First Edition: July 19, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
California Healthline:
Juul Hires Leading Teen Addiction Researcher As Medical Director
Juul Labs, the nation’s leading manufacturer of e-cigarettes, has hired as its medical director a prominent University of California researcher known for his work on the dangers nicotine poses for the adolescent brain. The company said the hire will support its efforts to stem a teen vaping craze the Food and Drug Administration has labeled an epidemic. But critics see a cynical tactic taken straight from the Big Tobacco playbook. (Barry-Jester, 7/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Employers Urged To Find New Ways To Address Workers’ Mental Health
In the middle of a work project at a global corporate consulting firm, Katherine Switz was gripped with a debilitating bout of anxiety. Her body froze, her heart raced, her chest tightened, and her mind went blank, which made it nearly impossible for her to concentrate on a computer screen and do her work. The anxiety lasted three months, likely related to her bipolar disorder. During that time, she felt unable to ask for help from her employers or co-workers, afraid that her poor performance would get her fired or passed over for promotion. (Rinker, 7/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Has Your Doctor Asked You About Climate Change?
When Michael Howard arrived for a checkup with his lung specialist, he was worried about how his body would cope with the heat and humidity of a Boston summer. “I lived in Florida for 14 years, and I moved back because the humidity was just too much,” Howard told pulmonologist Dr. Mary Rice as he settled into an exam room chair at a Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare clinic. Howard, 57, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung disease that can be exacerbated by heat and humidity. Even inside a comfortable, climate-controlled room, his oxygen levels worried Rice. (Bebinger, 7/19)
Kaiser Health News:
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Biden Doubles Down On Obamacare
Former Vice President Joe Biden has said if he’s elected president he would build on the Affordable Care Act rather than move to a whole new health care system, such as the “Medicare for All” plan supported by some of his primary opponents for the Democratic nomination. But his campaign’s new health plan would include many things Congress tried and failed to pass as part of the health law, including a government-run “public option” plan that would be widely available. (7/18)
The New York Times:
Sanders And Biden Fight Over Health Care, And It’s Personal
Senator Bernie Sanders does not understand Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s position on health care. To Mr. Sanders, the health care system is broken, and the only way to fix it is to replace it with his signature policy plan known as Medicare for All. “I am disappointed, I have to say, in Joe, who is a friend of mine, really distorting what Medicare for All is about,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview hours before he delivered a speech on Wednesday defending his health care proposal. “And unfortunately, he is sounding like Donald Trump. He is sounding like the health care industry in that regard.” (Ember and Glueck, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Anxious Democratic Governors Urge 2020 Field Not To Veer Too Far Left
After claiming governorships from Republicans in seven states last year, including in crucial presidential battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Michigan, Democratic governors should have good reason to celebrate. But there was as much anxiety as optimism when the governors gathered for their annual fund-raising retreat on Nantucket last weekend and grappled with why a party that won with a pragmatic message in 2018 is now veering sharply to the left. A group of governors are alarmed that their party’s presidential candidates are embracing policies they see as unrealistic and politically risky. And they are especially concerned about proposals that would eliminate private health insurance. (Martin, 7/19)
The Hill:
Buttigieg Vows 'Fairer, More Just Health Care' After Young Man Dies Rationing Insulin
White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg (D) vowed to implement a “fairer” and “more just” health care system if elected president after a 21-year-old man, Jesimya David Scherer-Radcliff, died in Minnesota after rationing insulin for his diabetes. ...Many of the 25 Democrats running for president have vowed to lower prescription drug costs, saying high prices force some patients to choose whether to treat their ailments. (Axelrod, 7/18)
Politico:
John Delaney On Drug Prices, Why Clinton Lost, Biking Across Iowa
Former Rep. John Delaney spoke to POLITICO Thursday as part of a series of interviews with Democrats seeking to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. Here are key excerpts from the hour-long conversation. ... "My plan, which is called BetterCare, leaves Medicare alone. Medicare is not perfect, but it's probably the least broken part of our health care...But what I do is I create a new plan that everyone gets from when they're born until they're 65. So, and it's a basic federal plan that every citizen gets for free. So, every citizen in this country will be covered by health care, that they won't have to pay for it. And I get rid of Medicaid as part of that, because Medicaid is the most broken program in this country. Reimbursement rates are so insufficient, that they're inadequate provider networks all over the country. (7/19)
