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Revealing News For a Better World

Health News Articles
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Below are key excerpts of revealing news articles on health from reliable news media sources. If any link fails to function, a paywall blocks full access, or the article is no longer available, try these digital tools.

For further exploration, delve into our comprehensive Health and Food Corruption Information Center.


Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news articles on dozens of engaging topics. And read excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.


Weed killer 'castrates' male frogs, study says
2010-03-01, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/03/01/pesticide.study.frogs/index.html

Atrazine, a weed killer widely used in the Midwestern United States and other agricultural areas of the world, can chemically "castrate" male frogs and turn some into females. New research suggests the herbicide may be a cause of amphibian declines around the globe, said biologists at the University of California-Berkeley. Researchers found that long-term exposure to low levels of atrazine - 2.5 parts per billion of water - emasculated three-quarters of laboratory frogs and turned one in 10 into females. Scientists believe the pesticide interferes with endocrine hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone. "The effects of atrazine in the long term have been shown to demasculinize or chemically castrate [frogs], combined with complete feminization of some animals," said lead researcher Tyrone B. Hayes, a biologist and herpetologist. Hayes found that 10 percent of the exposed genetic male frogs developed into functional females who copulated with unexposed males and produced viable eggs. The other 90 percent of the exposed male frogs expressed decreased libido, reduced sperm count and decreased fertility, among other findings. Tens of millions of pounds of atrazine are used each year in the United States. Syngenta estimates that 60 million pounds were used during 2008, most of it on corn. A 2006 study by the U.S. Geological Survey found atrazine in approximately 75 percent of stream water and about 40 percent of all groundwater samples from agricultural areas tested between 1992 and 2001.

Note: Don't forget that humans drink the water contaminated by these chemicals, too. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on food system corruption and health.


Guinea Pig Kids
2004-11-19, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4035345.stm

During a nine month investigation, the BBC has uncovered the disturbing truth about the way authorities in New York City are conducting the fight against Aids. HIV positive children - some only a few months old - are enrolled in toxic experiments without the consent of guardians or relatives. In some cases where parents have refused to give children their medication, they have been placed in care. The city's Administration of Children's Services (ACS) does not even require a court order to place HIV kids with foster parents or in children's homes, where they can continue to give them experimental drugs. In 2002, the Incarnation Children's Center - a children's home in Harlem - was at the hub of controversy over secretive drugs trials. [Reporter Jamie Doran] speaks to a boy who spent most of his life at Incaranation. Medical records, obtained by the This World team, prove the boy had been enrolled in these trials. "I did not want to take my medication," said the boy, "but if you want to get out of there, you have to do what they say." He also conveys a horrifying account of what happened to the children at Incarnation who refused to obey the rules. "My friend Daniel didn't like to take his medicine and he got a tube in his stomach," he said. For months, the BBC tried to get information from the people responsible for the trials, but none would comment. The companies that supply drugs for the trials are among the world's largest, including Britain's own Glaxo SmithKline (GSK).

Note: Read a long list of examples of humans being treated as guinea pigs by corporate and governmental programs. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on corruption in government and in Big Pharma from reliable major media sources.


Tracking the Trump administration's favors to the pesticide industry
2026-07-22, US Right to Know
https://usrtk.org/pesticides/tracking-trump-administration-favors-to-the-pest...

The pesticide industry has spent decades building a highly effective influence operation in Washington D.C. Its political influence did not begin with the Trump administration. But over the past 18 months, the Trump administration has delivered a string of victories to the pesticide industry that could reshape pesticide use and public health protections for years to come. U.S. Right to Know identified 26 administration officials with ties to the pesticide industry's lobbying or legal network, including 11 political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where former chemical industry lobbyists now occupy the four highest-ranking positions overseeing federal pesticide regulations. In June 2026, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration and Bayer in a 7–2 decision likely to block thousands of state-level lawsuits alleging that Bayer failed to warn consumers that Roundup causes cancer. In February 2026, President Trump signed an executive order declaring glyphosate-based herbicides and elemental phosphorus – a raw material used in glyphosate production and military weaponry – critical to national defense and directing the federal government to prioritize their domestic production. Bayer is the sole U.S. producer of both glyphosate and elemental phosphorus. In June 2025, USDA rescinded regulations that had required farmers to keep basic records documenting when, where and how they applied restricted-use pesticides.

