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The Biden administration said Tuesday it plans to develop a rule requiring tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes sold in the United States to minimally or nonaddictive levels, an effort that, if successful, could have an unprecedented effect in slashing smoking-related deaths and threaten a politically powerful industry. The initiative was included in the administration’s “unified agenda,” a compilation of planned federal regulatory actions released twice a year. The spring agenda was released Tuesday. (McGinley, 6/21)

The plan, unveiled Tuesday as part of the administration’s agenda of regulatory actions, likely wouldn’t take effect for several years. The Food and Drug Administration plans to publish a proposed rule in May 2023, though the agency cautioned that date could change. Then the agency would invite public comments before publishing a final rule. Tobacco companies could then sue, which could further delay the policy’s implementation. “Nicotine is powerfully addictive,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement Tuesday. “Lowering nicotine levels to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels would decrease the likelihood that future generations of young people become addicted to cigarettes and help more currently addicted smokers to quit.” (Maloney, 6/21)

The headwinds are fierce. Tobacco companies have already indicated that any plan with significant reductions in nicotine would violate the law. And some conservative lawmakers might consider such a policy another example of government overreach, ammunition that could spill over into the midterm elections. (Jewett and Jacobs, 6/21)

The Biden administration says it is writing a plan that will order cigarette makers to cut cigarette nicotine levels to lower addiction. It is part of Biden’s plan to cut cancer deaths by 50% in 25 years. But don’t expect the order to take effect quickly — perhaps for years or maybe ever. First, there is the regulatory requirement that the Food and Drug Administration publishes the rule, invites public comments then publishes a final rule. Then, almost certainly, tobacco companies will sue to stop it. That could tie up the regulation for years. (Tompkins, 6/22)

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Tuesday that a group health plan in Ohio didn’t violate federal law by offering limited coverage for outpatient dialysis in a case brought by DaVita, one of the largest dialysis providers in the United States. The court sided with Marietta Memorial Hospital’s employee health plan, with Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh writing in the majority opinion that while the plan pays lower reimbursement rates for dialysis than for other treatments, it does not discriminate against patients with end-stage renal disease because it offers the same level of coverage for all patients with kidney disease in keeping with federal law. (Hellmann, 6/21)

Patients with kidney failure face a murky future if they have insurance coverage through a job, as the Supreme Court on Tuesday said employer health plans can make all dialysis providers out-of-network. The ruling is significant, as it potentially opens the door for other businesses to make similar changes to their health coverage, which could result in workers who have kidney failure dropping their private plans and jumping onto Medicare. (Herman, 6/21)

The Supreme Court has rejected Bayer’s appeal to shut down thousands of lawsuits claiming that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. The justices on Tuesday left in place a $25 million judgment in favor of Edwin Hardeman, a California man who says he developed cancer from using Roundup for decades to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his San Francisco Bay Area property. Hardeman’s lawsuit had served as a test case for thousands of similar lawsuits. (Sherman, 6/21)

Although the Environmental Protection Agency has approved glyphosate products as safe since 1991, the EPA has now proposed allowing California to place a cancer-warning label on Roundup sold in the state, as long as the label also notes the EPA’s own safety findings. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as a likely cause of human cancer in 2015, and California health officials sought to attach a warning label in 2018 but were blocked by a federal judge. Bayer has announced that it is replacing glyphosate with another active ingredient in Roundup sales for U.S. home and garden use, starting next year, while continuing to sell the current version of the product for agricultural use. (Egelko, 6/21)

Hundreds of judges across the United States said U.S. Supreme Court justices should be bound by a code of ethics – and many said they were shocked to find out that wasn't already the case. The National Judicial College surveyed judges across the nation on whether the Supreme Court should be held to a higher standard. The survey came amid a contentious and high-profile U.S. Supreme Court calendar that has involved questions of bias, as well as investigations into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' family ties to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Abdollah, 6/22)

Two key senators on Wednesday released a widely anticipated bill aimed at lowering insulin prices and capping monthly copays under commercial and Medicare insurance plans. The move is the next step in advancing one of Democrats’ most popular provisions from a stalled reconciliation bill ahead of a tough midterm election. In March, the House passed its own standalone version sponsored by Democrats to cap insulin copays. (Clason, 6/22)

The bill would place a $35 monthly cap on the cost of insulin for patients with private insurance as well as those enrolled in Medicare, though it wouldn’t afford the same protections to the uninsured. The bill also seeks to make insulin more accessible by cracking down on previous authorization requirements that can force patients to jump through hurdles to get insurers to help pay for medications. (Roubein and Romm, 6/22)

The measure faces a tough path to passage in the Senate, though, if it gets a vote. In addition to Susan Collins (R-Maine), nine other Republicans would have to support the bill to clear a 60-vote threshold. (Sullivan, 6/22)  

Amid concerns that patent reviewers disregard competitive effects on prescription drugs, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to require the Food and Drug Administration and the Patent & Trademark Office to create a task force to boost coordination. The goal is for the agencies to share information about their respective review procedures, improve communication about scientific trends, make it possible to swap confidential information, and determine whether pharmaceutical companies are providing accurate representations about their products. (Silverman, 6/21)

Senate negotiators have reached a final agreement on a narrow bipartisan gun safety bill that could become the first gun control measure to pass Congress in decades. The legislation resulted from negotiations among 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats, and it is expected to have more than enough votes to overcome the 60-vote threshold to clear a filibuster in the Senate, which is divided 50-50 between the parties. House leaders are expected to quickly begin consideration of the bill and President Biden has encouraged Congress to pass the bill without delay. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have both announced support for the bill and both say they will vote for it. (Snell, 6/21)

The bill would also close the "boyfriend loophole," a legislative gray space that leaves some women vulnerable to gun-related domestic violence. People convicted of domestic violence, or who are subject to a domestic violence restraining order, can't purchase firearms under the current law. But that law only applies if the abuser is a spouse, ex-spouse, co-parent or someone with whom the victim has lived. Women who don't live with their partners aren't protected from them under existing law. (Lee, 6/21)

Every Senate Democrat was expected to support the bill, even though it didn’t include more far-reaching reforms that many of them support, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and universal background checks.  The vote shakes up the politics of the gun violence debate in Congress as many of the Republicans who voted to proceed to the bill have A or A-plus NRA ratings.  Here are the 14 Republicans who voted yes. (Bolton, 6/21)