The Daily Beast:
Feds Say Former VA Employee Used Vets’ Ailing Kids To Scam Millions
A Department of Veterans Affairs employee used a network of shell companies to steal millions of dollars from a VA program to provide health services to children of veterans who are suffering from a debilitating spinal condition, federal prosecutors say. The Justice Department lodged 23 federal criminal charges late last year against Joseph Prince, a former Veterans Affairs employee who prosecutors say used his position to steer almost $20 million in taxpayer money to companies run by family members and associates. Those companies then provided huge kickbacks to Prince, his wife, and other family members, the government alleges. (Markay and Hughes, 7/18)
The New York Times:
E.P.A. Won’t Ban Chlorpyrifos, Pesticide Tied To Children’s Health Problems
The Trump administration took a major step to weaken the regulation of toxic chemicals on Thursday when the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would not ban a widely used pesticide that its own experts have linked to serious health problems in children. The decision by Andrew R. Wheeler, the E.P.A. administrator, represents a victory for the chemical industry and for farmers who have lobbied to continue using the substance, chlorpyrifos, arguing it is necessary to protect crops. (Friedman, 7/18)
Reuters:
Trump EPA Allows Use Of Controversial Pesticide
The agency denied the petition by a dozen environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, to ban the pesticide. They said studies show that exposures to the pesticide is liked to low birth weight, reduced IQ, attention disorders and other issues in infants and children. The Obama administration's EPA had banned the use of chlorpyrifos in 2015 after it decided it could not be certain whether exposure to the chemical in food and water would be harmful. But Trump's first EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, reversed that decision in 2017, prompting an ongoing legal battle. (7/18)
Politico:
EPA Will Not Ban Chlorpyrifos
The EPA, in a notice that will be posted to the Federal Register, said further examination of epidemiological studies of health risks associated with chlorpyrifos is necessary before the agency can make a final decision on its safety. The agency said “there is good reason” to continue allowing farmers to use chlorpyrifos, “given the importance of this matter and the fact that critical questions remained regarding the significance of the data addressing neurodevelopmental effects.” (Crampton, 7/18)
CNN:
EPA Declines Requests To Ban Pesticide Chlorpyrifos
"By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump's EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the overwhelming scientific evidence that this pesticide harms children's brains," said attorney Patti Goldman of Earthjustice, who represents the groups that took the issue to court. (Wallace and Kaufman, 7/18)
The New York Times:
‘They Are Human Beings’: Homeland Security Faulted For Treatment Of Migrant Children
Democratic lawmakers accused Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, of leading an agency with an “empathy deficit” during a hearing on Thursday that focused on the separation of migrant children from their parents and reports of poor conditions at holding facilities near the border. “What does that mean when a child is sitting in their own feces? Can’t take a shower?” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. “What’s that about? None of us would have our children in that position. They are human beings.” (Kanno-Youngs, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Homeland Security Chief: Family Border Separations Are Down
A top Trump administration official said Thursday the number of family separations at the border has fallen since last summer's zero tolerance policy, and they are done only for compelling reasons. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said fewer than 1,000 children have been separated from families out of 450,000 family groups that have crossed the border since October. He said they are separated because of health and safety concerns, among other reasons. "The vast majority" of families are kept together, he said. (7/18)
The New York Times:
At Detention Camps And Shelters, Art Helps Migrant Youths Find Their Voices
The young migrants often arrived at night. They were teenagers from Central and South America, brought by border agents to the Tornillo Detention Facility and led to rows of metal bunk beds in military tents ringed by barbed wire. Human touch, even a simple hug, was rare inside this secured temporary city, where nearly 3,000 unaccompanied minors at a time were confined between June 2018 and January 2019. In this harsh environment, the Chihuahuan Desert, imagination and faith helped them make it through. The Rev. Rafael Garcia, a Jesuit priest from South El Paso, got his first inkling of the creativity within the camp when he noticed a cross with a red Sacred Heart entwined in yarn, handmade by incarcerated youngsters. (Brown, 7/19)
The Washington Post:
Prescription Opioids Flooded Norton, Va. Here's What's Happened To The Small City.
