Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Roundup Ruling Has A Terminology Problem; Transgender Care Needs More Science, Less Politics
Stat: Roundup, Cancer, And The Difference Between Scientific, Legal Causation
When the Supreme Court handed Monsanto a major win in Roundup litigation on Thursday, the headlines sounded like a scientific event: a case about whether Roundup causes cancer. But Monsanto v. Durnell did not settle that question. The court held that federal pesticide law preempts a state failure-to-warn claim when the Environmental Protection Agency has not required a cancer warning on the product label. (Alex Smolak, 6/27)
The Washington Post: Banning Gender-Affirming Care Doesn’t Protect Children — It Makes It Harder To Help Them
The real cure for bad science is better clinical trials, not lawsuits. (Megan McArdle, 6/28)
Stat: Critics Of Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth Miss Something Important
I am a plastic surgeon who rebuilds faces after car accidents, helps cancer patients breathe, and restores infants’ ability to eat and smile. Yet what draws the most notice is my work transforming masculine features into feminine ones, and vice versa. (Kavitha Ranganathan, 6/29)
The New York Times: We’re Getting America’s Children Hooked On Gambling
Shawn Kelly is a pediatrician in Ottawa who specializes in adolescent addiction medicine. Because he’s one of the few doing this work in his part of Canada, teenagers come to him with a host of problem behaviors, from opioid abuse to compulsive video gaming. (Jessica Grose, 6/27)
The Boston Globe: The Obesity Curve Finally Bent. Now Comes The Hard Part.
The decline in obesity rates is a medical triumph. But millions remain locked out by high costs, uneven insurance coverage, and bureaucratic barriers. (Ashish K. Jha, 6/29)
