Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
EPA Bans On Toxic Chemicals In Consumer Products Indefinitely Postponed
The New York Times: E.P.A. Delays Bans On Uses Of Hazardous Chemicals
The Environmental Protection Agency will indefinitely postpone bans on certain uses of three toxic chemicals found in consumer products, according to an update of the Trump administration’s regulatory plans. Critics said the reversal demonstrated the agency’s increasing reluctance to use enforcement powers granted to it last year by Congress under the Toxic Substances Control Act. (Kaplan, 12/19)
Stat: Creating Electric Fields In The Brain Buys Glioblastoma Patients Extra Months
An unusual cancer treatment that creates electric fields in the brain via a bathing-cap-like device can buy a few more months of life for patients with glioblastoma, the aggressive brain cancer that is essentially always fatal, physicians reported on Tuesday in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. ... The Optune device, which costs about $21,000 a month, caused some skin irritation but otherwise has no serious side effects. It works by interfering with cell division; in the brain, cancer cells are almost the only ones that divide. (Begley, 12/19)
NPR: Stress From Racism May Be Causing African-American Babies To Die More Often
In February 2009, Samantha Pierce became pregnant with twins. It was a time when things were going really well in her life. She and her husband had recently gotten married. They had good jobs. "I was a kick-ass community organizer," says Pierce, who is African-American and lives in Cleveland. She worked for a nonprofit that fought against predatory lending. The organization was growing, and Pierce had been promoted to management. (Chatterjee and Davis, 12/20)
PBS NewsHour: Why Having More Friends Reduces Your Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes
To add to this growing list, researchers at the Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands found that people with larger social groups receive fewer type 2 diabetes diagnoses compared to socially isolated people. This research, published Monday in the journal BMC Public Health, suggests that promoting social interaction could prevent or treat type 2 diabetes. (Shivni, 12/19)
Stat: Experts Call For Use Of Sanofi’s Dengue Vaccine To Be Halted In Most Cases
The use of the world’s first dengue vaccine should be temporarily suspended except in limited circumstances because of concerns that it could put some people at heightened risk of severe disease, according to prominent public health experts. That step, they say, is necessary after studies showed that the vaccine, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur, can have an unfortunate effect: worsening — rather than preventing — future cases of dengue in some people who had not previously been infected with it. (Branswell, 12/19)
The Washington Post: A Model's Warning About Tampons And Toxic Shock Syndrome
Lauren Wasser woke up in a hospital bed 80 pounds heavier than she was supposed to be — filled with fluids to try to flush the toxins from her body. She struggled to move, and her feet felt like they were being lit with a lighter again and again. But the model did not know how dire her situation was — until she overheard a nurse discussing the surgery that would upend her life: Wasser, just 24 years old at the time, would need a below-the-knee amputation on her right leg. (Bever, 12/19)
Kaiser Health News: Doing More Harm Than Good? Epidemic Of Screening Burdens Nation’s Older Patients
Elena Altemus is 89 and has dementia. She often forgets her children’s names, and sometimes can’t recall whether she lives in Maryland or Italy. Yet Elena, who entered a nursing home in November, was screened for breast cancer as recently as this summer. “If the screening is not too invasive, why not?” asked her daughter, Dorothy Altemus. “I want her to have the best quality of life possible.” (Szabo, 12/20)
Los Angeles Times: Rich People Experience Happiness In A More Self-Centered Way Than Poor People, Study Suggests
Rich people are different from the rest of us — and that includes the way they experience happiness. Instead of feeling positive emotions that involve connections with other people, their happiness is more likely to be expressed as feelings that focus on themselves, new research shows. However, this difference doesn't necessarily mean that high-income people have more total happiness than people who earn less. The findings were published this week in the journal Emotion, and they seemed to fit a larger pattern, according to the psychologists who conducted the study. (Kaplan, 12/19)
The Washington Post: She Finally Had A Baby Naturally — With A 24-Year-Old Frozen Embryo.
When Tina Gibson got married seven years ago, the 26-year-old knew it was unlikely that she would have children naturally. Her husband, 33-year-old Benjamin Gibson, had cystic fibrosis, a condition that can make men infertile, the couple told CNN. The East Tennessee pair decided they would eventually adopt a child instead — and that they would foster several children in the meantime, until they were ready. (Eltagouri, 12/19)