Pills by the tens of thousands, then by the hundreds of thousands and ultimately by the millions found their way to this remote city tucked amid rugged, lush mountains in southwestern Virginia’s coal country. They were opioids, manufactured in bulk, prescribed by doctors promiscuously, prosecutors say. They were sold liberally to pharmacies. Over the course of seven years, from 2006 through 2012, the big Walmart on the four-lane road at the edge of this city received more than 3.5 million opioids. The CVS at the end of the main street through town received more than 1.3 million. (Achenbach, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Buried In Opioids, Sickened Community Eyes Drugmakers' Role
The numbers are staggering: An average yearly total of 107 opioid pills per resident were distributed over a seven-year period in this rural Appalachian county. The newly released federal data is shocking even to people who live here in Jackson County, where nearly everyone seems to have known someone who died from drug-related causes. Five children in one elementary school class were said to have lost a parent to an overdose death this past academic year. (7/18)
NPR:
Overdoses Decline In Provisional Data But Some States See Steep Increases
Good news came out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday: Preliminary data shows reported drug overdoses declined 4.2% in 2018, after rising precipitously for decades. "It looks like this is the first turnaround since the opioid crisis began," says Bertha Madras who served on President Trump's opioid commission, and is a professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School. She says it won't be entirely clear until the CDC finalizes the numbers but, "I think the tide could be turning." (Simmons-Duffin, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
Opioid Distributor Miami-Luken, Former Executives Indicted By Federal Prosecutors In Cincinnati
Federal prosecutors in Cincinnati filed criminal charges Thursday against an opioid distributor and two of its former executives, accusing them of conspiring with doctors and pharmacies to pour millions of addictive pain pills into Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. The indictment of Miami-Luken, its former president and its former compliance officer was the second time in three months that federal prosecutors have used criminal laws against a drug distributor in their efforts to stem the prescription opioid epidemic. (Bernstein, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Oklahoma County Seeking Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers
Oklahoma County has joined over 50 other cities and counties in the state to prosecute drug companies for damages caused by the opioid epidemic. All three county commissioners voted Wednesday to approve a contract with the Fulmer Sill law firm to sue opioid manufacturers, The Oklahoman reported. The decision comes at the end of the state's trial against consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson, which alleges the New Jersey-based company and its subsidiaries created a public nuisance by aggressively promoting the highly addictive drugs. (7/18)
PBS NewsHour:
How Racial Inequity Is Playing Out In The Opioid Crisis
The opioid epidemic in the United States has largely centered on white Americans, who account for roughly 80 percent of opioid overdose victims. But the national attention on white victims has pushed minorities to the sidelines, even as the number of opioid-related deaths among non-whites is on the rise. Non-whites make up 20 percent of deaths involving prescription and non-prescription opioids in the U.S. According to recent government figures, the number is growing. (Addison, 7/18)
Los Angeles Times:
LAPD To Equip More Officers With Medication To Reduce Opioid Deaths
As the nation battles an opioid epidemic, the Los Angeles Police Department is expanding a program to supply officers with thousands of doses of a nasal spray to treat overdose victims. Last year, the LAPD launched a pilot program to train and equip officers to administer naloxone, which blocks the effects of an opioid overdose. More than 6,100 officers now carry the drug sold under the brand name Narcan. Other officers are expected to receive training. (Puente, 7/18)
The New York Times:
As America Debates Abortion, Hollywood Seeks The Realities
