CBS News: Gov. Newsom Signs Law Requiring Transparency on State Storage of Newborn DNA Following a Decade-Long CBS California Investigation
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill (SB 1099) Wednesday prompted by a decade-long CBS News California investigation into California's newborn genetic biobank. We still won't know who is using your DNA for research, or what the research is for, but the California Department of Public Health must now reveal the number of newborn DNA samples that California is storing and the number of DNA samples that the state sells to researchers each year. (Watts, 9/26)
Los Angeles Times: Rise in Virus Linked to Paralysis in Children Reported in California
A respiratory virus that in rare cases can cause polio-like paralysis in children is on the rise in California and across the nation, according to wastewater analyses. Enterovirus D68 was detected in 207 out of 268 samples taken from wastewater sites across the nation in the last 10 days, says the nonprofit WastewaterSCAN. In the same time period, EV-D68 was detected at a medium level at 17 wastewater sites in California, including facilities in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose. Because humans shed viruses in waste, wastewater sampling is used to measure the prevalence of infection in a community. (Harter, 9/24)
ABC News: Researchers Explore Possible Connection Between RSV and Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths
A rise in rates of sudden unexpected infant deaths may have been linked to an off-season surge of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 2021, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Open Network. Sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) includes deaths of infants under one year old without a known cause, deaths that are due to accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed and those from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Gummerson and Cobern, 9/26)
Reuters: US Judge Orders EPA to Address the Risk of Fluoridated Water to Children's IQs
A federal judge in California has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen regulations for fluoride in drinking water, saying the compound poses an unreasonable potential risk to children at levels that are currently typical nationwide. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco on Tuesday sided with several advocacy groups, finding the current practice of adding fluoride to drinking water supplies to fight cavities presented unreasonable risks for children’s developing brains. (Raymond, 9/25)
Times of San Diego: NIH Investigators Report Misconduct by Former UCSD Researcher and Prominent Neuroscientist
A National Institutes of Health investigation has found research misconduct by one of its top neuroscientists, the agency said Thursday. Dr. Eliezer Masliah previously spent decades as a researcher at the University of California, San Diego. (Binkowski, 9/26)
The Washington Post: FDA Approves New Antipsychotic Drug, Hailed as a Potential 'Game-Changer'
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late Thursday approved a new kind of drug to treat schizophrenia, a breakthrough after 70 years of incremental innovation that appears to avoid side effects that cause many patients to stop taking their medication. The new drug, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Cobenfy, targets a different area of the brain than traditional antipsychotic drugs to relieve symptoms like delusions without causing patients to gain weight, fall asleep and experience involuntary muscle jerking. (Gilbert, 9/26)
CBS News: Concerns Rise Over Eating Disorders in Teens Due to New Weight Loss Drugs
There is concern over the newest weight loss drugs sparking eating disorders in teens. Newer GLP-1 weight loss drugs, like Wegovy, have been approved for kids 12 and up and the number of teenagers taking these medications rose nearly sevenfold between 2020 and 2023. But a recent study found that nearly 80% of teens seeking treatment for obesity reported symptoms of depression and eating disorders. (Marshall, 9/26)
NPR: Study Finds Increase in Suicide Attempts Among Trans Teens Following Passage of Anti-Trans Laws
States that passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors saw suicide attempts by transgender and gender nonconforming teenagers increase by as much as 72% in the following years, a new study by The Trevor Project says. The peer-reviewed study, published published Thursday in the journal Nature Human Behavior, looked at survey data from young people in 19 states, comparing rates of suicide attempts before and after bans passed. (Simmons-Duffin, 9/26)
Military.com: Study Reveals Depression and Suicidal Thoughts Among Caregivers of Younger Veterans
The 14 million Americans who care for a chronically ill or injured veteran face challenges such as financial insecurity, stress and a lack of support that warrant attention by advocacy groups and the federal government, a new report has found. Roughly 5.5% of the U.S. adult population provides daily care and medical support for a veteran, services worth an estimated $199 billion to $485 billion annually, according to the report "America's Military and Veteran Caregivers: Hidden Heroes Emerging from the Shadows," which was released Tuesday. (Kime, 9/26)
AP: U.S. Suicide Rates Remained Steady in 2023, Maintaining a High Level
U.S. suicides last year remained at about the highest level in the nation’s history, preliminary data suggests. A little over 49,300 suicide deaths were reported in 2023, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number that could grow a little as some death investigations are wrapped up and reported. Just under 49,500 were reported in 2022, according to final data released Thursday. The numbers are close enough that the suicide rate for the two years are the same, CDC officials said. (Stobbe, 9/26)
USA Today: CDC Data Shows Increased Firearm Use in Suicide Deaths Among Women
More U.S. women are using firearms in suicide deaths, according to a new federal report. Firearms were used in more than half the country’s record 49,500 suicide deaths in 2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. Traditionally, men die by suicide at a much higher rate than women, and they often do so using guns. However, a CDC report published Thursday found firearms were the leading means of suicide for women since 2020, with suicide deaths among women also increasing. (Cuevas, 9/26)
El Tímpano: Ongoing Concerns About Past Immigration Policies Create Hesitance to Enroll in Medi-Cal
Though the Trump-era public charge rule is no longer in place, it's left people wary of signing up for newly expanded health benefits. (Aguilera, 9/25)
Axios: The Reasons Millions of Kids Lost Medicaid Coverage Despite CHIP's Assurance
The number of kids enrolled in Medicaid has decreased by more than 5.5 million in the last 18 months, and only a small percent of those losing coverage were enrolled in a sister program designed to be a safety net for uninsured children. (Goldman, 9/25)
Los Angeles Times: Study Finds Increase in Pregnancy-Related Crimes Charged Against Women Since Roe v. Wade's Overturn
It became more common for authorities to charge women with crimes related to their pregnancies after the fall of Roe vs. Wade in 2022, a new study found — even if they’re almost never accused of violating abortion bans. In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion in its Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, at least 210 women across the country were charged with crimes related to their pregnancies, according to the report released by Pregnancy Justice, an advocacy organization. That’s the highest number the group has identified over any 12-month period in research projects that have looked back as far as 1973. (Mulvihill, 9/25)
NBC News: Study Reveals 1 in 3 Teens Struggle to Access Tampons or Pads During Their Periods
A third of teens and young adults in the U.S. can’t afford or otherwise access menstrual products, according to new research from Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. The study found that “period poverty” — that is, insufficient access to menstrual hygiene products and related education — appears to affect young people equally, despite differences in race, ethnicity, neighborhood or whether they have health insurance. (Edwards, 9/27)
CalMatters: How a New California Law Protects Student Athletes from Heat Risks
Football practice has always been something of an extreme sport in the Coachella Valley, where temperatures can flare far above 100 degrees for weeks on end. But a change in California law authored by an Inland Empire lawmaker requires extra monitoring of young athletes on the hottest days and sets strict guidelines for how and when they can play in extreme heat. (Brennan, 9/24)
KQED: Bill Would Mandate Greater Transparency From Nonprofits Serving Californians With Developmental Disabilities
A bill before Gov. Gavin Newsom would force the group of regional nonprofits that serve Californians with developmental disabilities to comply with the same transparency laws as state agencies, allowing nearly 450,000 people with disabilities to access certain records and information related to their care for the first time. The bill, AB 1147, passed the state Assembly and Senate without opposition at the end of August, after a 19-month fight in which many of its accountability measures were stripped out. (Egusa, 9/23)