Note: Our Substack, "The Pesticide Crisis Reveals The Dark Side of Science. We Have The Solutions to Regenerate," uncovers the scope of Bayer/Monsanto's media propaganda machine and the widespread conspiracy to poison our food, air, and along with the powerful remedies and solutions to this crisis. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.


The fight to protect pollinators and people from the ‘pesticides that are everywhere'
2026-06-01, Grist
https://grist.org/sponsored/the-fight-to-protect-pollinators-and-people-from-...

Cory Kreft began working on a honey farm at 15 years old ... eventually buying the business from his former boss. But in 2021, his bees suddenly began dying. He lost 85 percent of his hives. The losses continued the next year, and the next. After extensive testing, he identified the culprit: a relatively new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, often shortened to neonics. Thanks in part to a federal regulatory loophole, the use of neonic-treated seed has quietly exploded in recent years, with little regulation or oversight. Almost all conventional corn and more than half of soy seed in the U.S. is now treated with neonics. When bees encounter neonic-contaminated pollen, the neurotoxin disrupts the neurological functions they rely on to navigate, forage, and survive. The hive then slowly declines and dies. "Over the last five years, we've seen between 60 to 85 percent hive mortality each year," said Kreft. "It's about a million dollars in losses for us annually." While the harm neonics inflict on pollinators is well documented, their effects on humans remain less certain. A recent study found that over 95 percent of pregnant women had neonics in their bodies. The chemicals have been linked to neurological, reproductive system, and developmental harms. Because neonics are now so widespread in food and water ... exposure has become nearly constant. "It's everywhere now," [researcher Jennifer Sass] said. "It's in breast milk, tap water, even in baby food."

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on toxic chemicals and mass animal deaths.


Even when EPA finds a pesticide cancer risk, agency rarely requires warnings
2026-03-30, The New Lede
https://www.thenewlede.org/2026/03/epa-cancer-label-warnings-pesticides/

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to put warnings on pesticides linked to cancer – even when the agency itself determined a product's ingredients are carcinogenic, according to two new analyses of federal data. The EPA has put cancer warnings on 1.4% – 69 of 4,919 – of pesticide labels for products that contain an active ingredient that the agency itself has designated "probable" or "likely" to cause cancer, the analyses found. In addition, just 1.1% – 242 of 22,147 – of pesticide labels that contain ingredients with "possible" or "suggestive" links to cancer have cancer warnings from the EPA. The analyses ... come as one of the world's top pesticide manufacturers, Bayer, seeks to rid itself of costly litigation over whether its glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer. The company is pushing the US Supreme Court to rule the EPA should have sole authority over pesticide cancer labels – a ruling that would have far-reaching implications for pesticide labeling. For years Bayer, alongside more than a hundred other agricultural organizations, has also been lobbying for state laws that bar people from suing pesticide manufacturers for failing to warn them of health risks, as long as the product labels are approved by the EPA. Two states – Georgia and North Dakota – passed such laws. The 2026 Farm Bill ... would force uniform pesticide labels across the country, which preempts state or local governments from mandating stricter labels.

Note: Read our Substack investigation into the pesticide crisis and how it reveals the dark side of science. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.


Pharma bribery corrupts health care, puts patients at risk, new review warns
2026-03-25, US Right to Know
https://usrtk.org/healthwire/pharma-bribery-corrupts-health-care-puts-patient...

