of cases. |
| Jan 7, 2012 |
Study: $1 Spent on Smoking Cessation Saves $3 in Health Costs WBUR CommonHealth blog, Martha Bebinger, 01/07/2012 A program that helped low-income Massachusetts residents stop smoking saved three dollars for every dollar spent. That’s the conclusion of a study from George Washington University published online today in the journal PLoS One. |
| Jan 6, 2012 |
City Health Chief Eye Smoke-Free Housing New Haven Independent, Thomas MacMillan, 01/06/2012 Amid a national movement towards smoke-free public housing, New Haven’s health director is preparing to motivate landlords to ban butts. |
| Jan 6, 2012 |
Debate Persists Over Publishing Bird Flu Studies NPR Talk of the Nation, Ira Flatow, Host, 01/06/2012 A federal advisory board has urged scientific journals not to publish the research from two labs that have developed an airborne flu virus. Microbiologist Vincent Racaniello discusses why the move sets a bad precedent. Biosecurity expert D.A. Henderson talks about the risks of publishing the research. |
| Jan 6, 2012 |
Workplaces Ban Not Only Smoking, But Smokers Themselves USA Today, Wendy Koch, 01/06/2012 As bans on smoking sweep the USA, an increasing number of employers — primarily hospitals — are also imposing bans on smokers. They won't hire applicants whose urine tests positive for nicotine use, whether cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or even patches. |
| Jan 5, 2012 |
Flu Prevention Critical for Those with Neurologic Conditions, CDC Says HealthDay News, 01/05/2012 Children and young adults with neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions are at high risk for complications from the flu and should receive flu vaccinations, say health officials who investigated a flu outbreak in Ohio in February 2011. |
| Jan 5, 2012 |
Heart Attack Spurs Woman to Stop Smoking St. Louis Today, Harry Jackson, Jr., 01/05/2012 The heart attack that Terese Erdelen had in November may be the nudge she needed to stay focused on her goal to quit smoking. |
| Jan 5, 2012 |
Why Some Cities Are Healthier than Others The Atlantic Cities blog, Richard Florida, 01/05/2012 With the help of Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Charlotta Mellander, Richard Florida looked into the factors that might impact regional variations in smoking and obesity, such as income, education, and even the ways people commute to work. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Navajo Nation Confronts HIV and AIDS The Los Angeles Times, Stephen Ceasar, 01/04/2012 Infections are rising within the tribe at a time when they are holding steady or declining in other groups across the country. Poor education is partly to blame, with some tribal members learning about HIV and AIDS only upon diagnosis. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Potential Herpes Vaccine Disappoints Researchers HealthDay News, Maureen Salamon, 01/04/2012 A potential vaccine for genital herpes has shown only limited effectiveness in thwarting one type of the sexually transmitted virus and no ability to stop a second type from spreading, a new study shows. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Federal Panel Urges U.S. Government to Lower Threshold for Lead Poisoning in Young Children The Washington Post, Associated Press, 01/04/2012 For the first time in 20 years, a federal panel is urging the government to lower the threshold for lead poisoning in children. If adopted, hundreds of thousands more children could be diagnosed with lead poisoning. Too much lead is harmful to developing brains and can mean a lower IQ. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
America’s Drunkest Cities TIME Healthland, Laura Blue, 01/04/2012 The No. 1 drunkest city in America for 2011 is…Boston. Adults in that city drink on average 15.5 drinks per person per month, with 7.4% of the over-21 population deemed “heavy drinkers” and a disturbing 20.1% deemed “binge drinkers,” according to CDC definitions. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Gaps in Health Coverage Can Disrupt Preventive Care NPR Shots blog, Nancy Shute, 01/04/2012 People without health insurance don't get enough preventive care — simple but important things like vaccinations and blood tests. