Public health

Public health

New analysis has identified 25 chemicals linked to cancer that the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) still allows in American food production. The findings come from scientists at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, who determined that eight of the chemicals are classified as known human carcinogens and 17 are reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.

The cartel said it was seizing the store, which would only be allowed to sell online outside the state. That was in early 2022, when vapes were still legal in Mexico, a market worth $1.5 billion. But earlier this month, the country banned the sale - although not the use - of electronic cigarettes. Experts believe organized crime will now consolidate its control over the sale of the devices.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents initially claimed Alberto Castañeda Mondragón had tried to flee while handcuffed and "purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall," according to court documents filed by a lawyer seeking his release. But staff members at Hennepin County Medical Center determined that could not possibly account for the fractures and bleeding throughout the 31-year-old's brain, said three nurses familiar with the case. "It was laughable, if there was something to laugh about," said one of the nurses, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss patient care. "There was no way this person ran headfirst into a wall."

Those who apply have to undergo an interview and are then assessed on a number of criteria and they are required to work in Singapore for more than two years. Once named an ambassador, they are then trained to educate about problematic gambling behaviors. They also share crime prevention advisories with the CCIB's guidance and help guide peers towards available support, including casino self-exclusion. The people selected must participate in at least one outreach session at dormitories or recreational centers during their two-year term.

Medical negligence in the NHS keeps harming and killing patients because governments and health service bosses have not acted on 24 years' worth of warnings, MPs have said. In a scathing report published on Friday, the public accounts committee (PAC) excoriates the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England for allowing the cost of mistakes to balloon to 3.6bn a year.

Record numbers of women who were abused and controlled through technology were referred to Refuge's specialist services during the last three months of 2025, including a 62% increase in the most complex cases to total 829 women. There was also a 24% increase in referrals of under-30s. Recent cases included perpetrators using wearable tech such as smartwatches, Oura rings and Fitbits to track and stalk women, disrupting their lives through smart home devices that control lights and heating, and using AI spoofing apps to impersonate people.

I think this is a fairly recognized phenomenon,

It's almost zero - that's phenomenal,

New findings on cancer survival rates offer hope for the more than 2 million Americans diagnosed each year. Seven out of 10 Americans diagnosed with cancer now survive five years or more, according to the American Cancer Society, a 7 percent increase since the mid-1990s, when the rate stood at 63 percent. The survival rate data - from patients diagnosed with cancer between 2015 and 2021 - showed, significantly, that those with high-mortality cancers and advanced diagnoses had the largest gains.

Wind chill is a measure of how quickly bodies lose heat when you combine low temperatures with high winds. And wind chill conditions can be dangerous. "The stronger the winds [and] the colder it is, the more likely you are to develop frostbite in a short amount of time or hypothermia," says Jessica Lee of the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- BART officials say there is a major delay at West Oakland in all directions due to a "major medical emergency" on Friday.

The Vallejo Fire Department have removed hazardous materials, including a five-gallon bucket of methamphetamine, at the Vallejo Inn on Wednesday afternoon. At approximately 1:40 p.m., the department arrived at the venue located at 444 Tennessee Street and found the unidentified hazardous material inside the five-gallon bucket, which warranted a full HazMat response. The property was then evacuated to ensure the safety of occupants and roads were closed off nearby soon after.

Common Sense Media's new report, "Betting on Boys: Understanding Gambling Among Adolescent Boys," finds teen boys are largely exposed to gambling through sports betting and video games "in loot boxes, skin cases, and other reward systems that blur the line between playing and paying." More than a third of the boys surveyed, ages 11-17, admitted to gambling in the past year, with that number rising to nearly half of the 17-year-olds. Additionally, 60% reported seeing ads for gambling on YouTube and social media.

I was considering retiring after I turned 80, but the cost of geriatric care is high. My sister and ex-wife both require care. My sister is in full-time memory care, and my ex-wife has needed more care over the past two years after a dementia diagnosis, so I decided to keep working. I'm trying to help support them, whether it's paying the care facility directly or paying them to provide some support or outside nurses.

Health authorities in Spain's Basque Country have launched an investigation after expired doses of the childhood hexavalent vaccine were administered to 253 patients, mostly infants. Osakidetza, the Basque public health service responsible for delivering healthcare across the region, began contacting the affected families this week. The issue was detected on January 15, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

While life expectancy is growing, the average American can expect to spend nearly 12 years in poor health, and lifestyle diseases including heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes are now leading causes of death, driving unprecedented expense and tremendous strain on individuals and their families. In 2024, 90% of the nation's $4.9 trillion in annual healthcare spending was attributable to chronic and mental health conditions, and projections suggest that by 2030, more than 80 million Americans will live with three or more chronic diseases.

One might ask why an epidemiologist like me would be interested in Latin American history at this moment. What drew me to that era was the key role that clinicians and public health workers played in the resistance against the dictatorship; their simultaneous push for a national healthcare program; and the ways in which this sector organized, even as more conservative physicians sided with the putschists, happy to see their more progressive colleagues jailed and persecuted.

Meth. We're On It.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

Dan Kenger, the chief design officer at Hims & Hers, told Business Insider that the figures in the ad "aren't specific individuals," and instead "symbols of an intimidating, members-only healthcare culture." Kenger said Hims & Hers is aiming for the ad to be a provocative conversation starter about health inequity. "We don't shy away from uncomfortable truths, and we fully expect this will ruffle some feathers," Kenger said. "But if our message makes the industry uncomfortable, it's because we're exposing an outdated system that benefits the very few at the expense of everyone else."

The issue is particularly critical right now for people who have insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Prices for those plans have skyrocketed this year after Congress failed to extend critical tax credits. Without those credits, monthly premiums for ACA plans have, on average, more than doubled. Early data on ACA enrollments for 2026 not only suggests that fewer people are signing up for the plans, but also that those who are enrolling are often choosing bronze plans, which are high-deductible plans.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum.

Selling a business doesn't make you rich, according to Rory Godson - even though he sold Powerscourt for over €50m At the end of every week, public-relations powerbroker Rory Godson sits down with a list of clients, and works out how much service his company, Powerscourt, has given them. "Typically, our clients will pay us a retainer - X pounds or euro a month," he says. "And our culture has always been that we owe them.

Each year, 20,000 children and adolescents across the U.S. lose a parent to gun violence, while an estimated two to three times more have a parent who has been injured due to a firearm. Investigators from Harvard and Mass General Brigham analyzed records from a large health insurance database and found that in the year following a parent's injury, children had increases in psychiatric diagnoses and mental health visits, especially if the parent had suffered a severe injury.