988 Suicide Hotline Rolls Out; Fruity Snacks Could Help Mental Health
Media outlets cover a number of mental health issues, including explaining how the new 988 hotline system works. Separately, experts express different views on whether a ban on Juul nicotine products will actually impact the epidemic of younger people vaping — especially with other products on sale.
NPR:
The 988 Suicide Hotline Has Launched. Here's How It Works
People experiencing a mental health crisis have a new way to reach out for help in the U.S. Starting Saturday, they can simply call or text the numbers 9-8-8. (Chatterjee, 7/16)
Fortune:
Snacking On Fruit May Help Bolster Your Mental Health
Substituting your typical midday packaged snack for a bowl of fruit may help your overall well-being, a new study finds. In the study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, people who consumed a diet rich in fruits and vegetables reported a more positive psychological state and were less likely to have symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety compared to those who do not eat these nutrient-rich foods as regularly. (Mikhail, 7/15)
Florida Courier:
The Road To Stable Mental Health For Stay-At-Home Moms
With women leaving the workforce in droves, many Black mothers find themselves as stay-at home moms for the first time. Before this phenomenon, spurred by the pandemic, it was quite rare in recent history. (Claytor, 7/15)
In other public health news —
The Hill:
Experts Divided On Whether Taking Juul Off Market Would Dent Teen Vaping
Clifford Douglas, the director of the University of Michigan’s Tobacco Research Network and a professor at the University’s School of Public Health, said Juul should not be cast as the “poster child of evil” for the youth vaping epidemic. “Clearly Juul played a significant role, most visibly in 2018, in fueling an increase in youth experimentation with vaping products. By the same token … in the years since then, partly under duress from the FDA, they significantly changed their conduct,” Douglas said. (Dress, 7/17)
CNBC:
These Are The Top 10 Healthiest Communities In The U.S.: 2022 Report
Living in a big city may come with better job opportunities or more weekend activities — but it might not be the healthiest choice you can make. (Onque, 7/17)
NBC News:
Birth Control Options: More Nonhormonal Contraceptives Are Needed, Experts Say
The overturn of Roe v. Wade has put a spotlight on the availability of affordable, highly effective birth control in the U.S. Many younger women, however, don’t want their mothers’ contraceptives. (Hopkins, 7/17)
The Hill:
Skittles Accused In Lawsuit Of Failing To Stop Using Toxin
A woman filed a lawsuit against Mars Inc. this week accusing the multinational food company of failing to discontinue its use of a chemical toxin in its popular candy Skittles. In a lawsuit filed in California court on Thursday, Jenile Thames alleged she opened a Skittles package in April that still contained titanium dioxide (TiO2). (Oshin, 7/17)
NBC News:
Nail Technicians Demand Safer Working Conditions And Steadier Pay As Covid Aggravates Risks
Nail salon workers in New York are pushing for industrywide health and labor standards over fears that working conditions have become more dire amid the Covid pandemic. (Yam, 7/17)
Also —
KHN:
Conservative Blocs Unleash Litigation To Curb Public Health Powers
Through a wave of pandemic-related litigation, a trio of small but mighty conservative legal blocs has rolled back public health authority at the local, state, and federal levels, recasting America’s future battles against infectious diseases. Galvanized by what they’ve characterized as an overreach of covid-related health orders issued amid the pandemic, lawyers from the three overlapping spheres — conservative and libertarian think tanks, Republican state attorneys general, and religious liberty groups — are aggressively taking on public health mandates and the government agencies charged with protecting community health. (Weber and Barry-Jester, 7/18)