KHN: Senate Deal Raises Hopes For A Reduction In Gun Suicides 

A bipartisan U.S. Senate agreement negotiated after high-profile mass shootings in Texas, New York, and Oklahoma lacks gun access restrictions that advocates say are needed to prevent such attacks. But the deal’s focus on mental health has raised hopes — and doubts — that it will help reduce gun suicides, particularly in rural Western states with wide-open gun laws. Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho perennially rank highest among states in gun suicide rates. And despite research that concludes stringent firearm safety laws help curb gun violence, lawmakers in those states have long rejected restrictions that experts say would reverse those decades-long trends. (Graf, 6/22)

The head of the Texas State Police on Tuesday offered a pointed and emphatic rebuke of the police response to a shooting last month at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, calling it “an abject failure” that ran counter to decades of training. In his comments before a special State Senate committee in Austin, Steven McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety, provided the most complete public account yet of his agency’s month-old investigation and a forceful argument that officers at the scene could have — and should have — confronted the gunman without delay after arriving. Just minutes after a gunman began shooting children on May 24, he said, the officers at the scene had enough firepower and protective equipment to storm into the classrooms. (Goodman, 6/21)

On Monday, KVUE and its news partners at the Austin American-Statesman exclusively obtained surveillance footage from inside Robb Elementary School on the day of the May 24 shooting. The footage shows that multiple officers were inside the building with rifles and at least one ballistic shield, 19 minutes after the gunman arrived. They didn't enter the classroom the shooter was inside for nearly another hour. (6/20)

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steven McCraw revealed that the husband of slain elementary teacher Eva Mireles tried to save her but was barred from doing so. Ruben Ruiz is a police officer for the school district and was on the scene after the gunman entered the school and opened fire. McCraw said Mireles called Ruiz and told him that “she had been shot and was dying.” “And what happened to him, is he tried to move forward into the hallway,” McCraw said. “He was detained and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene.” (Patton, 6/21)

The mayor of Uvalde, Texas, visibly frustrated with the constantly changing information released about what happened the day 19 children and two teachers were gunned down, lashed out Tuesday, telling residents at a city council meeting he's tired of being kept in the dark about what evidence has been uncovered. At the meeting, Mayor Don McLaughlin also said Robb Elementary, where the massacre occurred May 24, will be razed. (Flores, Levenson and Riess, 6/22)

Evolving efforts to curb gun violence in Houston were on full display Tuesday at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, where doctors, researchers and community leaders discussed their role in addressing the worsening public health crisis of firearm injuries and deaths. The gathering signaled a solidifying county-wide response to what has become the leading cause of traumatic injury and death among children. The all-day event was especially timely, coming on the heels of the worst school shooting in Texas history that killed 19 students and 2 teachers. (Gill, 6/21)

To better understand how students and staff are taught to respond to active shooter situations nationwide, USA TODAY contacted every state and the 25 largest school districts. The findings show active shooter trainings vary widely, lack oversight and may do more harm than good. ... Research shows drills can have negative mental health impacts for students, teachers and families. But researchers say it’s hard to study whether drills actually help save lives. (Hauck, Quintana, Wong, Menchaca, Linnane, and Delgado, 6/21)

President Joe Biden visited a vaccination clinic Tuesday to celebrate that virtually all Americans can now get a COVID-19 shot Tuesday after the authorization of vaccines for kids under 5 over the weekend. Biden visited a vaccination clinic in Washington, where some of the first shots were given to young children in the last major age group ineligible for vaccines, hailing it as an important pandemic milestone that will support the country’s recovery. While anyone aged six months and up is now eligible for vaccines, the administration is cautioning that it expects the pace of shots for the youngest kids to be slower than older ones, as parents are more likely to rely on their children’s pediatricians to administer them. (Miller and Boak, 6/21)

Health workers across the United States began to give Covid-19 vaccinations to children 6 months to 5 years old on Tuesday, another milestone in the coronavirus pandemic that came 18 long months after adults first began to receive injections against the virus. But the response from parents was notably muted, with little indication of the excitement and long lines that greeted earlier vaccine rollouts. (Goldstein, 6/21)

Eighteen months after a New York nurse received the first U.S. coronavirus vaccination, immunizations became available Tuesday for millions of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, the last group of Americans to be afforded that protection. Pediatricians, drugstores, hospitals and community vaccination centers began to administer first doses of two vaccines to children: the Pfizer-BioNTech product to children ages 6 months through 4 years; and the Moderna vaccine to children 6 months through 5 years old. (Bernstein and Wu, 6/21)

Some parents say the vaccine trials conducted among young children were too small to satisfy their safety concerns, said Grant Paulsen, an infectious disease pediatrician and lead researcher for the children under 5 vaccine trials at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Though adult trials included more than 70,000 people for both vaccines, 5,000 children received at least one dose of the Moderna vaccine and 3,000 received Pfizer. Although health experts saw no signs of safety concerns in the clinical trials, they said rare side effects could turn up as more children are vaccinated, just as with other pediatric vaccines. (Rodriguez and Stanton, 6/21)

Over the last weekend, federal officials authorized the use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations in children ages 6 months to 4 years old. Iowa health experts are encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as the pediatric vaccine doses arrive in the state. "In both vaccines, what we see is young children are able to produce similar levels of what we call neutralizing antibodies with these vaccine schedules, just the same as adolescents and young adults," said Joel Waddell, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines. (Krebs, 6/21)

Scheduling a COVID-19 vaccine for the littlest children proved to be somewhat of a moving target for Indiana parents Tuesday. Mid-morning the Indiana Department of Health posted a map of sites that were offering vaccine for those under 5, but the site had not yet updated to accept appointments. Initially the department said vaccine would be offered on a walk-in basis. A few hours later, the ourshot.in.gov scheduling website directed parents to contact vaccine sites directly or call the state's 211(866-211-9966) line before visiting a clinic. Health officials encourage parents to check if the vaccine is available and if appointments are required at the site that they want to visit. (Rudavsky, 6/21)