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Feds to Reign in Use of Some Antibiotics on Animals NPR The Salt blog, Dan Charles, 01/04/2012 The Food and Drug Administration is moving to stop the use of some antibiotics on animals. The agency wants to prevent overuse of these drugs so that bacteria don't develop resistance to them. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Want Your Kids to Do Better in School? Try Exercise Reuters, 01/04/2012 Children who get more exercise also tend to do better in school, whether the exercise comes as recess, physical education classes or getting exercise on the way to school, according to an international study. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Smoking Tobacco Has Negative Effect on Physical Fitness Yahoo! Sports, Rebecca Bardelli, 01/04/2012 It is common knowledge that tobacco and smoking cigarettes is not good for the body. In addition to not being healthy, tobacco can interfere with physical activity. |
| Jan 4, 2012 |
Interactive Timeline: The Food Safety Modernization Act Food Navigator-USA, Caroline Scott-Thomas, 01/04/2012 A year ago today, President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act into law. FoodNavigator-USA tracks its development and implementation - as well as all the controversy along the way - in our exclusive interactive timeline. |
| Jan 3, 2012 |
Faces of Public Health: Harrison Spencer NewPublicHealth.org, 01/03/2012 With the new year and many Spring school semesters starting, NewPublicHealth spoke with Harrison C. Spencer, MD, PhD, president and CEO of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) about what he sees ahead in 2012 for public health. |
| Jan 3, 2012 |
Health Department: Whooping Cough on the Rise in New York City, Poses Threat to Infants The New York Daily News, Tracy Connor, 01/03/2012 There’s been a three-fold increase in whooping cough cases in the city, and officials are urging anyone who cares for a baby to get vaccinated. |
| Jan 3, 2012 |
Smokers, Forced to Pay More for Health Insurance, Can Get Help with Quitting The Washington Post, Michelle Andrews, 01/03/2012 Seventy percent of smokers say they'd like to quit, and now, just three days into the new year, many may already be struggling to stick to their resolution to make 2012 a smoke-free year. If quitting were easy, after all, chances are good that nearly one in five adults wouldn't still be smokers, a figure that hasn't budged much in several years. |
| Jan 2, 2012 |
Study on Major Duluth Road Gives Pedestrians Hope for Change WDIO News, Alan Hoglund, 01/02/2012 A major thoroughfare that separates Duluth's Central and East Hillside neighborhoods, is traveled by thousands every day. There's a push to make it safer for those who use it most. |
| Dec 30, 2011 |
How a New Swine Flu Virus Could Complicate Influenza Season TIME Healthland, Bryan Walsh, 12/30/2011 Since the middle of August, the CDC has received 12 reports of human infections with a new flu virus — a swine influenza A strain called H3N2. |
| Dec 27, 2011 |
Life Expectancy Rises for New Yorkers The New York Times Well blog, Anahad O’Conner, 12/27/2011 Want to add years to your life? Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has a suggestion: Move to New York City. On Tuesday he announced, with great pride, that the life expectancy for a baby born in New York City has reached 80.6 years, surpassing the life expectancy for the rest of the nation, which is 78.2 years. |
| Dec 26, 2011 |
Poisoning Kills More than Car Crashes The New York Times, Nicholas Bakalar, 12/26/2011 In 2008, for the first time in nearly 30 years, more people died of poisoning than in car crashes. Poisoning is now the leading cause of injury death, and 90 percent of poisonings were caused by drugs. |
| Dec 23, 2011 |
Vaccines’ Health Advances Can Slip Away [OPINION] The Commercial Appeal, Helen G. Morrow and Keith English, 12/23/2011 Vaccines are one of the greatest advances in public health -- and the crown jewel of our efforts to prevent death and disease caused by infections. |
| Dec 23, 2011 |
$6 Billion for Southern California's $40 Billion Need Atlantic Cities, Nate Berg, 12/23/2011 The $6 billion proposed for transportation improvements isn’t nearly enough for Southern California, according to officials at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. By their own calculations, the region would need to spend $40 billion over the next 25 years to create the sort of walkable and bikeable communities it says it wants. |