Pfizer subsidiaries in multiple countries, including Italy and Russia, were accused by the SEC in 2012 of paying bribes over about a decade to foreign officials to secure regulatory and formulary approvals, boost sales, and increase prescriptions, [an] SEC complaint shows. In China, one subsidiary allegedly created "points programs" that let doctors earn gifts based on prescribing its medications, according to the SEC, while in Croatia, another offered a "bonus program" that reportedly rewarded doctors with cash, international travel, or free products. Pfizer and an indirect subsidiary agreed to pay more than $45 million in separate settlements, without admitting or denying the allegations, the SEC reported. In a parallel action, Pfizer H.C.P., an indirect, wholly-owned healthcare-focused subsidiary, agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to resolve its investigation of FCPA violations after admitting to improper payments to foreign government officials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. And in Greece, Poland, and Romania, Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, employees, and agents were accused by regulators of using slush funds, sham contracts, and off-shore companies in the Isle of Man to reward doctors and administrators who ordered or prescribed its products, including surgical implants. The 2011 SEC complaint also accused the company of paying kickbacks in Iraq to obtain business.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Pharma profiteering.


Tracing Bayer's ties to power in Trump's Washington
2026-02-24, US Right to Know
https://usrtk.org/pesticides/tracing-bayers-ties-to-power-in-trumps-washington/

The White House invokes the Defense Production Act to guarantee supplies of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides. Regulators reapprove dicamba, a Bayer herbicide twice blocked by federal courts, and clear the way for new pesticides containing toxic, persistent PFAS "forever" chemicals. And the U.S. Justice Department urges the U.S. Supreme Court to erase billions of dollars of Bayer's liability for its glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer – placing the weight of the executive branch on the side of a foreign company against thousands of Americans who say Bayer's products caused their cancers. Over the past year, the administration under President Donald J. Trump has delivered a string of victories to Bayer, the German agrichemical and pharmaceutical giant that merged with Monsanto in 2018 to become the world's leading manufacturer of genetically modified seeds and pesticides. These favors to Bayer clash with Trump's promise to "Make America Healthy Again," which many supporters understood as a pledge to confront industries linked to chronic disease. Our review of Bayer's access in Washington found 22 key administration officials with ties to Bayer's lobbying or legal network. Bayer and its lobbyists have access to people in power at the White House, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and even those in high level positions closest to Trump.

Note: In addition to increasing cancer risk by 41%, glyphosate is linked to severe depression and cognitive decline. Our latest Substack, "The Pesticide Crisis Reveals The Dark Side of Science. We Have The Solutions to Regenerate," uncovers the scope of Monsanto's media propaganda machine and the widespread conspiracy to poison our food, air, and along with the powerful remedies and solutions to this crisis. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.


Higher screen time linked to brain abnormalities and ADHD symptoms in children, study shows
2025-11-21, US Right to Know
https://usrtk.org/healthwire/screen-time-linked-to-brain-abnormalities-and-ad...

Children who spend more time on mobile phones, TVs, and video games may face a higher risk of developing attention problems as they grow, according to a first-of-its kind, large-scale study. The findings, recently published in Translational Psychiatry ... indicate a link between longer screen time and more severe symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Researchers ... also found measurable, though subtle, brain abnormalities among heavy screen users. Longer screen time at ages 9–10 predicted higher ADHD symptoms two years later. Higher screen time was linked to a smaller cortex, the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level thinking and attention. Children with more screen time at the outset had a smaller right putamen, a region involved in language learning, addiction, and reward processing. Heavier screen use after two years was tied to slightly thinner development in three other cortical regions that support important cognitive functions, such as attention, working memory, and language processing. Screen use has increased worldwide among children and adolescents, with more than one-third of U.S. parents of a child under 12 reporting their children began interacting with a smartphone before the age of 5. While digital devices are promoted as essential tools for school and social connection, their excessive use has been tied to disrupted sleep, reduced physical activity and negative impacts on mental health.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Tech and mental health.


Recycling lead for U.S. car batteries is poisoning people
2025-11-18, The Examination
https://www.theexamination.org/articles/battery-recycling-nigeria-lead-poison...