Trypanophobia, as the fear of needles is technically called, is common — with some studies estimating it can affect most kids under 10. Some children get so worked up just by thinking of a needle or blood that their heart rate and blood pressure rises, and then drops rapidly, causing them to faint. The good news is that parents and caregivers can help children overcome their fears if they understand the best ways to offer support. Here’s how. (Heard-Garris, 10/26)

Moderna's COVID-19 variant vaccine will be ready to ship in August as the company has been making shots ahead of approval, Chief Executive Stephane Bancel told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that the only bottleneck to supply was a regulatory one. "Our goal is as early as August given we're going to file all the data in June, by the end of June... hopefully in the August timeframe, the vaccine is authorised," Bancel said in an interview. (6/22)

When the Omicron variant surge hit at the end of 2021, which came with breakthrough COVID-19 infections in vaccinated people, Israel was one of the first countries to offer fourth vaccine doses for those age 60 and older. Yesterday, Israeli researchers reported that a fourth dose was linked to significant protection against severe outcomes in hospitalized patients. (6/21)

"COVID-19 rebound," the relapse of symptoms that occurred in some patients treated with Paxlovid, may actually be caused by insufficient drug exposure, according to a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had issued a health advisory warning individuals about "COVID-19 rebound" where symptoms of COVID infection returned in some patients after a course of treatment with the medication Paxlovid. Paxlovid is currently the leading oral medication used to prevent severe cases of COVID-19 in high-risk patients, according to the researchers. (McGorry, 6/21)

Women are significantly more likely than men to experience long COVID, with symptoms that follow a distinct clinical pattern, researchers reported today. They said more efforts are needed to explore sex differences in outcomes, including greater risks of exposure for some jobs. The researchers from the Johnson & Johnson Office of the Chief Medical Officer reported their findings yesterday in Current Medical Research and Opinion, a peer-reviewed journal. (Schnirring, 6/21)

Lucky. Thankful. Surprised. Nervous. Invincible. These are some of the words used to describe how it feels to be among the ever-dwindling minority of Americans who have yet to contract COVID-19 — at least not to their knowledge. More than two years into the pandemic, almost 60 percent of Americans — including 75 percent of children — have contracted the virus at least once. The shrinking segment of the populace who hasn’t say they feel a mixture of gratitude and fatalism over what seems inevitable: that sooner or later, the virus will come for them, too. (Caldera, 6/21)

Researchers around the country are investigating, and so far have found hints of possible trouble but no firm answers. “The jury is still totally out in terms of whether this virus affects the fetus,” said Dr. Dani Dumitriu, a pediatrician and neuroscientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. “And the jury is going to be out for the next several decades.” Developmental problems triggered in the womb typically don’t show up for years. Autism is usually diagnosed around age 2, attention deficit disorder at school age or later, and schizophrenia in adolescence or young adulthood. With COVID-19 so new, the research so far has brought only tentative findings about children age 1 or younger. (Freyer, 6/19)

In another sign that the world of entertainment is returning to pre-pandemic normal, Broadway theaters will no longer demand audiences wear masks starting in July. The Broadway League announced Tuesday that mask-wearing will be optional next month onward, a further loosening of restrictions. In May, most Broadway theaters lifted the requirement that audience members provide proof of vaccination to enter venues. (Kennedy, 6/21)

In announcing this week that she has tested positive for COVID-19, “Jeopardy!” host Mayim Bialik seemed to expect that past controversies over her statements about vaccines were likely to come up. “Hey everybody, not sure if this is clickbait or not but I have a COVID,” the former “Big Bang Theory” star, 46, said in a video posted to her Instagram account Monday. She emphasized that she has been vaccinated and received booster shots, with the caption for her video including the hashtags “#vaxxed,” “#boosted.” Bialik’s diagnosis comes two months after she again clarified her position in favor of vaccines in an interview with the Daily Beast. “I never said to not get vaccinated,” said Bialik, who also is a neuroscientist. “I absolutely believe vaccines work and have always said that.” (Ross, 6/21)

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a bill to criminalize abortion in Louisiana, with no exceptions for rape or incest, if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its historic Roe v. Wade decision. Senate Bill 342 by Democratic Monroe Sen. Katrina Jackson built on Louisiana's 2006 "trigger law" to outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court ever reverses Roe, which seems possible after a draft decision doing so was leaked in May. Jackson's bill specifically exempts pregnant women from prosecution but doubles the 2006 penalties for doctors or others who terminate pregnancies to a maximum $100,000 fine and 10 years in jail. (Hilburn, 6/21)

Iowa abortion providers are not required to impose a 24-hour waiting period before performing an abortion — yet. The Iowa Attorney General's office said Tuesday that the waiting period at the center of a state Supreme Court decision last week did not immediately take effect. Instead, the law will take effect on July 8, three weeks after the Supreme Court ruling. The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled in the case of a 2020 law that required a 24-hour waiting period between a first appointment and an abortion procedure. (Akin, 6/21)

Republican legislators in Wisconsin were poised Wednesday to meet in a special session Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called to repeal the battleground state’s dormant abortion ban and quickly adjourn without taking any action. Wisconsin adopted a ban on abortion except to save the mother’s life in 1849, year after the territory became a state. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that essentially legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 nullified the ban. (Richmond, 6/21)

Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar will narrowly get to claim the Democratic nomination for Texas’s 28th Congressional District after a contentious reelection battle against attorney Jessica Cisneros. ... Cuellar, the lone antiabortion Democrat in the U.S. House, had the support of top-ranking House Democrats such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), while Cisneros was endorsed by a new generation of more liberal Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.). (Alfaro, 6/21)

In every poll running in every targeted House district around the country, House Democrats’ campaign arm is testing how voters feel about the Supreme Court likely overturning Roe v. Wade. The group’s strategists have drafted fundraising emails that will blast out to millions of supporters in the hours after the decision comes out. They’ve cut video clips of what GOP candidates say about abortion. They’re developing analytics models to find and target voters who back abortion rights. (Schneider, 6/21)

More than a quarter of the nearly 800 abortion clinics in the U.S. would quickly shut down if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, according to newly released research. The nation's highest court is expected to issue a decision by the end of the month on whether to upend 50 years of legal precedent guaranteeing the right to abortion in the U.S. A draft opinion signaling that the top court intends to overrule federal protections for the procedure was leaked by Politico in early May. (Gibson, 6/21)