| Dec 23, 2011 |
Orange Bowl Pressured To Ditch Camacho Cigar Sponsor in Latest Push to Move Tobacco Out Of Sports N.Y. Daily News, Associated Press, 12/23/2011 Several public health organizations are calling on the Orange Bowl and the NCAA to pull a three-year deal with Camacho Cigars, saying tobacco promotions like the Florida cigar company's sponsorship of the football games have no place in sports and shouldn't be allowed under federal tobacco marketing restrictions. |
| Dec 23, 2011 |
Caring for Low Birth-Weight Baby Hard on Moms: Study HealthDay News, 12/23/2011 Women with low birth-weight babies -- those less than about 3.3 pounds -- are more likely to have health problems five years later than mothers of normal birth-weight children, a new study finds. |
| Dec 23, 2011 |
Parents, You Are Top Regulator When It Comes To Toy Safety Los Angeles Times, David Lazarus, 12/23/2011 About 181,500 kids younger than 15 were treated in emergency rooms last year for toy-related injuries, according to the safety commission, and 17 kids were killed in toy-related accidents. |
| Dec 22, 2011 |
Teens Become Less Active as They Enter Adulthood HealthDay News, Mary Elizabeth Dallas, 12/22/2011 Young adults entering college often become much less active than they were as teenagers, a new study finds. |
| Dec 22, 2011 |
Faces of Public Health: CDC’s Karen Morrione NewPublicHealth.org, 12/22/2011 NewPublicHealth spoke to Karen Morrione, Senior Adviser for Research and Strategy in the electronic media branch at CDC, about new efforts and the reasons they are important for helping improve health in the U.S. |
| Dec 22, 2011 |
Report: Cuts in Federal Funding Put Public Health Preparedness at Risk Shots (NPR's Health Blog), Jordan Calmes, 12/22/2011 Do you remember the E. coli outbreak that started in an Oregon strawberry patch this August? Probably not, because public health officials there pinpointed the farm responsible for the affected fruit with the first (and only reported) death, and confirmed the source of the bacteria less than two weeks later. |
| Dec 21, 2011 |
Bioterrorism, Health-Emergency Preparedness Eroding: Report The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Katherine Hobson, 12/21/2011 Budget cuts at all levels of government are the culprit, according to the annual report released yesterday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. |
| Dec 21, 2011 |
White House Claims Progress in Food Safety Efforts CIDRAP, Lisa Schnirring, 12/21/2011 Federal officials today released a progress report on the work of President Barack Obama's Food Safety Working Group, which has been buoyed by legislation passed earlier this year but faces challenges in implementing the law. |
| Dec 21, 2011 |
Needle-Exchange Programs Face New Federal Funding Ban Kaiser Health News, Sarah Barr, 12/21/2011 Federal funding for needle-exchange programs -- a controversial concept that public health advocates have long argued prevents the spread of HIV and other diseases -- is about to be prohibited once more, just two years after Congress lifted a 21-year ban. |
| Dec 21, 2011 |
Toward Healthier Air [OPINION] The New York Times, 12/21/2011 Resisting strenuous last-minute lobbying by some of the nation’s biggest utilities, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday a final rule requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants by roughly 90 percent within the next five years. This is a big victory for environmentalists and scientists who have worked for 20 years to regulate these pollutants — and an even bigger one for the public. |
| Dec 20, 2011 |
U.S. Readiness for Security Emergencies Eroding- Report Reuters, 12/20/2011 U.S. readiness to respond to biological attacks and health emergencies is at risk because of cuts in federal and state spending, a study reported Tuesday. |
| Dec 20, 2011 |
The Erosion of U.S. Emergency Preparedness [OPINION] The Huffington Post, Jeffrey Levi, 12/20/2011 While we were still far from our goals, we were leaps and bounds beyond where we were in 2001. Sadly, the track we're on now with the budget cuts may mean history could tragically repeat itself. When the next disaster strikes, we won't be ready. |
| Dec 20, 2011 |
