The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund faces the risk of insolvency; Trump signs executive order making it easier to fire civil servants; farmworker advocates call on Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program; and thousands of activists call on Amazon to eliminate forced arbitration for contractors.
Another day, another study on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act and the gains we risk losing if the Trump administration continues to undercut the law’s patient protections.
In the world of public health, climate change and antibiotic resistance are often included among the most serious and urgent threats to human health. Now, a new study finds the two phenomena may be more closely related than previously thought.
Nashville’s housing boom brings new high in construction worker deaths; EPA drops chemical safety rules proposed after the West, Texas, fertilizer explosion; new research identifies nearly 5,000 cases of severe black lung disease; and Tesla reports missing worker injuries after journalists expose unsafe working conditions at its California plant.
For the first time since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, the number of uninsured in America is on its way back up.
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
Study: Communication training, resources can help clinicians boost HPV vaccine uptake
A new study finds that with the right patient engagement tools, clinicians can increase HPV immunization rates among teens.
A new federal farm bill would likely result in millions of Americans losing food assistance, with more than half of those losses among families with children. Many of the losses would be the result of new work requirements, despite growing evidence that such requirements do little to help people and families climb out of poverty.
Don Blankenship’s Senate run is a heartbreaking ordeal for families of the Upper Big Branch mining disaster; California Supreme Court ruling will make it much harder to misclassify workers as independent contractors; farmworker families struggle with respiratory health problems; and workers around the world take to the streets for May Day.
Opponents of gun control like to argue that there’s no point in passing stricter gun laws because criminals will get guns anyway. Just look at Chicago, they say. But a new study finds it’s not that strong state laws don’t work, it’s that weak laws in neighboring states offer criminals a convenient loophole.
Toxic Substances
Study: Teen e-cigarette use associated with greater exposure to possible carcinogens
With electronic cigarettes often touted as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, another study is casting doubt on that assertion.