Tag: public health
Report examines Romney emails, advocacy for individual mandate in Mass. healthcare
When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he passed an ambitious healthcare reform law that President Barack Obama says was the model for Obamacare. While Romney has criticized the individual mandate contained in the federal law, he was a major proponent of it in Massachusetts....
Reading of Vagina Monologues planned after Michigan state rep. silenced for uttering 'V-word'
A Michigan State Representative has lost her speaking privileges on the floor of that legislative body. She's accused of not maintaining decorum when she used the word vagina in her speech over a women's reproductive rights bill....
New research says commonly used chemicals are partly to blame for obesity
Some researchers, including Bruce Blumberg from the University of California, Irvine, believe chemicals we’re unwittingly exposed to could be making us fat. Blumberg said if the timing is right, exposure to these chemicals may be instructing stem cells to become fat cells....
New study suggests children born via C-section twice as likely to become obese
A new study from a program at the Harvard Medical School reveals that children born via C-section may be twice as likely to become obese by age three than those born via vaginal delivery. However, more research is needed to determine whether there is a causal relationship, or something else causing the correlation....
Los Angeles neighborhoods stand up for new pollution regulations
Environmentalists in Los Angeles say they have a new approach to cleaning up some of the city's most polluted neighborhoods. The pilot project called Clean Up Green Up aligns environmental interests with those of local businesses....
Bioethicist sees promise in home HIV test, but raises serious questions
The FDA is considering whether to approve the use of an at-home HIV test. But, as a bioethicist points out, the test doesn't come with counseling for people who test positive or negative and it's only 93 percent accurate....
Greek healthcare system struggling to cope under weight of budget cuts
Greek hospitals have been accused of threatening not to release babies after they're born, unless their parents pay the bill for the delivery. Others are accused of withholding birth certificates. All of this because the Greek budget crisis has eroded health insurance coverage and hospital budget cuts....
Whooping cough epidemic reported in Washington State
Whooping cough is not a disease many Americans worry about. It's become extremely rare because of agressive vaccination efforts. But, now, for a variety of reasons, a new outbreak has emerged in Washington State, which has left doctors scrambling to contain it....
More than 40 percent of Americans expected to be obese by 2030
New research suggests that some 40 percent of Americans will not just be overweight, but actually in the obese category within the next 20 years. That's unless we do something about it and Jen Petersen has ideas. But if that fails, more Americans will be dependent on Keith Davis and his Goliath Coffins in their death....
FDA panel recommends approval of prophylactic use of HIV prevention drug
Truvada, long used to treat people already infected with HIV, may soon be available as another means of preventing initial HIV infection. That was the recommendation of an FDA advisory panel that has been looking into the idea....
