Mounting health concerns over teen vaping recently led the U.S. Congress to raise the purchasing age for all tobacco products—including e-cigarettes—from 18 to 21. Now a national ban on many flavored e-cigarette products went into effect on Feb. 6, 2020. The ban covers a number of what some health experts call "kid-friendly flavorings," such as mint and fruit. Still, other flavors, such as menthol and tobacco flavorings, remain legal. The prohibited products won't be allowed to return to the market until or unless they get clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. That agency review could take months or years. By May 2020, U.S. e-cigarette companies will have to receive approval from the FDA to determine whether they're allowed to stay on the market. A big ...
Decades of decisions fueled by structural racism have built a society with no health equity, where many groups lack a fair, just opportunity to be their healthiest. This is especially true in our transportation system. Past and present planning, policy, and funding decisions have failed to provide equitable, affordable, safe, convenient, and reliable transportation options for all, from the local to federal levels. Dismantling these inequities requires intentional effort. That’s why Smart Growth America conducted a field scan to explore promising opportunities to achieve equitable public infrastructure, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report spells out the six biggest challenges to health equity facing our transportation system (and the 40 ...
The future of humanity depends on building healthier food systems. Why? Because our current food and farming systems make us sick in these ways: Unhealthy working conditions
Contaminants in the water, soil, or air
Specific foods are unsafe for consumption
Unhealthy diets
Lack of access to adequate, acceptable food That is why the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES Food) published a report to identify five leverage points for building healthier food systems.
1. Promote Food Systems Thinking
It’s time to overcome political and scientific silos. It’s time to reconnect people with the realities of the food on their plates. The way food impacts health isn’t an isolated event. We need to promote “food system thinking” ...
Our food systems affect our health in good and bad ways. For example, some of the most severe health impacts of food systems trace back to some of the core industrial food and farming practices. These include chemical-intensive agriculture, intensive livestock production, and mass production and marketing of processed foods. That is why the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES Food) published a report to identify five ways our current food systems make us sick, seven challenges to understanding and addressing them, and five leverage points for building healthier food systems. Here are five ways our current food system makes us sick:
1. People Get Sick Because They Work in Unhealthy Conditions
Pesticides are responsible for an estimated 200,000 acute ...
Coffee is life for Hilmaris Centeno Girona. For many families in Puerto Rico, coffee is a childhood staple, and Centeno Girona has been an avid java drinker since childhood. Now she’s brewing up a passion for solving cancer health disparities and improving health knowledge among Latinos. Currently, Centeno-Girona is a master’s degree student and a clinical research coordinator at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Puerto Rico. Her research interest includes health disparities, cancer research, and social and behavioral sciences, in areas like colorectal cancer screening and liver cancer prevention. To further her experience and education, Centeno Girona applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. The Éxito! program, led ...
When Julia Maues was 29, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy who had a full head of hair—while she had no hair at all due to chemotherapy for breast cancer. During her pregnancy, she was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. Maues began chemo while pregnant, which is the standard of care. After her son was born in 2013, she underwent more tests she couldn’t have while pregnant. Doctors found that her cancer had already spread to her brain, liver, and bones. After trying different drugs and finding the right one, the cancer started to respond to the therapy. There were (and still are) many setbacks: Most drugs don’t penetrate the brain, many drugs harm the heart, the side effects can be debilitating, and her incurable illness has taken a huge emotional toll on ...
Police Chief Darren Gault believes kids deserve more support in avoiding risky behaviors. Gault knows when police officers interact positively with kids inside schools and out, they help kids stay in school and stay away from crime in Moline, Ill. (16.8% Latino). But officers already have so many unfunded mandates on their time. That is why Gault was so excited when he learned about the low-burden, no-cost “Handle With Care” program, which provides positive interactions for kids who experience traumatic events. Gault shared the program with Rachel Savage, superintendent of Moline-Coal Valley School District. Together, Gault and Savage—with help from a Salud America! Action Pack—are launching the Handle With Care.
People in Moline Face Stress, Violence
Gault and ...
Earlier this year, the EPA under Andrew Wheeler announced plans to address widespread lead corruption in U.S. public water supplies. In October, the agency released proposed revisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act's "Lead and Copper Rule." These modifications aim to decrease the pervasiveness of the toxin through a series of regulations — including limits on allowed levels of lead in water. Environmentalist groups—including Clean Water Action—are calling for further action. Mainly, they urge for a full replacement of lead services lines throughout the country. If these lines are left intact, they pose a serious concern to Latinos and Americans across the country who face dangerous lead exposure through their drinking water. "Everything else is small potatoes," Erik ...
As U.S. Latinos face a staggering 142% projected rise in cancer cases by 2030, UT Health San Antonio leaders gathered international cancer experts to publish a new book with innovative research and recommendations to reduce Latino cancer. The book, Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos in Springer Open Books, showcases results of the same-named conference that brought 300 researchers to San Antonio in 2018. A follow-up conference, set for Feb. 26-28, 2020, in San Antonio, is open for registration. Included in the new book are promising research findings on Latino cancer and strategies for new research covering the entire cancer continuum, from advances in risk assessment, prevention, screening, detection, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and policy. “Our book, ...
