Latest Public health News
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs laws to curb oil and gas pollution near neighborhoods
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws Wednesday to reduce oil and gas pollution — the Democrat’s latest move in an ongoing battle against the fossil fuel industry and its impacts on the environment and public health. The new laws set out to give...
Fluoride in drinking water poses enough risk to merit new EPA action, judge says
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because high levels could pose a risk to the intellectual development of children. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it's not certain...
New York resident dies of rare mosquito-borne virus known as eastern equine encephalitis
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A person has died in New York state from eastern equine encephalitis, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare the rare mosquito-borne illness an imminent threat to public health. The death that was reported Monday in Ulster County is apparently the second death...
IOC candidate Samaranch urges European lawmakers to invest in sport as a public health policy
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — IOC presidential candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. has urged European lawmakers to regard investing in sport as a public health policy in his first keynote speech of a six-month Olympic leadership campaign. “Let’s make this simple: Sport saves lives...
Tulane's public health school secures major gift to expand
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A longtime donor who has given more than $160 million to Tulane University is the new namesake of the university's expanding 112-year-old school of public health, Tulane officials announced Wednesday. The amount of Celia Scott Weatherhead's latest gift wasn't...
Fortified bouillon cubes are seen as a way to curb malnutrition in Africa as climate worsens hunger
IBADAN, Nigeria (AP) — In her cramped, dimly lit kitchen, Idowu Bello leans over a gas cooker while stirring a pot of eba, the thick starchy West African staple made from cassava root. Kidney problems and chronic exhaustion forced the 56-year-old Nigerian woman to retire from teaching, and she...
Boar's Head closing Virginia plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak
Boar’s Head said Friday it’s closing the Virginia plant tied to a deadly listeria outbreak. The Sarasota, Florida-based company said it will also permanently discontinue production of liverwurst, the product that was linked to the deaths of at least nine people and...
How a traveling 'health train' has become an essential source of free care in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thethiwe Mahlangu woke early on a chilly morning and walked through her busy South African township, where minibuses hooted to pick up commuters and smoke from sidewalk breakfast stalls hung in the air. Her eyes had been troubling her. But instead of going to...
Jon Stewart presses for a breakthrough to get the first 9/11 troops full care
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first U.S. troops to deploy after the Sept. 11 attacks are suffering from radiation exposure that the government has yet to officially recognize 23 years later. They are a final group of 9/11 service members that comedian Jon Stewart, a champion for first responders, can't...
Hundreds of places in the US said racism was a public health crisis. What's changed?
More than 200 cities and counties declared racism was a public health crisis in the past few years, mostly after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis in May 2020. Racial justice advocates said they finally felt heard by the quick swell of political will to address disparities like...