Under a nurse station desk in the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's Water Street Health Clinic, an unassuming stack of "recovery journals" sits in a paper bag. They've been carefully kept by the clinic's staff, which stopped putting the notebooks out in the clinic's softly lit recovery room when the pandemic hit. Over the years, hundreds of patients and family members have picked up the journals and read of the experiences of those who sat in these chairs before them. Some took up a pen to bare their hearts for those who were to come. (Shastri, 6/21)

Buried in the data about the nation's abortion debate is an uncomfortable truth: A disproportionate number of women seeking to end their pregnancies are Black. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women as a population have the highest rate of abortions -- nearly 24 abortions per 1,000 Black women, compared to about seven abortions per 1,000 white women. (Flaherty, 6/20)

In the category of unintended consequences, consider this: Nearly a third of Americans say they would find a state less desirable as a place to live if it banned abortions. In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, 31% say a ban would make a state less desirable; just 5% say it would make it more desirable. The negative reaction is particularly strong among young people – 42% of those 18 to 25 years old – and those with more education. Thirty-two percent of those with a college degree and 45% of those with a post-graduate degree say an abortion ban would make a state less desirable. (Page and Tran, 6/22)

President Joe Biden nominated the former head of two federal science and engineering agencies to be his science adviser, who if confirmed by the Senate, will be the first woman, person of color and immigrant to hold that Cabinet-level position. Biden nominated engineer and physicist Arati Prabhakar, who during the Obama administration directed the James Bond-like Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which came up with the Internet and stealth aircraft, to the science adviser job, which also includes running the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prabhakar helped kick-start work in DARPA that eventually led to the type of RNA vaccine used to develop shots for COVID-19. In the 1990s, starting at the age of 34, she was the first woman and youngest person to run the National Institute of Standards and Technology. (Borenstein, 6/21)

Prabhakar, 63, also will play an essential role in Cancer Moonshot 2.0 -- an initiative personally important to Biden that aims to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years. Prabhakar will draw on her experience leading the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- a Pentagon entity that develops cutting-edge national security technologies, including precision-guided weapons and stealth technology -- particularly as the administration stands up a new biomedical research accelerator. (Baumann and Jacobs, 6/21)

Prabhakar’s extensive experience in Washington, D.C., and technical savvy will be a huge plus as she tackles her twin jobs, say those who know her. “I have found Arati to be very smart, very principled, and … with excellent leadership qualities,” says John Holdren, who led OSTP for 8 years and served as Obama’s science adviser. “She’d make an excellent OSTP director and science adviser to the president. ”Her reputation as a team player is an asset as well, adds Washington, D.C., lobbyist Bart Gordon, a one-time chair of the House science committee as a Democratic representative from Tennessee. “She has all the background you could ask for, and she’s also such a nice person,” says Gordon, now with K&L Gates. (Mervis, 6/13)

An American engineer, born in New Delhi and raised in Lubbock, Texas, Prabhkar attained a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University in 1979. She secured a Master of Science in electrical engineering in 1980 and a PhD in applied physics in 1984, both from the California Institute of Technology, becoming the first woman to achieve a PhD in applied Physics from Caltech. Following her academic path, she went on to attain a congressional fellowship with the Office of Technology Assessment in 1984. Dedicating a career to build new technologies and businesses, Prabhakar joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a programme manager but was later promoted as founding director of DARPA’s Microelectronics Technology Office. During this course of time, Prabhakar introduced and directed programmes in advanced semiconductor technology and demonstration projects to insert new semiconductor technologies into military systems. (6/22)

Cyberattacks on health systems mushroomed during the pandemic — and 2022 could be their worst year yet. From January through June, the Office of Civil Rights tallied 256 hacks and information breaches, up from 149 for the same period a year ago. It’s a continuing trend from last year: Cybersecurity outfit Sophos reports that in 2021, attacks on health systems were up 66 percent over 2020. (Reader, 6/22)

Sunny Balwani, the former business and romantic partner of disgraced biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, faced closing arguments in his fraud trial here Tuesday. The former chief operating officer of blood-testing start-up Theranos is charged with 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one more count than Holmes ultimately faced last year. (Lerman, 6/21)

New Jersey officials who sought to recover millions of dollars in public funds from the the state's largest health insurer last year faced pressure from the governor's office to back down, according to the former official who managed state health benefits. A little over a year ago, the state Treasury office overseeing the health plan for New Jersey employees recommended clawing back $34 million from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. The state alleged that the insurer failed to deliver on a new service, for which the state had paid extra, that was meant to help members find better care at lower costs. (Tozzi, 6/21)

The head of counseling and recovery centers in Orrington had his license to practice as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor suspended by a state regulatory board last month amid accusations of discrimination by former residents. Two men who participated in Devin Colavecchio’s Northwoods Ranch and Retreat program alleged that Colavecchio made racist and homophobic comments to them, and threatened to send one to a homeless shelter as punishment during treatment, according to the interim consent agreement with the State of Maine Board of Counseling and Professional Licensure. (6/21)

Memorial Hermann’s orthopedics and sports medicine service line will be rebranded to include the name of Houston Rockets professional basketball team. Starting July 1, the orthopedics service will be named “Memorial Hermann | Rockets Orthopedics.” In addition, Memorial Hermann’s sports medicine institute clinics will be named “Memorial Hermann | Rockets Sports Medicine Institute”, and Memorial Hermann Orthopedic & Spine Hospital will be named “Memorial Hermann | Rockets Orthopedic Hospital.” In 2005, Memorial Hermann became the official provider of the Rockets. Now it’s the first health system the NBA will allow to use a teams’ branding in this way, said Erin Asprec, chief operating officer of Memorial Hermann. (Carballo, 6/21)

It was at Massachusetts General Hospital that Bryan found the care he needed for his opioid use disorder. He had previously tried, without success, to just quit. But when the hospital’s renowned addiction medicine team prescribed him Suboxone, a medication that can tame cravings, it worked. Bryan also had cystic fibrosis, which by 2017 had progressed to the point he needed a lung transplant. It made sense that he would get that done at MGH too. The transplant team, citing the Suboxone Bryan took, rejected him. (Joseph, 6/22)

