Editorial Comments: Safety & Health | ISHN - Articles

Best & worst U.S. cities for active lifestyles

January 8, 2020

Did you – like many people - make a New Year’s resolution to get healthier by losing weight and exercising more? You may be interested in the results of a report just released by personal-finance website WalletHub, one which identifies what it says are the best and worst U.S. cities for an “active lifestyle.” For its report, 2020’s Best & Worst Cities for an Active Lifestyle, WalletHub compared the 100 biggest U.S. cities across 38 key metrics.

A FairWarning Story

Serious concerns raised over FDA’s capacity to inspect overseas drug makers

Hillel Aron

January 8, 2020

With the U.S. increasingly dependent on foreign manufacturers for prescription and generic drugs, the Food and Drug Administration’s problem-plagued efforts to inspect overseas plants is under growing scrutiny. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office has raised serious concerns about the FDA’s foreign inspection program and whether it’s allowing overseas drug makers to conceal unsafe practices.

Thousands hospitalized for vaping lung injuries in 2019

CDC releases final figures

January 6, 2020

Some 2,561 people were hospitalized last year for lung injuries associated with e-cigarette, or vaping, product use EVALI, according to the CDC. EVALI hospitalizations or deaths were reported by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

Legalizing medical marijuana may result in fewer occupational fatalities

January 3, 2020

Workplace fatalities were found to be lower in states that have legalized medical marijuana – at least among a certain age group - in a study published on ScienceDirect. “Although there is increasing concern that legalizing medical marijuana will make workplaces more dangerous, little is known about the relationship between medical marijuana laws (MMLs) and workplace fatalities,” according to the study’s authors, who set out to determine what, if any, relationship existed between the two.

Here’s why you should keep that New Year’s resolution to exercise

More physical activity linked to lower risk for several cancer types

January 2, 2020

A pooled analysis of nine prospective studies involving more than 750,000 adults finds that recommended amounts of leisure-time physical activity were linked to a lower risk for seven cancers, with several cancer types having a ‘dose/response’ relationship. The study was led by investigators at the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Cellphone-related head and neck injuries

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For Your Health & Wellness: Cellphone injuries

Cellphone-related head and neck injuries on the rise, study says

A. Pawlowski

January 1, 2020

People distracted by their cellphones are tripping, falling and hurting their heads and necks more often, with such injuries increasing “steeply” over a 20-year period, a new analysis has found.

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For Your Health & Wellness: Obesity and the brain

Obesity may change the teen brain, MRI study shows

Amy Norton

January 1, 2020

Obese teenagers can have certain brain differences from their thinner peers -- changes that might signal damage from inflammation, a new, preliminary study suggests.

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For Your Health & Wellness: Coping with pain

11 alternatives to meds

January 1, 2020

Several techniques can help reduce stress and promote relaxation. Listening to soothing, calming music can lift your mood -- and make living with chronic pain more bearable.

Large study links sustained weight loss to reduced breast cancer risk

Even a modest amount of sustained weight loss is associated with lower breast cancer risk for women over 50

December 24, 2019

A large new study finds that women who lost weight after age 50 and kept it off had a lower risk of breast cancer than women whose weight remained stable, helping answer a vexing question in cancer prevention. The reduction in risk increased with the amount of weight lost and was specific to women not using postmenopausal hormones.

EPA orders online marketplace to stop selling illegal pesticides

Illegal, mislabeled products pose danger to kids, pets, the elderly

December 24, 2019

Have a cockroach problem? Before you order pesticides online, consider this: the EPA has issued a “Stop Sale” order to online marketplace Bonanza.com requiring the company to immediately halt sales of a dozen imported pesticide products not legal -- or safe -- for sale in the United States. Among the unregistered, illegal pesticides targeted by the order is “Miraculous Insecticide Chalk" -dangerous because of its documented history of causing illness in children who mistake the chalk for regular sidewalk or black board chalk.