Drug Overdoses Kill More Americans than Car Accidents: CDC HealthDay, Steven Reinberg, 12/20/2011 More Americans now die from drug overdoses than in car accidents, according to a new government report released Tuesday. |
| Dec 20, 2011 |
Seeing Terror Risk, U.S. Asks Journals to Cut Flu Study Facts The New York Times, Denise Grady and William J. Broad, 12/20/2011 For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear that the information could be used by terrorists to create deadly viruses and touch off epidemics. |
| Dec 20, 2011 |
Ready or Not: Public Health Preparedness Q&A with Paul Jarris NewPublicHealth.org, 12/20/2011 NewPublicHealth caught up with Paul Jarris, MD, Executive Director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, to talk about the ninth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report and what cuts in public health preparedness funding mean for state and local health departments and for the health and safety of Americans. |
| Dec 19, 2011 |
Study: Fewer College Students Smoke Since Tobacco Bans on Campus Took Effect WFMY News, 12/19/2011 A study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill revealed that fewer cigarette butts are being found on college campuses since new policies banning tobacco use were adopted. Researchers said this suggesting that restricting tobacco use on school property effectively reduces smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. |
| Dec 19, 2011 |
Utah’s Pacific Islanders Show Extreme Rates of Obesity, Diabetes Risk The Salt Lake Tribune, Patty Henetz, 12/19/2011 A new report shows the state’s Tongan and Samoan communities have more than twice the rate of obesity and nearly double the rate of adult diabetes of other Utahns, and a cultural belief that larger moms and babies are healthier puts infants at risk. |
| Dec 19, 2011 |
Study: 1 in 3 American Youth are Arrested by Age 23 TIME Healthland, Maia Szalavitz, 12/19/2011 By age 23, at least a quarter of all youth in the U.S. — and perhaps as many as 41% — are arrested at least once for something more serious than a traffic violation, according to a new study of American teens. |
| Dec 17, 2011 |
Increasingly, Smoking Indoors is Forbidden at Public Housing The New York Times, Kathleen Q . Seelye, 12/17/2011 Similar policies are being adopted with increasing frequency across the country as cities move aggressively to restrict smoking in more public places, from bars and restaurants to parks, beaches and vehicles. Come September, Boston will become the biggest city to ban smoking in its public housing, which serves about 25,000 tenants. Detroit, San Antonio and Portland, Ore., already have similar restrictions in place. |
| Dec 16, 2011 |
Stopping Superbugs: Time for Congress and Industry to Catch Up with American Consumers [OPINION] The Huffington Post, David Wallinga, 12/16/2011 Today, American farmers raising animals without antibiotics do so despite policies that point them in the opposite direction. With this handicap, who will win out in the race to feed the global consumer who increasingly wants their meat antibiotic free? If it is to be our local farmer, then American policymakers better pay heed -- and fast. |
| Dec 16, 2011 |
Using Soap Operas, Cooking Classes to Fight Diabetes WBUR CommonHealth blog, Rachel Zimmerman, 12/16/2011 When researchers tried to introduce a healthier diet and lifestyle to a group of adults at risk for developing diabetes in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a primarily low-income city that’s 60% Latino, and where only about half the population is fluent in English, they tried to meet people just where they were. |
| Dec 15, 2011 |
Housing Policy is Health Policy: Q&A with HUD’s Raphael Bostic NewPublicHealth.org, 12/15/2011 NewPublicHealth caught up with Raphael Bostic to get his take on changes at HUD to integrate health in all policies, some of the innovative housing programs from the field and how the health field can better support this work. |
| Dec 15, 2011 |
USDA Unveils New Online Food Safety Tool for Farms FOX News, Associated Press, 12/15/2011 The U.S. Department of Agriculture has unveiled a free online tool aimed at helping farmers lower their risk of contamination on the farm by generating customized food safety plans. |
| Dec 15, 2011 |
