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Nearly everyone — 99 percent of the global population — is exposed to unhealthy levels of tiny and harmful air pollutants, known as PM 2.5, according a new study released Monday in Lancet Planet Health. The findings underline a growing urgency for policymakers, public health officials and researchers to focus on curbing major sources of air pollution, such as emissions from power plants, industrial facilities and vehicles. (Patel, 3/6)

The Defense Department is continuing to conduct its own research into what the government calls “anomalous health incidents,” including what may have caused them and whether a weapon is responsible, according to five people familiar with the effort. The research into the mysterious ailment referred to as “Havana Syndrome” that has affected more than 1,000 government employees over the past several years is continuing despite an intelligence community assessment released last week that said there was no evidence to support the theory that the incidents were caused by a foreign adversary wielding a weapon. (Seligman and Banco, 3/6)

U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) has introduced legislation that would declare racism a public health crisis. She has been advocating for the House resolution since 2020. Hayes, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was joined by Tony Cárdenas of California, a Congressional Hispanic Caucus member, in introducing the legislation. (Ingram, 3/4)

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents 1,700 major food companies from General Mills to Pepsi, wrote a 54-page comment to the FDA in which it stated the proposed rule was overly restrictive and would result in a framework that would automatically disqualify a vast majority of packaged foods. (Reiley, 3/5)

Last month during their lunch period, Bowman elementary students handed over their finished lunch trays, complete with half-eaten bananas, bitten-into burritos, and mostly sipped cartons of milk. Katie Cueva and her team then launched into action, scooping handfuls of leftover chicken onto scales and calling out their weight to an adjacent researcher who typed the data into a laptop. (Krakow, 3/6)

The University of Massachusetts Amherst announced Saturday that the town’s local fire department dispatched 28 ambulances in response to calls involving a “significant number of alcohol intoxication cases” linked to “borgs” or “blackout rage gallons” after weekend parties in the area. (Yu, 3/7)