Voters in liberal Portland, Ore., are divided over fluoridation. As Portlanders prepare to go to the polls Tuesday to decide the issue, liberals concerned about the dental health of low-income children are pitted against liberals averse to putting anything unnecessary in the water. Added to the mix are libertarians who say fluoridation violates an individual’s right to consent to medicine. Portland is the largest U.S. city that has yet to approve fluoridation to combat tooth decay. The City Council in September unanimously decided to add the mineral to the water supply, which serves about 900,000 people, but opponents quickly gathered thousands of signatures to force a Portlanders to vote on the issue for the fifth time since 1956. The Associated Press
Health of immigrants declines after they move to the U.S. A growing body of research shows that immigrants have worse rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes they longer they live in this country. And while their American-born children may have more money, they tend to live shorter lives than the parents. “There’s something about life in the United States that is not conducive to good health across generations,” a demographer said. For Hispanics, the nation’s largest immigrant group, the foreign-born live about three years longer than their U.S.-born counterparts, several studies indicate. The cause appears to be the adoption of American behaviors — smoking, drinking, high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles. The New York Times
Only 2 of 13 small SUVs do well on new test simulating deadly type of collision. The small-overlap crash test models collisions occurring when a vehicle hits a hard barrier with just a quarter of its bumper, which concentrates force in a small area unprotected by strong safety structures built into most new vehicles. Such crashes cause 25 percent of of serious injuries or deaths in frontal collisions but many small SUVs fared poorly in recent round of testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Only the 2013 Subaru Forrester and 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport performed well, while five SUVs were rated “poor”, with the worst marks going to the Ford Escape. Most of the SUVs tested, however, have performed well on other types of safety tests. CBS News, WETM (Corning, N.Y.)
Every year, thousands of U.S. workers and do-it-yourselfers suffer disfiguring, life-changing injuries from the whirring blades of table saws, though technology exists that could virtually eliminate this.
Every year, hundreds of motorcycle riders die in crashes they would have survived had they been wearing helmets that meet a government safety standard instead of so-called novelty helmets. Yet sales of the substandard helmets are booming, and federal authorities have failed to crack down.
Dr. Garen Wintemute is a pioneer in the study of gun violence as a public health issue. In a Q&A with FairWarning’s Lilly Fowler, Wintemute called for Congress to require background checks for all private sales of firearms, whether at gun shows or between individuals.
When the Consumer Product Safety Commission launched SaferProducts.gov, a database allowing consumers to report and learn about hazardous products, it was inevitable that some business would go to court to keep a customer’s complaint private. But the first legal challenge is shrouded in mystery.
Peace Corps volunteers who serve in impoverished, dangerous countries all too often endure sexual assaults, psychological trauma and physical injuries, as well as exotic diseases. Yet former volunteers-turned-activists say the government workers’ compensation program that is supposed to provide medical care and disability payments for the injured is rife with troubles.
As countries around the world ramp up their campaigns against smoking with tough marketing restrictions, the tobacco industry is fighting back by invoking international trade agreements to thwart the most stringent rules. The resulting battles raise broader concerns about trade provisions that enable foreign companies to challenge national health, labor and environmental standards.
This year lung cancer will kill about 160,000 Americans—more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. Yet the government spends far less for research on lung cancer than for other common cancers, and corporate sponsors of cancer awareness campaigns have steered clear of the disease.
The $4.9 billion tanning salon industry repeatedly has faced charges of misrepresenting health risks. So how is the industry responding? By going on the offensive with an audacious campaign to blunt skin cancer fears by discrediting physicians and health groups as members of a ‘Sun Scare’ conspiracy. Using tactics that seem cribbed from Big Tobacco’s playbook, the industry has challenged widely accepted scientific findings and funded advocacy groups to spread its message that sunbed use is a healthful source of vitamin D.
When it comes to dangers that threaten children, one of the most unimaginable is a piece of furniture toppling and injuring, or even killing, a youngster. Yet tens of thousands of children in recent years have wound up in emergency rooms and scores have died from such accidents, according to data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
For several years, doctors and medical spas around the country have touted a fat-melting device called the LipoTron 3000, or Lipo-Ex, as a revolutionary way for people to slim down. But there’s a problem: The LipoTron has never been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Chlorine is used to kill bacteria in drinking water, but with the unintended consequence of creating chemical byproducts that may raise the risk of cancer.
President Obama has an opportunity to fix badly broken media policies that keep Americans in the dark about their environment. Gina McCarthy’s nomination as the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency affords him an opportunity to live up to his promise to create an “unprecedented level of openness in government.” The Obama administration ... Read more »
U.S. health authorities estimate that about 535,000 children are still at risk of developmental problems due to elevated levels of lead in their blood. In an interview, public health historians Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner discuss the history and scope of the lead problem.
In a commentary Barton Dean argues the architects of the 2nd Amendment would never have foreseen or approved of citizens possessing unlimited numbers of semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity ammo clips when they were crafting our gun rights.
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Lead Exposure in Older Homes Means Children “Pay With Their Lives”
Q&A: Authors Say Toll From the Toxic Metal Still Plagues U.S.
By Lilly Fowler on April 11, 2013
U.S. health authorities estimate that about 535,000 children are still at risk of developmental problems due to elevated levels of lead in their blood. In an interview, public health historians Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner discuss the history and scope of the lead problem.
Posted in Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Commentary, Environmental Safety and Health | Leave a comment