At a recent conference outside Los Angeles, a national women’s rights lawyer stood before a select group of Hollywood heavyweights to issue a demand and a plea. With a woman’s right to choose in jeopardy, the lawyer, Fatima Goss Graves, said, more abortions should be portrayed in narratives onscreen. “The stories on abortion do not match our reality,” she said. The attendees — agents, celebrities and producers at an invitation-only diversity summit held by the talent agency CAA — took Goss Graves’s message in stride. As it turns out, the industry has already begun shedding one of its longest-held taboos. In recent years, abortions are taking place or being talked about on television at record levels, often on shows created or written by women. (Buckley, 7/18)
Reuters:
Illinois To Defy Trump Administration's Abortion Referral 'Gag Rule'
Illinois will defy enforcement of the Trump administration's rule barring federally subsidized family planning clinics from making abortion referrals, the governor said on Thursday, vowing the state would step in to fund most of those clinics itself. Illinois' action comes a week after a federal appeals court cleared the way for the administration to cut off Title X grants for reproductive healthcare and family planning for low-income women at clinics that refer patients to abortion providers. (7/18)
USA Today:
Vaping, Heart Attack Links Disputed As 2 Tobacco Researchers Face Off
Two prominent vaping researchers are facing off over claims that electronic cigarettes double the risk of heart attacks in adults, muddying the science over how best to stop smoking. Brad Rodu, a University of Louisville professor, asked the Journal of the American Heart Association to retract a study out last month by University of California, San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz. (O'Donnell, 7/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
Novartis Sets Aside $700 Million To Settle Bribery Allegations
Novartis AG set aside $700 million to settle a long-running lawsuit alleging the drugmaker treated U.S. doctors to lavish dinners and other events in return for boosting prescriptions. The case centers on 80,000 events Novartis held between 2002 and 2011 that federal prosecutors allege amounted to kickbacks masquerading as educational meetings. Those included fishing trips off the Florida coast, expensive meals at high-end restaurants like Nobu in Manhattan, and trips to Hooters locations across the country, according to court documents. (Roland, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
UnitedHealth Reverses Denials And Will Cover Expensive Gene Therapy For Kids
Two families of children with a rare and debilitating disease celebrated Thursday after UnitedHealthcare reversed previous denials and approved coverage for a $2.1 million gene therapy. The giant insurance company said it has now approved all six coverage requests it received for the new gene drug, four on the basis of initial claims and now two more after the families appealed. Zolgensma, which is marketed by Novartis, is intended as a one-time treatment for spinal muscular atrophy. The families’ fight for coverage highlights the coming insurance battles over advanced gene treatments. (Rowland, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
UnitedHealth Hikes Profit Forecast After Big 2Q
UnitedHealth raised profit expectations for the year after second-quarter earnings climbed almost 13%, and the nation's largest health insurer continued expanding beyond its core business and into care delivery. A nearly 12% jump in revenue from the company's pharmacy benefit management operation helped UnitedHealth beat Wall Street expectations for the recently completed quarter. UnitedHealth's OptumRx business added more customers and moved deeper into specialty services like the infusion of drugs at patient homes. (7/18)
Reuters:
UnitedHealth Boosts Earnings Forecast, Set To Pass Price Discounts To Patients
"You can expect us not to change our stance on rebates," Chief Executive Officer David Wichmann said on a conference call with analysts to discuss the earnings. UnitedHealth shares were down $5.65, or 2%, at $260.94 in morning trading, after earlier rising about 1% in premarket trading on news the company beat estimates for quarterly profit and boosted its forecast for 2019 earnings. (7/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
UnitedHealth Lifts Profit Targets On Stronger Sales
The medical loss ratio for UnitedHealthcare, the insurance arm, was 83.1%, which analysts said was in line with projections but also benefited from prior period reserve development, essentially the difference between money set aside for claims and the actual costs. UnitedHealth executives said medical expenses had matched their expectations, and the company said the number was increased by the impact of a deferred health-insurance tax. The medical loss ratio represents the share of premiums paid out in claims. (Wilde Mathews and Chin, 7/18)
