Latest KFF Health News Stories
The New West: Smoke In The Sky, A Purifier At Home
Amid forecasts for increasingly unhealthy air due to wildfire smoke, residents in Western states are snatching up home air purifiers. With good reason.
Incendios modernos presentan nuevos riesgos de salud para los bomberos
Los bomberos se enfrentan a una peligrosa combinación: la exposición al intenso calor producido por la quema de vegetación, y a los combustibles y carcinógenos más comunes en los incendios urbanos.
Modern Wildfires Pose New Health Risks For Firefighters
Studies long have linked urban firefighters’ on-the-job exposure to toxins with an increased risk of cancer. More recently, as urban-style development reaches into once remote stretches of California’s mountains and forests, wildfire crews are exposed to fuels and carcinogens more typical of urban fires. We talk with Tony Stefani of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation about the health risks that poses for firefighters.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Cue The Drug Price Debate
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee unveiled their long-awaited proposal to try to rein in prescription drug costs, even as bipartisan leaders of the other Senate committee that oversees health announced it would not bring its drug price bill to the Senate floor until fall. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus court actions on health issues.
Why It’s So Hard To Predict How Much Funding 9/11 First Responders Need
Eighteen years ago, most first responders were not thinking about their future health when they spent hours searching “The Pile” for the remains of terror victims. Today, their illnesses are a slow-moving epidemiological nightmare that has been as difficult for scientists to study as it has been easy for politicians to overlook.
¿Tu médico te ha preguntado sobre el cambio climático?
La Organización Mundial de la Salud llama al cambio climático “el mayor desafío para la salud del siglo XXI”, y una docena de sociedades médicas estadounidenses instan a la acción para limitar el calentamiento global.
Has Your Doctor Asked You About Climate Change?
Some physicians say connecting the consequences of climate change — heat waves, more pollen and longer allergy seasons — to health helps them better care for patients.
‘Climate Grief’: Fears About The Planet’s Future Weigh On Americans’ Mental Health
Although there’s no official clinical diagnosis, the psychiatric and psychological communities have names for the phenomenon of worrying about the Earth’s fate: “climate distress,” “climate grief,” “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety.” The concept also is gradually making its way into the public consciousness in television shows and movies.
A medida que hace más calor, nuevo impulso para proteger a los trabajadores
Defensores de los trabajadores claman por normas federales que protejan la seguridad de los trabajadores que deben estar al aire libre en veranos de infierno.
As Temperatures Climb, A New Push To Keep Workers Safe
Over the past decade, more than 350 workers nationwide have died from heat-related illness, and tens of thousands have had heat-related problems serious enough that they missed at least one day of work. Proposed federal legislation, modeled on California regulations, would create the first national standards for protecting workers from heat-related stress.
Un millón de californianos no tienen agua potable. ¿En dónde viven?
A casi un millón de personas en el estado se les recomienda no beber agua del grifo porque las autoridades locales no cumplen con los estándares para mantenerla limpia.
A Million Californians Don’t Have Clean Drinking Water. Where Do They Live?
More than 10% of residents in 12 California counties don’t have safe drinking water, according to a California Healthline analysis of state water data. State lawmakers have pledged $130 million a year to help bring clean drinking water to Californians who need it.
Calor extremo y violencia, más amenazas para los que esperan asilo en la frontera
Ya no son hombres solos en busca de trabajo. Familias enteras buscan asilo en los Estados Unidos, y deben esperar en refugios atestados y zonas de violencia al sur de la frontera.
Heat And Violence Pose Twin Threats For Asylum-Seekers Waiting At Border
For Central American migrants who follow U.S. government rules for pursuing asylum, conditions on the Mexican side of the border are sweltering, filled with anxiety and illness. Few people have a clear timetable for when it will get any better.
State Bans Pesticide Linked To Developmental Problems
California officials announced a ban on chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that has been linked to lower IQs, lower birth weights and other developmental issues in children, even as the federal government fights to protect it.
California prohíbe pesticida vinculado a problemas de desarrollo
Varios estudios han relacionado la exposición prenatal al clorpirifos con bajo peso al nacer, reducción del coeficiente intelectual, trastorno por déficit de atención y síntomas del autismo en niños.
Booker’s Argument For Environmental Justice Stays Within The Lines
He didn’t overstate the relationship between hazardous waste sites and birth defects and autism.
Estados debaten prohibir popular pesticida que afectaría el desarrollo infantil
Varios estudios han relacionado la exposición prenatal al clorpirifos con disminución de peso al nacer, bajo coeficiente intelectual, déficit de atención y otros problemas de desarrollo en niños.
States Weigh Banning A Widely Used Pesticide Even Though EPA Won’t
The pesticide chlorpyrifos has been linked to developmental problems in children. Some state and federal lawmakers want the chemical banned, but federal regulators are fighting to keep it on the market.
Heavy Rains, End Of Drought Could Help Keep West Nile Virus Subdued — For Now
Scientists say drought can spur transmission of the disease and that wetter winters since 2015 have helped reduce the number of infections in California. In the long term, however, climate change could mean more drought — and more infections.
