Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Loneliness Is Officially A Public Health Crisis, Declares A California County
NBC News: Silicon Valley County Declares Loneliness A Health Emergency
Loneliness is officially a health emergency in California's San Mateo County, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and includes part of Silicon Valley. The county's Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday that declared loneliness a public health crisis and pledged to explore measures that promote social connection in the community. It’s the first county in the U.S. to make such a declaration. (Bendix, 2/2)
AP: Lots Of Cities Have Anti-Crime Laws. A Minnesota City Used Theirs Against People With Mental Illness
The Minneapolis suburb of Anoka sits where Minnesota’s meandering 150-mile (241-kilometer) Rum River ambles into the mighty Mississippi. Like other communities, it touts itself as an agreeably placid place to live. But last year, a federal investigation found Anoka illegally discriminated against residents with mental health disabilities, saying the city gave landlords weekly reports over five years revealing personal medical information of renters who received multiple emergency calls to their homes. (Hanna, 2/4)
The Washington Post: New D.C. Law Eliminates Waiting Period Prior To Divorce; Some Say It Will Help Domestic Violence Survivors
A new D.C. law eliminates a waiting period before divorce, a change spurred by victim advocates who say it will particularly help domestic violence survivors seeking to separate from an abusive spouse. D.C. law previously allowed a couple to divorce after six months of living separately, only if both parties mutually and voluntarily agreed to it. If a spouse contested the divorce, D.C. law required the couple to remain legally married for a year. (Silverman, 2/4)
Fox News: Burnout And Overtraining Are Forcing Young Athletes To Drop Out Of Sports, New Report Reveals
With some 70% of teenagers and children dropping out of organized sports by age 13, experts are chiming in on potential reasons for early burnout. The dropout stat was revealed in a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) — "Overuse Injuries, Overtraining, and Burnout in Young Athletes" — published in the journal Pediatrics on Jan. 22. (McGorry, 2/3)
NPR: Masturbation Abstinence Is Popular Online. Doctors And Therapists Are Worried
More than two decades of growing internet use has surfaced fears about the social and psychological impacts of nearly unfettered access to pornography. But many researchers and sex therapists worry that the online communities that have formed in response to these fears often endorse inaccurate medical information, exacerbate mental health problems and, in some cases, overlap with extremist and hate groups. (Hagen, 2/3)
On psychedelics and Neuralink —
AP: As Investors Pile Into Psychedelics, Idealism Gives Way To Pharma Economics
Money is pouring into the fledgling psychedelic medicine industry, with dozens of startup companies vying to be among the first to sell mind-expanding drugs for depression, addiction and other mental health conditions. While psychedelics are still illegal under federal law, companies are jostling to try and patent key ingredients found in magic mushrooms, ayahuasca and other substances that have been used underground for decades or — in some cases — for millennia by indigenous cultures. (Perrone, 2/3)
NBC News: Behind Elon Musk’s Brain Chip: Decades Of Research And Lofty Ambitions To Meld Minds With Computers
It wasn’t the first tiny device to be implanted in a human brain. Still, Elon Musk’s announcement on Monday turned heads in the small community of scientists who have spent decades working to treat certain disabilities and conditions by tapping directly into the body’s nervous system. “Getting a device into a person is no small feat,” said Robert Gaunt, an associate professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. “But I don’t think even Elon Musk would have taken on a project like this if it were not for the research and demonstrated capability over decades in neuroscience.” (Chow, 2/4)
The Mercury News: Neuralink Brain Implant: Elon Musk's Deep Dive Into Human Experimentation
The secrecy worries the research community, which has long advocated for accountability. “This is not like a product launch, We’re talking about human experiments here,” said McGill University’s Jonathan Kimmelman, who studies the introduction of novel medical technologies.“Once you’ve entered the realm of doing human research, you now have a set of expectations and obligations. One of them is transparency,” he said. “You have to be able to establish that the benefits of doing research are sufficient to outweigh the risks and burdens.” (Krieger, 2/3)
