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A proposed bill in Florida would prevent children from learning about menstruation in elementary school, even though some girls get their first periods in those years.
The bill would also ban other sex education topics through the fifth grade.
Sponsored by Republican Florida state Rep. Stan McClain, the bill advanced out of the House Education Quality Subcommittee last week, CBS...
Since it began in 2004, a global effort led by the United States to combat HIV has dramatically increased the number of people it helps, a new government report shows.
In its report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the number of people receiving lifesaving HIV treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has increased 300 t...
U.S. water utilities will be required to remove certain “forever chemicals” from drinking water as the Biden administration sets first-ever limits on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, better known as known as PFAS.
Nearly all Americans have PFAS in their bloodstream. The toxic chemicals are found in an enormous range of goods from dental floss to waterproof clothing. The c...
The United States is one of the few developed nations without federal paid sick leave protection, owing at least in part to concerns about potential harms to business, according to a new study.
Yet, researchers studying the issue found that access to paid sick leave could have benefits for businesses.
Among them: fewer occupational injuries, less spread of contagious disease, fewer ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s heavily criticized tobacco program promised changes on Friday, including a five-year strategic plan to better outline priorities.
"As we enter this era of declining use of combustible tobacco and continued innovation in the e-cigarette industry, the societal concerns are not subtle," FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in an agency news relea...
Changes in U.S. abortion laws have prompted confusion among women about medication abortion and emergency contraception, or the “morning-after” pill.
A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) underscores this lack of awareness about what’s legal or not from state to state, including whether a full abortion ban is in place or abortions are allowed.
Pollsters surveyed a ...
To fight an urgent opioid overdose crisis, a Canadian province took an unusual step on Tuesday.
British Columbia decriminalized small amounts of several hard drugs.
This includes up to 2.5 grams of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, the province's Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said in a statement
Stung by recent food safety scandals -- most notably last year's infant formula shortage, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it is creating a new unit devoted to food safety.
The newly dubbed Human Foods Program will wield wide-ranging powers.
"We’re proposing the creation of a unified, newly envisioned organization, called the Human Foods Program, that ...
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration official who has led the agency’s food policy efforts since 2018 announced his resignation on Wednesday.
Frank Yiannas was also among the top officials leading the agency response to last year’s infant formula shortage.
"Today, I informed [FDA] Commissio...
When it comes to tobacco control, some states do a far better job than others of preventing and reducing smoking.
A new report from the American Lung Association (ALA) notes that California, Maine, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., are doing the best job of putting proven tobacco control policies in place.
Conversely, those who have the most need to enact policies are Alabama, Mi...
The pandemic brought the utility of testing wastewater to gauge viral spread to the fore.
Now, experts at the independent National Academies of Sciences (NAS) have issued a report outlining a roadmap for the broader surveillance of Americans' wastewater.
The report "reviews the usefulness of comm...
The number of Americans who had trouble paying their medical bills dropped precipitously between 2019 and 2021, and funds from the American Rescue Plan and other federal pandemic relief programs may have been a reason why.
Overall, 10.8% of Americans responding to a federal survey in 2021 said they had had problems covering medical bills that year, down from 14% in 2019, according to rese...
Gas stoves could face new emissions standards or even be banned because of their link to indoor air pollutants and childhood asthma, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The federal agency will open public comment on gas cooking stoves and their hazards sometime this winter, Bloomberg News reported.
“This is a hidden hazard,” agency commissio...
Medicare Advantage ads that are confusing or misleading could be banned under a new rule that was proposed Wednesday by the Biden administration to protect seniors.
Nearly half of all seniors or people with disabilities who are enrolled in the Medicare program through the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have Medicare Advantage plans.
“CMS released a proposed...
The state of California is suing several companies for their role in manufacturing "forever chemicals."
The lawsuit filed Thursday also claims that the companies, including 3M and DuPont, covered up the harm their products, commonly known as PFAS, were causing to the...
U.S. voters spoke up for abortion rights Tuesday through ballot measures in four states in what was seen as a win for abortion rights supporters.
In Michigan, California and Vermont, voters approved measures that would amend their state constitutions to protect abortion, about four months after the U.S. Supreme Court removed the constitutional right to the procedure, the New York Time...
Transgender minors in Florida are now one step closer to not being able to get medical care to affirm their gender.
In a heated hearing on Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to begin drafting a rule banning puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for trans youths younger than 18.
This was the next step in a movement that began in April when Gov. Ron DeSantis began e...
Child tax credits had a huge impact in U.S. households that struggle to afford food.
And after those credits ended, many...
The federal government is pumping millions more dollars into an effort to expand the United States' network of community mental health centers.
Up to 15 states now can apply for $1 million grants to help plan new
Do the majority of Americans want government to make sure the products they buy are free of harmful chemicals?
Yes, a new survey shows, and they are even willing to pay more to get that assurance of safety.
“At a time when most issues are politically polarized, the issue of keeping people ...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a major step to curb the largest remaining source of airborne lead pollution.
The agency has proposed a so-called endangerment finding that aircraft that use leaded fuel cause or contribute to
The U.S. government will invest $266 million to shore up the community and public health workforce using American Rescue Plan funding.
About $225.5 million will go to 83 recipients to support training and apprenticeship for 13,000 new community health workers, CNN reported before Friday's announcement...
To help consumers ascertain the nutritional value of foods more easily, the Biden administration said Tuesday it will propose putting nutrition labels on the front of packaging instead of on the back.
The proposal will be paired with an update on criteria for wha...
The White House on Tuesday released a national plan to end hunger by 2030, an ambitious goal that would be accomplished largely by expanding monthly food benefits for poor Americans.