Stat:
Role Of Seizures In Alzheimer's Disease Is Gaining Overdue Attention
Scientists who study Alzheimer’s disease have mostly ignored the role of seizures, but that is beginning to change, and new research suggests they may provide insight into the progression of the disease and pave the way for treatments. It’s no surprise to neurologists that some people experience convulsive seizures in the later stages of the disease. In fact, the second patient ever to receive an Alzheimer’s diagnosis more than a century ago suffered from them. But because brain damage can cause seizures, they were long thought to be just one more casualty of a deteriorating brain. (Aguirre, 7/19)
NPR:
'EXERT' Study Is Testing Exercise To Ward Off Alzheimer's
Researchers are prescribing exercise as if it were a drug in a study that aims to see if it can prevent Alzheimer's disease. "We are testing if exercise is medicine for people with a mild memory problem," says Laura Baker, principal investigator of the nationwide EXERT study and associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Wake Forest School of Medicine. The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, could help determine whether exercise can protect people from the memory and thinking problems associated with Alzheimer's. (Hamilton, 7/18)
Variety:
Sharon Stone: People Were ‘Brutally Unkind’ After Stroke
Sharon Stone is back. And after famously serving as amfAR’s Global Campaign Chair for 15 years, she’s taken on a new role as advocate for brain-aging diseases that disproportionally affect women. Only one third of Alzheimers patients are men, for instance. And don’t even get Stone started on strokes. “This is why I do it: My mother had a stroke. My grandmother had a stroke. I had a massive stroke — and a nine-day brain bleed,” she told Variety at an event she hosted to raise awareness for the Women’s Brain Health Initiative in West Hollywood on Wednesday night. (Herman, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Why Are These Mice Hallucinating? Scientists Are In Their Heads
In a laboratory at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the mice are seeing things. And it’s not because they’ve been given drugs. With new laser technology, scientists have triggered specific hallucinations in mice by switching on a few neurons with beams of light. The researchers reported the results on Thursday in the journal Science. The technique promises to provide clues to how the billions of neurons in the brain make sense of the environment. (Zimmer, 7/18)
Bloomberg:
How Do You Test A New Seasickness Drug? Take Pill, Set Sail
Most drug trials take place in sterile hospital labs, universities or clinics. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. decided a boat in the Pacific Ocean would be better. It wasn’t for relaxation; actually quite the opposite. Vanda wanted to try to make the participants in the trial seasick. Vanda, a small biopharmaceutical company based in Washington, has completed the second phase of clinical trials of a motion-sickness drug it hopes will compete with industry leader Dramamine. In a double-blind test, the company sent 126 participants with a prior history of motion sickness on ships off the coast of Los Angeles, with some receiving the company’s motion-sickness drug tradipitant and others getting a placebo. (Ward, 7/18)
The New York Times:
This New Liquid Is Magnetic, And Mesmerizing
Lodestone, a naturally-occurring iron oxide, was the first persistently magnetic material known to humans. The Han Chinese used it for divining boards 2,200 years ago; ancient Greeks puzzled over why iron was attracted to it; and, Arab merchants placed it in bowls of water to watch the magnet point the way to Mecca. In modern times, scientists have used magnets to read and record data on hard drives and form detailed images of bones, cells and even atoms. Throughout this history, one thing has remained constant: Our magnets have been made from solid materials. But what if scientists could make magnetic devices out of liquids? (Sheikh, 7/18)
NPR:
Need Surgery? Here's How To Choose A Surgeon
So your doctor has told you some of the scariest words you can possibly hear: You need surgery. What do you do next? If you need an emergency surgery, like an appendectomy or a procedure after an accident, you usually don't have much choice in the matter. You'll likely get it done in the hospital where you went to the emergency room, unless the hospital isn't equipped to do it. If that's the case, you'll get transferred. (Gordon, 7/19)
The Washington Post:
After Death Of YouTube Star, Amazon Will Push For E-Scooter Safety Warnings In The U.K.