Study: Smoking Cessation Ups Happiness United Press International, 12/15/2011 People who quit smoking are happier and more satisfied with their health, compared to those who smoke, U.S. researchers say. |
| Dec 14, 2011 |
Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Say They Have Been Sexually Assaulted The New York Times, Roni Caryn Rabin, 12/14/2011 An exhaustive government survey of rape and domestic violence released on Wednesday affirmed that sexual violence against women remains endemic in the United States and in some instances may be far more common than previously thought. |
| Dec 14, 2011 |
Some Causes of Stillbirth May Be Avoidable USA Today, Jenifer Goodwin, HealthDay, 12/14/2011 Stillbirth has long been a mysterious and devastating pregnancy complication. But two new studies are uncovering more about what causes stillbirth and the factors that may raise a woman's chances of having a stillbirth -- at least some of which are avoidable. |
| Dec 14, 2011 |
Teen Drug Use: Marijuana Up, Cigarettes and Alcohol Down TIME Healthland, Maia Szalavitz, 12/14/2011 Both teen drinking and cigarette smoking are at historic lows; in fact, past-month marijuana use is now more commonly reported by high school seniors than smoking cigarettes. Misuse of prescription medications in teens is stable or declining. |
| Dec 14, 2011 |
Drunk Driving-Related Deaths Surge During the Holidays HealthDay News, 12/14/2011 During the holidays, alcohol-related car accidents claim more lives than at any other time of the year, according to U.S. government experts. |
| Dec 14, 2011 |
Gov’t: Holiday Decorating Injuries on the Rise USA Today, Associated Press, 12/14/2011 The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday that injuries involving falls from ladders while stringing lights, cuts from broken glass ornaments and other decorating activities are on the rise. |
| Dec 13, 2011 |
U.S. Safety Board Urges Nationwide Ban on Drivers’ Use of Cell Phones HealthDay News, 12/13/2011 In the aftermath of a deadly crash in Missouri that killed two and injured 38, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is recommending a nationwide ban on drivers' use of cellphones and other personal electronic devices, except in emergencies. |
| Dec 13, 2011 |
Facebook Aims to Prevent Suicides with Online Help NPR Shots blog, Nancy Shute, 12/13/2011 The gigantic social-networking site said Tuesday that if any of its 800 million users type a post saying they are contemplating suicide, the site will offer to connect them to a crisis counselor through the site's chat system. |
| Dec 13, 2011 |
New U.S. Data Shows Continuing Drop in Child Abuse USA Today, 12/13/2011 Fears that persisting economic woes would increase child abuse in the U.S. have proved unfounded, according to the latest federal data. |
| Dec 12, 2011 |
Docs Won’t Benefit from Prevention Cuts [OPINION] The Hill’s Congress Blog, Larry Cohen, 12/12/2011 We must address the rates that Medicare pays doctors, but doing so by raiding the prevention fund is a short-sighted solution that will cost money, not save it. Quality, affordable medical care and community prevention work hand-in-hand. Congress must find another way. |
| Dec 12, 2011 |
CDC Plans to Collect, Analyze Cost Data on Public Health Initiatives iHealthBeat, 12/12/2011 On Friday, CDC proposed an initiative to collect and analyze cost data from participants in HHS' Community Transformation Grant program, Modern Healthcare reports. |
| Dec 12, 2011 |
Beware of Raw Cookie Dough The New York Times, Anahad O’Conner, 12/12/2011 A new study that investigated the cause of a large outbreak of E. coli in 2009 pointed the blame at raw chocolate chip cookie dough. The researchers say it is the first time an outbreak of food poisoning caused by the dangerous Shiga toxin-producing E. coli has been traced to store-bought, ready-to-bake cookie dough or a similar product. |
| Dec 12, 2011 |
John Packham: Nevada Ranks 50th in Nation for Spending on Anti-Smoking Efforts [OPINION] Reno Gazette-Journal, John Packham, 12/12/2011 This unconscionable state of affairs reflects nothing less than cowardice on the part of state lawmakers who have broken our state's promise to use some portion of tobacco settlement to address and prevent the toll of tobacco use in Nevada. |
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