KHN: Watch: She Almost Died. The $250K Debt Took Their House

Cindy Powers needed 19 surgeries over the course of five years for abdominal problems and life-threatening infections. “I knew of at least three times where she died on the operating table and they had to restart her heart,” her husband, Jim Powers, told investigative consumer correspondent Anna Werner on the CBS Evening News. Cindy’s illnesses led to $250,000 in bills, bankruptcy, and eventually foreclosure on the couple’s house in Texas. (6/21)

The state’s largest health care system received approval to operate an autologous stem-cell therapy program at the Lifespan Cancer Institute at Rhode Island Hospital. The approval, which was granted by the state Health Services Council in an unanimous vote on June 16, will allow patients from the institute who need cancer treatments, such as stem-cell therapy which provides bone marrow transplants for patients undergoing chemotherapy, to receive care with their regular medical team. Rhode Island Hospital is only the second in the state to offer stem-cell therapy. The only other facility providing this treatment is at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence. Rhode Islanders were often also referred to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. (Gagosz, 6/21)

Mario Ricciardi, a young Italian molecular biologist, was thrilled when he was selected to work with one of Harvard Medical School’s most successful stem cell researchers. His new boss, Dr. Piero Anversa, had become famous within the field for his bold findings in 2001 that adult stem cells had special abilities to regenerate hearts or even cure heart disease, the leading cause of U.S. deaths. Millions in U.S. government grants poured into Anversa’s lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Top journals published his papers. And the American Heart Association (AHA) proclaimed him a “research pioneer.” “He was like a god,” recalled Ricciardi, now 39, one of several scientists to speak out for the first time about their experiences in Anversa’s lab. Within a year of Ricciardi’s arrival in 2011, they grew suspicious, the scientists recalled. (Taylor and Heath, 6/21)

A tool used to analyze cancerous tumors based on algorithms built to map distant galaxies is getting a major influx of funding. The imaging platform — called AstroPath — is able to pinpoint how certain tumor cells interact with the body's tissues, allowing doctors to potentially learn more about who might respond well to various treatments. (Kramer and Snyder, 6/21)

Gene therapy developers rely on hollowed-out viruses to shuttle DNA into the body, where it can treat or potentially even cure a genetic disease. But most of the dozens of companies in the field use just two kinds of viruses for their DNA delivery. Carbon Biosciences hopes to expand that toolbox. The Lexington, Mass., startup launched Tuesday with $38 million in series A financing to create a new class of gene therapies based on parvoviruses — a large family of viruses best known for infecting dogs, but comprised of many little-studied viruses that can infect humans and other animals, too. (Cross, 6/21)

Scientists are tracking diseases from space and getting a new view of human health. The proliferation of easy-to-use, relatively cheap and more comprehensive satellite data is allowing researchers to get a holistic view of what's happening on Earth during disease outbreaks and possibly learn how to predict the next one. By keeping an eye from above on changes to vegetation and other ecosystem factors that can lead to outbreaks, researchers are starting to piece together correlations between habitat loss and urbanization, among other factors, and infectious disease. (Kramer, 6/21)

One mother, worried about being perceived as "an angry Black woman," felt she had to "watch my tone," even while in the pain of giving birth. Another, under anesthesia at the time of birth, didn't know who delivered her baby. One woman asked for help after suffering with a cesarean section incision. She was told nothing was wrong and accused of just seeking pain medication. Later, once it got bad enough that she couldn't walk or hold her child, it was discovered her incision was very infected. Louisville researchers were told these and other stories while speaking with recent parents who accessed prenatal care or gave birth in the city. (Ladd, 6/22)

An inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds in later life is linked to nearly double the risk of death from any cause within the next decade, according to a new study. The simple balance test may be useful to include in routine physical exams for people in middle and old age, the research, which was published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggested. While aging leads to a decline in physical fitness, muscle strength and flexibility, balance tends to be reasonably well-preserved until a person's 50s, when it starts to wane relatively rapidly, the research noted. Previous research has linked the inability to stand on one leg to a greater risk of falls and to cognitive decline. (Hunt, 6/21)

Even dim light can disrupt sleep, raising the risk of serious health issues in older adults, a new study found. "Exposure to any amount of light during the sleep period was correlated with the higher prevalence of diabetes, obesity and hypertension in both older men and women," senior author Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told CNN. "People should do their best to avoid or minimize the amount of light they are exposed to during sleep," she added. (LaMotte, 6/22)

KHN: New Weight Loss Treatment Is Marked By Heavy Marketing And Modest Results 

First came the “edible billboard,” which appeared last year during the holidays in New York’s East Village loaded with cake treats. Then, in late January, came the national marketing campaign, with TV and digital media promoting the idea that trying to lose weight doesn’t mean a person can’t enjoy eating. Those advertising messages are pushing a product named Plenity as a potential liberation from dieters’ woes. It’s a $98-a-month weight loss treatment that looks like a drug: Patients take three capsules twice a day. But it isn’t a drug. And its success in racking up lost pounds, on average, is modest. (Appleby, 6/22)

Daily Harvest, a food home delivery service, has issued a recall on its lentil and leek crumbles dish, after multiple customers complained on social media of stomach issues after consuming them. Users on Reddit, Twitter and Instagram reported experiences of nausea, vomiting and liver damage after consuming the dish. One Reddit user said their wife had symptoms, such as "extreme fatigue, dark urine, low-grade fever and whole-body itching with no rash." Another user said their mom "was as sick as a dog and puking a lot" a day after eating the beans. (Archie, 6/22)

A 2020 law creating a national mental-health hotline, 988, was hailed as a milestone in making crisis services more accessible and de-stigmatizing seeking help. But with less than one month ahead of its launch on July 16, state and local agencies seem unprepared for its rollout, according to a recent report from research group the Rand Corporation. Designed to be accessible through phone, text messages and web chat, the new emergency number will connect to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which links to some 200 local crisis centers. When that hotline debuted in 2005, it fielded 50,000 calls; in 2020, it took 2.4 million. (Yee, 6/21)

