Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

As the Trump Administration moves aggressively to shrink the federal government and cut its spending, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be next on the chopping block.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican, recently reintroduced legislation to abolish OSHA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill, called the Nullify Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act, has been nicknamed “NOSHA.”

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What would it actually mean to abolish OSHA? Here’s what to know.

What does OSHA do?

OSHA’s objective is to keep Americans safe and healthy at work. “The OSHA law says that employers have the legal responsibility to provide safe workplaces for their employees,” says David Michaels, who was assistant secretary of labor for OSHA from 2009 to 2017 and is now a professor at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. “OSHA’s job is to ensure that employers do that.”

Since President Ric..

The skin is more than an expression of your health and youthful good looks. It is your one and only barrier between the internal and external realms, keeping in the good things and barring the bad. This complex organ is ingeniously designed, yet it faces new challenges in the modern world. It’s at risk of breaking down.

“Broken skin barriers” are real. They’re the subject of great interest from “skinfluencers” on TikTok, but they’re also studied rigorously by dermatologists. “We love the skin barrier but in a very physiologic and scientific way,” says Dr. Anthony Rossi, a dermatologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

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In addition to physically blocking the elements, the barrier employs its own micro police: immune cells and millions of healthy microbes that crack down on rogue skin pathogens, among other important jobs. In recent years, researchers have learned more about why the barrier fails, the consequences of a compromised barrier, and..

When Elaine Welteroth was pregnant with her first child, she assumed she would give birth in a hospital, like her mother and grandmother had. But she struggled to find a doctor who made her feel safe and comfortable, often leaving appointments in tears. After going through eight, she found an alternative: Kindred Space LA, a Black-owned birthing center staffed with midwives. “[They] completely changed my perspective on birth, on my body, on my agency, and they really changed my life,” says Welteroth, now 38. Midwives, she explains, typically spend more time with an expectant family during appointments, and take a more holistic approach, such as by asking about stress levels and work life. Research also suggests that midwifery care can reduce maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths.

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Welteroth wanted to make that compassionate care more accessible, so she started a fundraiser on her Instagram in December 2023 to help one family afford midwifer..

Alcohol has long been synonymous with relaxation. If you want to unwind after a rough day at work—or kick back on the couch, at a baseball game, or in the pool—there’s historically been a good chance you’ll have a drink in hand.

Now, the tides are turning. In early January, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a report warning that even small amounts of alcohol can cause cancer. Drinking just one alcoholic beverage a day increases the risk of liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer, oral cancer, and various injuries, a federal analysis suggests. According to a recent survey, nearly half of Americans are trying to cut back on their alcohol consumption in 2025—a 44% increase since 2023. The message is especially getting through to young Americans, who increasingly view less as more, leading the charge among age groups going dry.

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As the science around alcohol’s health risks crystallizes, a new question is brewing: What are you supposed to do to rela..

In late January, scientists at the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) reported the first cases of H5N9 avian influenza in the U.S., on a duck farm in California.

The latest strain isn’t a surprise, say public-health experts, since influenza takes different forms in different species and is constantly mutating. But the appearance of H5N9 is still concerning, especially in light of the ongoing outbreaks in chickens and cows of H5N1.

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Here’s what to know.

Why bird flu is so rampant right now

“We’ve never seen a global spread of avian influenza virus like this,” says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “We’ve seen an explosion in the number of outbreaks in poultry and duck operations over the course of recent weeks. This reflects the fact that there is so much H5N1 in migrating waterfowl.”

There are about 40 million migratory aquatic waterfowl in North America, ..

Now that bird flu has been detected in animals in all 50 states, and nearly 70 cases have been confirmed in people, health officials are racing to find better and more reliable ways to track the virus.

One promising method is sampling wastewater. The technique continues to prove useful for monitoring COVID-19; since most people now self-test and formal data collection has diminished, wastewater is the most reliable way of tracking upticks and changes in infections since it doesn’t require people to report results.

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Scientists are now figuring out how to apply the same principle to test wastewater on farms for H5N1, the avian influenza virus. On Feb. 4, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) announced a grant to Barnwell Bio, Inc. to fund the development of a farm-based system for testing wastewater for pathogens. The nonprofit research group FFAR was created by Congress in 2014 via the Farm Bill to use both government and private fundin..

Now that bird flu has been detected in animals in all 50 states, and nearly 70 cases have been confirmed in people, health officials are racing to find better and more reliable ways to track the virus.

One promising method is sampling wastewater. The technique continues to prove useful for monitoring COVID-19; since most people now self-test and formal data collection has diminished, wastewater is the most reliable way of tracking upticks and changes in infections since it doesn’t require people to report results.

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Scientists are now figuring out how to apply the same principle to test wastewater on farms for H5N1, the avian influenza virus. On Feb. 4, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) announced a grant to Barnwell Bio, Inc. to fund the development of a farm-based system for testing wastewater for pathogens. The nonprofit research group FFAR was created by Congress in 2014 via the Farm Bill to use both government and private fundin..

If you’ve tried to schedule a doctor’s appointment recently, you might have had to flip your calendar to a different season. There simply aren’t enough physicians in the U.S.: By 2037, the deficit is expected to reach 187,130 doctors, including more than 8,000 cardiologists and 4,000 nephrologists. That means patients routinely wait a long time—an average of 38 days, according to some data—before they’re able to snag an appointment with a doctor they really need to see.

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“People are constantly trying to get in to see doctors,” says Dr. Gerda Maissel, a physician in New York’s Hudson Valley who works as a patient advocate and helps people navigate the health care system. She once worked with a man who wanted to see a specialist at a major academic center about his worsening neurological disease. After he accepted an appointment 10 months down the road, “he and his wife were just beside themselves,” she recalls. “He had a tremendous need, and the academi..

On his first day back in office, President Trump ordered a sweeping 90-day spending freeze on almost all U.S. foreign aid, initially making exceptions only for military funding to Egypt and Israel and emergency food aid. The “stop-work order” in the directive had immediate consequences for people’s health and wellbeing.

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HIV clinics around the world funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a highly successful aid program launched by George W. Bush that has saved more than 25 million lives, had to cancel appointments and turn patients away. Two-thirds of the staff of the President’s Malaria Initiative—the world’s largest funder of malaria control programs, also founded by George W. Bush—have been fired. Humanitarian assistance programs in Gaza, Sudan, and Syria that provide services like clean water and cholera treatment were halted. Oxygen supplies are no longer reaching health facilities in some low-income countries.

Fu..

Walk down your grocery aisle, and you’ll spot many foods containing ingredients you won’t find in Europe. The unusual way the U.S. regulates ingredients is in the news and the hot seat right now, thanks to the recent ban of a food additive—red dye 3, an artificial dye linked to cancer in animals—and the rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). During his confirmation hearing on Jan. 30, Kennedy said that compared to Europe, the U.S. “looks at any new chemical as innocent until proven guilty.”

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“It needs to end,” he said.

Here’s what to know about some of the most controversial food additives under the microscope and why additives are regulated differently in the U.S.

Key ingredients banned in Europe but allowed in the U.S.

Titanium dioxide is used to make foods and beverages whiter and brighter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it safe for human consum..