Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
On Trump's Request, High Court Agrees To Hear Case On Fossil Fuel Lawsuits
The Washington Post: Supreme Court To Consider Whether States Can Sue Over Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take a case examining whether states and cities can sue fossil fuel companies over harms caused by climate change, a legal tactic modeled on the push to hold tobacco companies responsible for the health effects of smoking. The case is significant because dozens of municipalities are seeking billions in damages from oil and gas companies, often accusing them of misleading the public or hiding evidence about the links between greenhouse gases and climate risks. The companies deny any wrongdoing. (Jouvenal, 2/23)
On pesticides and chemicals —
Politico: RFK Jr. Says We Need More Herbicide Production, Stunning His Followers
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to endorse increased production of a chemical herbicide he has previously called a carcinogen has sparked a furious reaction among his followers and stressed the MAGA-MAHA alliance. The health secretary explained in a post to X on Sunday night he was backing a directive from President Donald Trump to boost manufacturing of agricultural chemicals he says “put Americans at risk” in order to reduce dependence on them from “adversarial nations,” alarming supporters of his Make America Healthy Again movement. (Reader, Burns and Brown, 2/23)
CIDRAP: One Month After Spill, Potomac River Still Testing Positive For E Coli, Staph
University of Maryland School of Public Health researchers continue to test water from the Potomac River one month after a wastewater pipe broke, dumping millions of gallons of raw sewage into the river, and find the river still has high levels of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, or staph. (Soucheray, 2/23)
San Francisco Chronicle: SF Bay Area Regulators Issue $10 Million Penalty Against Refinery
An East Bay refinery will pay $10 million to settle allegations stemming from more than 100 notices of environmental violations over four years, including multiple releases of harmful dust that blanketed nearby properties, local officials announced last week. (Park, 2/23)
River City Journalism Fund: How East St. Louis Became Ground Zero Against A Chemical Giant
Joe Harrison’s quest for justice against the Swiss agrochemical giant Syngenta began, officially at least, in August 2023 — just three months before his death. That’s when Harrison’s attorneys filed a lawsuit in the federal courthouse in East St. Louis, Illinois. Harrison owned a small cattle ranch in northeastern Oklahoma, and the lawsuit accuses Syngenta of failing to provide adequate warnings about the dangers of paraquat, the key ingredient in its blockbuster weedkiller Gramoxone. (Fitzgerald, 2/23)
On the health effects of microplastics —
NBC News: Microplastics Found In Prostate Tumors In Small Study
In a new study, researchers found microplastics deep inside prostate cancer tumors, raising more questions about the role the ubiquitous pollutants play in public health. The findings — which come from a small study of 10 men — were presented Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium and have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. (Cox, 2/23)
Fortune: Scientists Are Pushing Back On The Health Damage Microplastics May Cause, Saying People Are Obese
Don’t toss that scratched-up, questionably stained, borderline EPA Superfund site, 12-year-old cutting board just yet! Your vintage fermentation lab with knife marks might not be so dangerous after all. (Gioino, 2/24)