Floridians may notice a new color of alert flashing across highway message boards soon. After several years of development between disability advocates, law enforcement and transportation officials, the Purple Alert will be rolling out July 1. The alert will be “used to assist in the location of missing adults suffering from mental, cognitive, intellectual or developmental disabilities,” according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The Purple Alert will join Florida’s Silver (senior), Blue (law enforcement) and Amber (children) alerts. (Lloyd, 6/21)

A controversial proposal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to prod more homeless people into mental health treatment is making its way through the Legislature, despite deep misgivings from lawmakers struggling to address a problem that reaches every corner of the state. Legislators are worried that there isn’t enough guaranteed staffing or housing for the program to succeed while forcing vulnerable individuals into court-ordered services against their will. Even so, the bill unanimously cleared the Senate last month, and passed out of the Assembly judiciary committee Tuesday, one of several stops before being voted on by the full chamber. (Har, 6/21)

San Francisco will open a drug sobering center on Monday where people on the streets can temporarily ride out highs and get connected to treatment, the latest initiative to address the overdose crisis and complaints about drug use on city streets. The center, called SOMA RISE, will operate out of a former office building the city is leasing at 1076 Howard St. in the South of Market Neighborhood, one of the epicenters of the drug crisis, along with the Tenderloin. (Moench, 6/21)

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to boost the minimum wage for workers at privately owned hospitals to $25 an hour, rather than sending the question to the November ballot for voters to decide. The wage requirement will cover a wide range of workers, including nurses, aides, housekeepers, guards, janitors and other employees who are not supervisors or managers. “Burned out and traumatized from the pandemic, many feel disrespected and undervalued and have left the profession, and more are considering leaving soon,” SEIU-UHW, a union that represents California healthcare workers, said in a statement. “Raising the minimum wage helps acknowledge their vital, life-saving work and retain workers for Los Angeles’ future healthcare needs.” (Alpert Reyes, 6/21)

A state appeals court on Tuesday rejected a request by an eastern North Carolina eye doctor to strike down a state law that requires regulators to agree new operating rooms are needed in his region before they could be built. A three-judge panel of the intermediate-level state Court of Appeals court ruled the state’s certificate of need law doesn’t violate the constitutional rights of Dr. Jay Singleton and the Singleton Vision Center when it comes to the situation the ophthalmologist wants to change. (Robertson, 6/21)

Amberlyn Boiter worries that doctors in South Carolina now have a legal excuse to deny her health care. "I haven't felt comfortable going to a doctor in well over a year," says Boiter. That's when Boiter, who is 35 years old, began transitioning into the woman she believes she's meant to be and doctors would not give her the hormones she needed. Boiter bought them online and found an out-of-state doctor she sees via telehealth — care that she says most of her transgender friends cannot afford. "The truth is, it's dangerous for a lot of trans people out there who don't have access to mainstream health care," says Boiter. She fears the situation will only get worse now that the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act has been signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster. (Hansen, 6/21)

The city of Manchester on Tuesday introduced eight community health workers who will connect residents to resources and services, and serve as a non-emergency responders when police services aren’t required. The new workers, dubbed the Public Health and Safety Team, or PHAST, are assigned to the city’s wards based on their language skills and other challenges facing the neighborhood. During an event at City Hall, Manchester Chief Allen Aldenberg said the program aims to assist residents in need of services, including mental health treatment, rather than having those calls funneled to the police. The community health workers are also trained in de-escalation techniques, with the goal of limiting the involvement of law enforcement in non-emergency or non-violence situations. (Lozada, 6/21)

The hotter it gets, the less people want to move their bodies outdoors, according to recent research in the International Journal of Biometeorology. While the finding may seem obvious, it's just one example of the implications extreme heat has on health and wellness — and why experts say cities will need to adapt. The authors of the study used electric counters to track hourly pedestrian and cyclist traffic on a popular trail in Austin, Texas, looking for the connection between the temperatures and trail use. (Reed, 6/21)

Some Oregon business groups are suing over the state’s new job site rules mandating that employers take steps to protect workers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Regulations adopted by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division mandate that employers act once the temperature or air quality reaches a certain threshold. The heat rules took effect June 15, while the wildfire smoke rules start July 1. (6/21)

From higher electricity bills to worsened health, more than half of Americans have felt the impacts of extreme heat, according to a new survey released by NPR, Harvard University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That percentage is even higher in California, where heat was the top climate impact, reported by 71% of those surveyed. "California does have low rates of air conditioning in homes, maybe because it's blessed with cool breezes in a lot of parts of the state, but when an extreme heat event comes and there's no cool air available, you're in trouble," says David Eisenman, a doctor who directs the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters. "That's why you're seeing this higher number." (Peterson, 6/22)

The United States on Tuesday limited its military’s use of land mines worldwide, except for on the Korean Peninsula, meeting President Biden’s campaign pledge to undo a Trump-era policy that he had called “reckless.” The move effectively returns to a 2014 policy established by the Obama administration that forbade the use of antipersonnel land mines except in defense of South Korea. The Trump administration loosened those restrictions in 2020, citing a new focus on strategic competition with major powers with large armies. (Crowley and Ismay, 6/21)

British health officials will start offering vaccines to some men who have sex with men and are at the highest risk of catching monkeypox, in an effort to curb the biggest outbreak of the disease beyond Africa. Doctors can consider vaccination for some men at the highest risk of exposure, Britain’s Health Security agency said in a statement Tuesday. The agency identified those at highest risk as men who have sex with men and who have multiple partners, participate in group sex or attend venues where sex occurs on the premises. (6/21)

In the summer of 2003, just weeks after an outbreak of monkeypox sickened about 70 people across the Midwest, Mark Slifka visited “the super-spreader,” he told me, “who infected half of Wisconsin’s cases.” Chewy, a prairie dog, had by that point succumbed to the disease, which he’d almost certainly caught in an exotic-animal facility that he’d shared with infected pouched rats from Ghana. But his owners’ other prairie dog, Monkey—named for the way he clambered about his cage—had contracted the pathogen and survived. “I was a little worried,” said Slifka, an immunologist at Oregon Health & Science University. All the traits that made Monkey a charismatic pet also made him an infectious threat. He cuddled and nibbled his owners; when they left the house, he’d swaddle himself in their clothing until they returned. “It was sweet,” Slifka told me. “But I was like, ‘Can Monkey be in his cage when we come over?’” (Wu, 6/21)