Wherever electric scooters have appeared around the globe, severe injuries have followed. Now the United Kingdom — where motorized scooters are banned from public roads and sidewalks — is seeking to publicize the danger associated the devices. The Department of Transport, which oversees British transportation networks, has persuaded Amazon, the global e-commerce giant, to pressure electronic scooter manufacturers to make clear in their online listings that their devices cannot be used on public roads. (Holley, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Neutrogena Recalls Light Therapy Masks, Citing Risk Of Eye Injury
Over the last several years, light-emitting therapy masks intended to treat acne have streamed into the marketplace and onto Instagram, filling feeds with pictures of people that resemble space-age hockey goalies. Neutrogena’s version of the product, which the company said would kill acne bacteria and fight “inflammation,” cost between $30 and $40, making it one of the more affordable masks on the market. But earlier this month Neutrogena issued a recall of its masks, citing a “theoretical risk of eye injury” to a subset of people who had underlying eye conditions or were taking medicine that made them sensitive to light. (Bromwich, 7/18)
The New York Times:
An Airline Told A Breastfeeding Woman To Cover Up. Social Media Weighed In.
The Dutch airline KLM has found itself in the middle of a heated debate over breastfeeding in public, after the company said it might ask women to cover themselves while breastfeeding onboard if other passengers said they were offended. The issue came to light after Shelby Angel, a woman from Sacramento, Calif., wrote about her experience on a KLM flight this summer in a post on Facebook on Sunday. (Karasz, 7/18)
ProPublica/Anchorage Daily News:
The Village Where Every Cop Has Been Convicted Of Domestic Violence
When Nimeron Mike applied to be a city police officer here last New Year’s Eve, he didn’t really expect to get the job. Mike was a registered sex offender and had served six years behind bars in Alaska jails and prisons. He’d been convicted of assault, domestic violence, vehicle theft, groping a woman, hindering prosecution, reckless driving, drunken driving and choking a woman unconscious in an attempted sexual assault. Among other crimes. “My record, I thought I had no chance of being a cop,” Mike, 43, said on a recent weekday evening, standing at his doorway in this Bering Strait village of 646 people. He was wrong. (Hopkins, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
New Hampshire Sets Tough Drinking Water Standards For PFAS
New Hampshire has voted to put into place some of the country's toughest drinking water standards for a class of toxic chemicals that were once used in everything from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware but are now raising health concerns. A joint legislative committee Thursday approved three measures allowing standards for compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively called PFAS, to go into effect. (7/18)
The Associated Press:
Heat Wave Forecast Prompts Chicago Public Housing Checks
Public housing officials in Chicago were planning wellbeing checks on residents as the heat and humidity are expected to mount to dangerous levels as part of a wave of sweltering weather covering a substantial portion of the U.S. Routine checks also will be done to make sure the temperature in housing units are at safe levels. Window air conditioners are available for emergency situations, Chicago's Housing Authority said Thursday. (7/18)
The Associated Press:
Florida Can Require Licenses For Dietary Advice, Court Rules
Florida can limit who gets to give dietary advice, a federal court ruled. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a health coach who was fined for practicing without a dietary license. Heather Del Castillo had argued Florida's law violated her First Amendment right to free speech, noting dietary advice is ubiquitous online, in books and on TV. (7/18)
The Washington Post:
City Plays ‘Baby Shark’ On Loop To Keep Homeless From Sleeping In Waterfront Park
The songs have been weaponized before to annoy parents, babysitters and other formerly sane adults in proximity to children. Now, “Baby Shark” and “Raining Tacos” are being used by city officials in West Palm Beach, Fla., as a property management tool. To deter people experiencing homelessness from sleeping overnight at the city’s Lake Pavilion and Great Lawn, venues that offer “million-dollar views” for special events, West Palm Beach officials began playing the catchy, obnoxious tunes three weeks ago from strategically situated speakers. (Mettler, 7/18)