The plan would also aim to encourage healthy eating and physical activity so few...
Consumers should immediately stop using HECOPRO digital display carbon monoxide (CO) detectors because they can fail to warn about the presence of the dangerous gas, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said.
The CPSC issued the warning Thursday after detectors sold on Amazon.com failed tests with a CO concentration of 400 ppm, in violation of safety standards.
At sus...
New federal safety standards announced Wednesday aim to keep kids and teens safe from serious or life-threatening injuries from accidental swallowing of high-powered magnets.
The new standards require that certain products with loose or separable magnets contain only those that are weak or too large to swallow.
The aim is to reduce injuries that can occur when swallowed magnets att...
New research suggests that good intentions may not always be enough when it comes to public health.
According to the study of the consequences of Philadelphia's 2017 tax on sugar-sweete...
The days of getting free COVID-19 tests by mail are drawing to a close.
The Biden administration plans to stop sending test kits to Americans on Sept. 2 in order to reserve remaining tests for a fall surge. Lack of funding from Congress is the reason for the change, NBC News reported, citing an unnamed senior administration official.
"If Congress provides funding, we will e...
This year's hurricane season has been quiet so far, but if and when it cranks up many American cities won't be prepared to execute mass evacuations, a new study finds.
After Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans in 2005, the country bore witness to the pitfalls of not having an effective evacuation plan. Since then on...
To help parents who use government nutrition benefits cope with an ongoing shortage of baby formula, U.S. federal officials will extend a program giving them more choice at the grocery store.
Families who buy formula through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) will be able to buy substitutes for their regular formula through Dec. 31 -- or for 60...
After testing negative for COVID-19 and leaving isolation last Sunday, First Lady Jill Biden again tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.
"After testing negative on Tuesday, just now, the First Lady has tested positive for COVID-19 by antigen testing," the First Lady's Deputy Communications Director Kelsey Donohue said in a statement. "This represents a “rebound” positivity."
...Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has advised seven presidents and spent more than five decades at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, will step down in December to "pursue the next chapter" of his career, he announced Monday.
Fauci, 81, currently serves as the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIA...
After testing positive for COVID-19 last week, First Lady Jill Biden left isolation on Sunday following two negative test results.
She had been isolating on Kiawah Island, S.C., where she had tested positive while vacationing there with her husband, President Joe Biden, and their family, the Associated Press reported. He
Countries that are closer to achieving universal health coverage saw smaller declines in routine childhood vaccinations during the pandemic, a new study reveals.
The World Health Organization describes universal health coverage as "all individuals and communities receive the health services...
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to respond quickly enough during the COVID-19 pandemic and needs an major overhaul, Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday.
With her rebuke, she sketched out a plan to prioritize action on public health needs, The N...
First Lady Jill Biden has COVID-19 and is experiencing "mild symptoms," according to her staff.
"After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening," Biden's communications director Eliz...
On Monday Scotland became the world's first country to help its residents with what activists supporting the move call "period poverty."
The country now offers free period products for anyone who needs them, a decision first made in November 2020 by unanimous approval in Scottish Parliament, according to CBS News.
Making these products available is "fundamental to equality ...
The Inflation Reduction Act is expected to bring out-of-pocket drug costs down for many U.S. seniors, but most of its benefits aren't immediate.
Under the law, Medicare will now be allowed to negotiate the cost of some drugs. That should eventually bring down out-of-pocket costs for seniors with Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, according to John Clark, a clinical associate profess...
What if a rare viral illness with the potential to cause excruciating pain was in fact treatable, but the only drug for that use was nearly impossible to get, despite being in plentiful supply?
That is precisely the dilemma now confronting thousands of monkeypox patients across the United States.
"I was ...
President Joe Biden was poised to sign a new executive order on Wednesday that would make it easier for women to travel to another state to get an abortion.
This ...
A Minnesota jury is expected to decide by the end of this week whether a woman's human rights were violated when a pharmacist denied her request to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, sometimes called the morning-after pill.
Though the case dates back to 2019, the issue is ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to toughen regulations on certain raw chicken products.
The agency has notified food processors that new rules would require they lower the amount of salmonella found in breaded and stuffed chicken products, which include frozen foods such as chicken cordon bleu and chicken Kie...
Both San Francisco and New York state declared monkeypox a public health emergency on Thursday, as they struggle to gain access to more resources to help contain the spread of the virus.
About 40% of the 4,907 monkeypox cases recorded in the United States have been
A federal lawsuit out of Texas could end access to free lifesaving preventive health care services for nearly 168 million people in the United States with private insurance, a new report suggests.
Kelley v. Becerra seeks to overturn the
After contracting COVID-19 last week, President Joe Biden has tested negative for the virus and ended his isolation period.
In a tweet posted Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden shared a photo of his negative test and added, "Back to the Oval."
“Thanks to Doc for the...
As monkeypox continues to spread, with nearly 3,500 cases now reported in the United States, the Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the outbreak a public health emergency.
The administration may also name a White House coordinator to supervise the response, all in an effort to ...
The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will create a new division in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) focused solely on coordinating responses to pandemic threats and other health emergencies.
The office of the existing Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) will become its own operating division called the Administration for Strategic...
President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House announced Thursday.
"This morning, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows states to ban abortion isn't expected to have an immediate effect on in vitro fertilization, according to an analysis by the nation's leading reproductive health society.
However, the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade opens up a host of knotty moral and ethical questions regarding the storage and disposal of unused embryos, leaving fertility doctor...
Under growing pressure from his own party, President Joe Biden on Friday issued an executive order designed to help protect women's access to abortion.
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ended nationwide access to abortion, guaranteed for nearly 50 years under the Roe v. Wade...