Leaders of the global scheme aiming to get COVID-19 vaccines to the world's poorest are pushing manufacturers including Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) to cut or slow deliveries of about half a billion shots so doses are not wasted. COVAX, the World Health Organization-led scheme, wants between 400 and 600 million fewer vaccines doses than initially contracted from six pharmaceutical companies, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. (Rigby and Guarascio, 6/22)

Moderna Inc. plans to build a research and manufacturing center in the UK in a partnership with the government aimed at providing the country with messenger RNA vaccines against future health threats. The agreement will ensure National Health Service patients gain access to mRNA vaccines targeting a range of diseases, including potential shots that can protect against multiple Covid variants, the government said in a statement. The UK, which expects the first mRNA vaccine to be produced in 2025, declined to disclose the size of the investment or the location of the center. (Hernanz Lizarraga, 6/21)

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to announce a decision that could severely restrict abortion rights in the country, access to contraception has taken on renewed importance. Birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives—including patches, injections and vaginal rings—have been fully covered by almost all health insurance plans since the Affordable Care Act designated them as preventive health care. But an important barrier persists: the fact that one needs a prescription to obtain them. (Lenharo, 6/20)

A life-changing cystic fibrosis medication is claimed to be causing anxiety, depression and even suicidal thoughts in some patients. Wonder-drug Kaftrio was made available to cystic fibrosis (CF) patients in the UK in June 2020 and has been hailed as the closest thing to a ‘cure’ we currently have for people with CF. It is expected to prolong the lives of people with CF and has seen some patients’ lung functions improve by up to 40%. (Jani-Friend, 6/19)

Although flucytosine is a key component of WHO-recommended induction treatment for HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis, this antifungal agent is not widely available in low-income and middle-income countries due to limited production and cost. In 2018, a national flucytosine access programme was initiated in South Africa. We aimed to determine the effectiveness of flucytosine-containing induction regimens in routine care to motivate for the urgent registration of flucytosine and its inclusion in treatment guidelines. (Mashau, MPH, et al, 6/21)

Japanese drugmaker Shionogi and the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) announced today a first-of-its kind agreement to expand access to a novel antibiotic for drug-resistant infections in lower-resource countries. (Dall, 6/15)

The heart emojis drifting upward during – of all places – an Ohio Medicaid webinar provided the first clue. After a month of harsh questioning from state lawmakers and pharmacists over whether Gov. Mike DeWine's administration was botching a drug-pricing revamp affecting nearly a quarter of the state's population, the critique turned to praise as key details finally were unveiled. "In my 33 years of doing this, this is the most transparency I have ever seen from Medicaid," said Ernest Boyd, executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association. (Rowland, 6/20)

The Federal Trade Commission last week announced what some believe could be a game-changer when it comes to the rising cost of prescription drugs. The agency — which is meant to protect fair competition — said it would look into the murky practice by which drugmakers grant rebates and other fees to insurer-owned pharmacy middlemen in exchange for better treatment of their products. The FTC wants to know whether that system is encouraging insurers and their middlemen to unfairly exclude cheaper drugs based on secret benefits they’re getting from drugmakers. (Schladen, 6/21)

More than half of adults take dietary supplements, and use of supplements in the US is projected to increase. ... In 2021, people in the US spent an estimated almost $50 billion on dietary supplements and the dietary supplement industry spent about $900 million on marketing. (Jenny Jia, MD, MSc, Natalie A. Cameron, MD and Jeffrey A. Linder, MD, MPH, 6/21)

Currently, US adults spend more than $10 billion per year on vitamins and dietary supplements,1 believing against most evidence that fortified gummy bears and water infused with vitamins will improve their health and well-being. Vitamins are necessary for life, the difference between healthy gums and scurvy, between strong bones and rickets. But, as the recent US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation statement2 and updated evidence report and systematic review3 show, there is little evidence that supplemental vitamins and minerals prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease, or mortality. (Peter A. Ubel, MD, 6/21)

America’s science policies are changing. America’s scientists need to change with them. The recent controversies over the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval of an Alzheimer’s treatment are a lesson in the costs of failing to do so. A year ago, the FDA fast-tracked Biogen’s aducanumab — the first new Alzheimer’s drug in almost 20 years — even after an expert panel nearly unanimously recommended against giving it the green light. The decision has been so contested that lawmakers are now trying to change the FDA’s accelerated approval process. (Jason Karlawish, 6/20)

The continuing spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. What physicians need to know about transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of Covid-19 is the subject of ongoing updates from infectious disease experts at the Journal. (Eric J. Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., et al, 6/16)

Prescription drug prices remain stubbornly high in the U.S. even though making drugs more affordable is a priority for both Democrats and Republicans. There are many reasons for the lack of progress. Some are deliberate, others are accidental. A dizzying and byzantine pharmaceutical system with minimal transparency is one part of the problem. Companies’ ability to stymie reform, like not allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, is another. So is anti-competitive behavior from drug manufacturers, which games the system at the expense of patient affordability and access to medications. (Ravi Gupta and Joseph S. Ross, 6/17)

During the British cholera epidemic of 1831, William O’Shaughnessy reported that the blood of victims “has lost a large portion of its water…a great proportion of its neutral saline ingredients” and that “of the free alkali contained in healthy serum, not a particle is present in some cholera cases.”1 He advocated for the restoration of the missing water and salts, an approach that was embraced by the Scottish general practitioner Thomas Latta, who reported the striking resuscitative effects described above.2 Two centuries later, key questions remain: which fluids, how much, and toward what targets? (Lauralyn A. McIntyre, M.D., M.H.Sc., and John C. Marshall, M.D., 6/17)

I worry about the mental health of the generations growing up in these times, as the adults scramble to find vaccines and medicines to cure various ailments. Find resources to feed their families and money to pay bills. Band-aid gun violence without genuinely fixing it. Our children are lost; the hopelessness hangs so heavy, that they no longer value life. (Sherry Jones, 6/22)