Poisonous dust falls from the sky over the town of Ogijo, near Lagos, Nigeria. It coats kitchen floors, vegetable gardens, churchyards and schoolyards. The toxic soot billows from crude factories that recycle lead for American companies. With every breath, people inhale invisible lead particles and absorb them into their bloodstream. The metal seeps into their brains, wreaking havoc on their nervous systems. It damages livers and kidneys. Toddlers ingest the dust by crawling across floors, playgrounds and backyards, then putting their hands in their mouths. As the United States tightened regulations on lead processing ... finding domestic lead became a challenge. So the auto industry looked overseas to supplement its supply. In doing so, car and battery manufacturers pushed the health consequences of lead recycling onto countries where enforcement is lax, testing is rare and workers are desperate for jobs. Seventy people living near and working in factories around Ogijo volunteered to have their blood tested. Seven out of 10 had harmful levels of lead. Every worker had been poisoned. More than half the children tested in Ogijo had levels that could cause lifelong brain damage. Manufacturers that use Nigerian lead make batteries for major carmakers and retailers such as Amazon, Lowe's and Walmart. All this is avoidable. Lead batteries can indeed be recycled as cleanly as advertised. But that requires millions of dollars in technology.

Note: This exposĂ© reveals a brutal human and environmental toll behind cobalt used in batteries for phones and electric vehicles, where men, women, and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo dig toxic, uranium-laced earth with bare hands and face deadly tunnel collapses, widespread disease, miscarriages, birth defects, sexual violence, and extreme poverty–while much of this suffering remains hidden within global supply chains. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on toxic chemicals.


More Teens Are Taking Antidepressants. It Could Disrupt Their Sex Lives for Years.
2025-11-12, New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/magazine/antidepressants-ssris-teen-sexual...

Marie began taking fluoxetine, the generic form of Prozac, when she was 15. The drug – an S.S.R.I., a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor – was part of her treatment in an outpatient program for an eating disorder. It took its toll on her sexuality. Marie told me she has PSSD, post-S.S.R.I. sexual dysfunction, a loss of sexuality that persists after the drug is no longer being taken. Clinicians have published more than 500 case reports in academic literature about the experience of PSSD. A 2020 editorial in The British Medical Journal argued, "Post-S.S.R.I. sexual dysfunction is underrecognized and can be debilitating both psychologically and physically." The effects of S.S.R.I.s on young sexuality are all the more relevant because prescriptions for the drugs have soared. Around two million 12-to-17-year-olds in the United States are on S.S.R.I.s. One large 2024 study ... tallied, month by month, the percentage of that age group who filled an antidepressant prescription between 2016 and 2022. During that time, the rate climbed by 69 percent. There are no dedicated studies of sexual side effects among the young. All that is available is extrapolation from research among adults. Depending on the symptom, drug and duration of use, between 30 and 80 percent of adults taking S.S.R.I.s live to varying degrees with diminished desire, sensation and function, according to a 2019 study.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Pharma profiteering and mental health.


‘I was contaminated': study reveals how hard it is to avoid pesticide exposure
2025-10-24, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/24/i-was-contaminated-study-...

For decades, Khoji Wesselius has noticed the oily scent of pesticides during spraying periods when the wind has blown through his tiny farming village in a rural corner of the Netherlands. Now, after volunteering in an experiment to count how many such substances people are subjected to, Wesselius and his wife are one step closer to understanding the consequences of living among chemical-sprayed fields of seed potato, sugar beet, wheat, rye and onion. "We were shocked," said Wesselius ... who had exposure to eight different pesticides through his skin, with even more chemicals found through tests of his blood, urine and stool. "I was contaminated by 11 sorts of pesticides. My wife, who is more strict in her organic nourishment, had seven sorts of pesticides." Regulators closely monitor dietary intake of pesticides when deciding whether they are safe enough for the market, but little attention has been paid to the effects of breathing them in or absorbing them through the skin. According to a new study, even people who live far from farms are exposed to several different types of pesticides from non-dietary sources. The researchers got 641 participants in 10 European countries to wear silicone wristbands continuously for one week to capture external exposure to 193 pesticides. In laboratory tests, they detected 173 of the substances they tested for, with pesticides found in every wristband and an average of 20 substances for every person who took part.

Note: Our latest Substack, "The Pesticide Crisis Reveals The Dark Side of Science. We Have The Solutions to Regenerate," uncovers the scope of Monsanto's media propaganda machine and the widespread conspiracy to poison our food, air, and along with the powerful remedies and solutions to this crisis. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on food system corruption and toxic chemicals.


