Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Regulators Link Amazon's Warehouse Work Pace To Injuries
Reveal: Amazon’s Relentless Pace Is Injuring Workers And Violating Law, Washington State Regulator Says
Amazon is violating the law by pressuring warehouse employees to work at speeds that exacerbate injuries without adequate time to recover, state safety regulators concluded earlier this month after an inspection of the commerce giant’s DuPont, Washington, fulfillment center. Regulators found a “direct connection” between the incidence of injuries at the warehouse and Amazon’s expectation that warehouse employees “maintain a very high pace of work” or else face discipline. “The employer’s current approach has resulted in hazardous exposures in the workplace,” the citation states. (Long and Evans, 5/25)
Michigan Radio: Michigan Shows The Challenge Of Replacing Lead Pipes
President Biden has proposed a jobs and infrastructure plan of more than $2 trillion that would set aside billions to replace the nation's lead water pipes. When he announced his American Jobs Plan in April, the president pointed to Flint's troubles as a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting infrastructure decay. ... But Flint is also an example of how to fix the problem — and the many challenges along the way that could slow progress. (Carmody, 5/25)
KCRW: High Cost Of Los Angeles Homeless Camp Raises Eyebrows And Questions
In Los Angeles, city officials grappling with an ongoing homelessness crisis have turned to an idea that for decades was politically unpopular and considered radical: a government-funded tent encampment. But the high cost of LA's first sanctioned campground — more than $2,600 per tent, per month — has advocates worried it will come at the expense of more permanent housing. (Scott, 5/25)
Scientific American: The Maximum Human Life Span Is 150 Years, New Research Estimates
Yet what if death simply cannot be hacked and longevity will always have a ceiling, no matter what we do? Researchers have now taken on the question of how long we can live if, by some combination of serendipity and genetics, we do not die from cancer, heart disease or getting hit by a bus. They report that when omitting things that usually kill us, our body’s capacity to restore equilibrium to its myriad structural and metabolic systems after disruptions still fades with time. And even if we make it through life with few stressors, this incremental decline sets the maximum life span for humans at somewhere between 120 and 150 years. In the end, if the obvious hazards do not take our lives, this fundamental loss of resilience will do so, the researchers conclude in findings published on May 25 in Nature Communications. (Willingham, 5/25)
Health News Florida: CDC To Study Health Effects Of Cyanotoxin Exposure From Blue-Green Algae
In 2018, Southwest Florida suffered through two massive harmful algal blooms: the red tide bloom that persisted off the Gulf coast and the blue-green algae bloom that started in Lake Okeechobee and choked the Caloosahatchee River and its estuary. While research has been conducted on how far cyanotoxins produced by the blue-green algae can travel through the air, health officials don’t have a clear understanding of possible health effects from breathing them. (Kiniry, 5/25)
Michigan Radio: Some Home Garden Fertilizers Contain PFAS
If you buy some kinds of bagged fertilizer for your garden, you might be getting more than you want. The Ecology Center and Sierra Club sampled different kinds of fertilizers made from biosolids. That’s the sludge left at a wastewater treatment plant after water is cleaned up. Almost all of them had PFAS compounds in them. Some of them were being marketed as "organic" or "natural." (Graham, 5/25)