The Food and Drug Administration is on Tuesday made a decision of rare importance, concerning not a pandemic illness but the country’s leading cause of preventable death: smoking. It is crucial the White House stick up for what would be the FDA’s most assertive antismoking policy ever — one that will inevitably meet severe resistance. (6/21)

It was bound to happen. The day after her Los Angeles middle school let out for the summer, my irrepressible 12-year-old niece, who lives with me, was feverish and lethargic. This was so unfair. For more than two years, she’d been an absolute beast about wearing her mask, declining to pull it down for photos, forgetting to take it off at home, perplexed by the mask refuseniks. (Robin Abcarian, 6/22)

In response to the growing spread of monkeypox, public health leaders are for the first time since the 1970s opening the locked stockpiles of smallpox vaccines to control the spread of the virus. But here’s something to consider: Those vaccines originated as a direct result of slavery. The history of people becoming sick and dying from epidemics is timeless. But the practice of vaccinating people to prevent the spread of infectious disease is a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. and Europe. The first vaccine in the U.S. was introduced by an enslaved African named Onesimus in 1721. To prevent the spread of smallpox in colonial Boston, Zabdiel Boylston, a doctor, followed Onesimus’ instructions and took the lymph, the colorless fluid within a smallpox vesicle, and injected it into the arm of his son and two enslaved people in his home. (Jim Downs, 6/19)

America’s science policies are changing. America’s scientists need to change with them. The recent controversies over the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval of an Alzheimer’s treatment are a lesson in the costs of failing to do so. A year ago, the FDA fast-tracked Biogen’s aducanumab — the first new Alzheimer’s drug in almost 20 years — even after an expert panel nearly unanimously recommended against giving it the green light. The decision has been so contested that lawmakers are now trying to change the FDA’s accelerated approval process. (Jason Karlawish, 6/20)

As climate change threatens the health of the planet — and everyone living on it — health care leaders are beginning to taking notice. As well they should: the health care industry is one of the world’s biggest sources of carbon emissions. According to the Future Health Index 2022 report published in June by Philips, the company I work for, in 2021 only 4% of health care leaders worldwide reported that they were prioritizing environmental sustainability. A year later, that number has jumped to 24%, a nearly seven-fold increase. These leaders understand that, as an industry, health care systems, health technology companies, and other stakeholders have a responsibility to act. (Kees Wesdorp, 6/22)

Misidentifying patients can have tragic consequences. Numerous catastrophic cases and near misses have been collected by Patient ID Now, a coalition of health care organizations we are affiliated with that is dedicated to advancing a nationwide patient identification and matching strategy. In one example from the Patient ID Now website, a woman had a routine mammogram, but never received the results. Assuming that no news was good news, she mentioned the mammogram to her doctor months later during her annual physical. That conversation led to the discovery that her results had been misfiled in the chart of a deceased patient who shared her name. The mammogram showed cancer which, during the one-year delay, had become terminal. (Wylecia Wiggs and Tom Cox, 6/22)

State supreme courts have the power to interpret their own state constitutions to provide broader protections for individual liberty than the U.S. Supreme Court. But they rarely break from their state’s dominant political culture. Unlike life-tenured federal court judges, justices in 38 states stand for election, and their decisions are subject to voter initiatives and other democratic checks. On abortion, they probably agree with their state’s political establishment and, if not, they understand that any decision countermanding the state is subject to political override. (Neal Devins, 6/22)

As we face the imminent overturn of Roe vs. Wade, clinicians, legislators and activists are preparing for dramatic shifts in the lives of pregnant people and their families. One trend that’s already troubling is the proliferation of crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, in California and nationwide. These antiabortion organizations target low-income people facing unintended pregnancies. Their goal is not to provide care, but to prevent people from accessing abortion and contraception. (Jessica Hamilton and Christine Hennenberg, 6/22)

Over the past 2 years, as 1 million lives have been lost in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the shortcomings of the country’s haphazard approach to public health.1 Recent reports on the pandemic response have identified major gaps in leadership, coordination, communications, testing, and attention to critical issues of equity. (Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., et al, 6/21)

Shortly before an 18-year-old white supremacist entered a supermarket in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y., and shot 13 shoppers and employees with an assault rifle bearing a racist epithet, he posted an online diatribe. Other white nationalist terrorists have done that, but this one was different: It cited a considerable quantity of scientific research to support its author’s racist claims and actions. In the weeks since the mid-May shooting, journalists and scientists have discussed what to make of the Buffalo terrorist’s references to science. Overwhelmingly, these discussions describe the diatribe as relying on pseudoscience or discredited science and co-opting or misreading mainstream science. But this framing doesn’t do enough to hold scientists and the institutions of science accountable for the societal consequences of racist science and scientific racism. (Emily Klancher Merchant, 6/20)

We all have a stake in a well-functioning U.S. Food and Drug Administration, one that exercises prudent oversight of cosmetics and dietary supplements, brings more useful drugs and stronger price competition to the market, modernizes the regulation of diagnostic tests and procedures and smooths the way for next-generation medical products of value to humankind. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — one of the best-led and most reliably bipartisan in the chamber — sought to achieve these and other good results on behalf of the American people by passing the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Landmark Advancements Act, or FDASLA. (Chuck Laue and Jennifer Laue, 6/22)

In mid-May, four of the nation’s leading voices in healthcare called for urgent, national action to reform our healthcare system. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality urged immediate action on patient and workforce safety, imploring leaders to address safety from a total systems approach. The call for action is timely. A survey published in March found 1 in 3 nurses working in hospitals reported they experience violence while on the job. We are in a crisis. (Dr. J. Stephen Jones, 6/21)

People are exposed to low-dose radiation in many ways: having a CT scan, working as a medical technician or in a nuclear power plant, or living in an area contaminated by radiation. The health effects of these low-dose exposures are not well understood — but a revitalized research program could change that. Decades of research have revealed a number of adverse health effects that have occurred in individuals exposed to high doses of radiation, with most of this work focused on cancer. Much less is understood about the effects of low doses experienced by millions of Americans, although there is increasing evidence of its links to cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, immune dysfunction, and cataracts, as well as cancer. These possible connections raise questions as to whether the public and workers are adequately protected by current radiation standards and regulations. (Joe Gray, Lindsay Morton and Gayle Woloschak, 6/21)