Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Bariatric Surgery; Superbugs; And Prescribing Heroin
The New Yorker: Keeping It Off
Bariatric procedures—surgeries that treat obesity—remove no fat tissue; instead, they change the stomach and intestine so that a person feels full more quickly, or absorbs fewer calories, or both. There are four main types of procedure performed these days. Three of them (sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, and biliopancreatic diversion) involve considerable changes to the stomach and intestines, and eighty-five per cent of the time they result in sustained weight loss, usually of around half of a patient’s excess weight. The fourth procedure, the laparoscopic gastric band—which Roberts had in 2009, and Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, had, to limited effect, in 2013—is simpler, and reversible, since it merely constricts the neck of the stomach with a band. (Rivka Galchen, 9/18)
Vox: The UN Is Finally Treating Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs Like A Catastrophic Threat
In the history of the United Nations, the General Assembly has only held high-level meetings on health issues three times: for HIV, Ebola, and chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity. On Wednesday, September 21, world leaders will be holding one of these rare meetings on health: This time, it’s about the "nightmare" and "catastrophic threat" of antimicrobial resistance. (Julia Belluz, 9/20)
The Atlantic: CRISPR Could Usher In A New Era Of Delicious GMO Foods
A few weeks ago, Stefan Jansson, a Swedish plant biologist, sat down to a plate of pasta with cabbage harvested from his garden. This cabbage was like none any human had eaten before; its DNA had been edited via a much-hyped new gene-editing technique called CRISPR. Jansson’s meal was the first time anyone anywhere had professed to eating CRISPR-modified food—an entirely new category of GMOs. (Sarah Zhang, 9/19)
Pacific Standard: How Prescription Heroin Can Help Addicts
Canada lifted a ban on prescription heroin last week, opening the door for the widespread use of a controversial treatment for long-time heroin addicts. Politicians in the United States — which has seen similarly rising rates of heroin use and overdoses as Canada — are watching closely to see the impacts of this new allowance, and whether it might be a formula to follow. (Francie Diep, 9/16)
The Atlantic: Tiny Vampires
Mosquitoes don’t seem to inspire fear equal to their danger. They are the deadliest animals on the planet, more dangerous to humans even than humans themselves. But in areas like the U.S., where mosquito-borne viruses are less of a threat, the bugs are seen as more of an annoyance than the tiny vampires they really are, something to shoo away when it buzzes in your ear or lands on your arm. They aren’t objects of fear the way snakes or sharks are, but mosquitoes kill nearly 15 times more people than snakes, and 72,000 times more people than sharks. (Julie Beck, 9/15)