Private Equity Delivers Consistently Poor Health Outcomes
2025-10-10, Jacobin
https://jacobin.com/2025/10/private-equity-health-care-dental-emergency-nursi...

Emergency rooms, dentist offices, and nursing homes managed by the private equity industry consistently deliver worse health outcomes than other such medical institutions. The difference can mean life or death for patients. A new Harvard Medical School study of more than one million Medicare ER visits found that patient death rates are 13 percent higher in private equity–owned ERs than their counterparts, likely thanks to staffing and salary cuts. On average, private equity–owned hospitals reduce hospital staffing by more than 11 percent and pay ER staffers 18 percent less than non-private equity hospitals. Private equity–backed dental groups have been found to perform medically unnecessary and painful procedures. One firm allegedly extracted healthy teeth from patients to charge them for expensive dental implants, while another performed root canals on the baby teeth of children as young as three. A study of more than 662,000 Medicare hospitalizations in private equity–owned facilities saw 25 percent more hospital-acquired complications, including falls and surgical site infections, compared to other hospitals. Medicare patients in private equity–backed nursing homes suffered an 11 percent higher short-term mortality rate than those in non-private equity–backed facilities between 2004 and 2019, resulting in 22,500 additional deaths. Nursing homes linked to private equity tend to underperform in terms of patient mobility and reported pain levels.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and financial system corruption.


Are GMOs safe? A molecular geneticist speaks out
2025-09-19, US Right to Know
https://usrtk.org/gmo/are-gmos-safe-a-molecular-geneticist-speaks-out/

Professor Michael Antoniou, head of the Gene Expression and Therapy Group at King's College London, has studied for more than 35 years how genes function and how they are disrupted. His decades of rigorous independent research into the risks of GM foods and glyphosate-based herbicides have raised serious concerns about the safety of these technologies. In a report he prepared for the Mexican government, as the country attempted to restrict GMO corn imports for health reasons, Professor Antoniou cited "a large body of evidence from well-controlled laboratory animal toxicity studies that show evidence of harm to multiple physiological systems" from toxic agents found in GM corn. The health risks of GM corn and its associated pesticides arise from three main sources: Bt insecticidal proteins engineered into the plants, DNA damage caused by the genetic modification process itself, and pesticides used on the crops. The GM transformation process – the process by which a GMO is generated in the laboratory – is highly mutagenic. You create unintended damage to the DNA of the crop. And by changing the pattern of gene function in the organism, you will change its biochemistry and its composition, including the unexpected production of new toxins and allergens. Regardless of the GMO crop we're talking about, they're all grown with one or more different kinds of pesticides ... such as glyphosate. They invariably come with pesticide residues

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on GMOs and toxic chemicals.


Autism Research Is a Chance for RFK Jr. to Take Pesticides Seriously
2025-09-16, The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/09/autism-pesticides-rfk-jr/684227/

Pesticides once appeared to be a clear target for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s desire to "make America healthy again." Before becoming the health secretary, he described Monsanto, the maker of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, as "enemy of every admirable American value," and vowed to "ban the worst agricultural chemicals already banned in other countries." Since he came to power, many of Kennedy's fans have waited eagerly for him to do just that. Kennedy has yet to satisfy them: In the latest MAHA action plan on children's health, released last week, pesticides appear only briefly on a laundry list of vague ideas. The plan says that the government should fund research on how farmers could use less of them, and that the government "will work to ensure that the public has awareness and confidence" in the EPA's existing pesticide-review process, which it called "robust." Several studies have found neurological impacts associated with pesticides. UC Davis's MIND Institute put out a study in 2014 that found autism risk was much higher among children whose mothers had lived near agricultural-pesticide areas while pregnant. A 2017 paper found that zip codes that conducted aerial spraying for mosquitoes–a pesticide–had comparatively higher rates of autism than zip codes that didn't. Others have linked pesticides to a range of behavioral and cognitive impairment in children.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.


The Pesticide Industry's Fingerprints Are All Over the MAHA Commission's Strategy Report
2025-09-10, Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/maha-report-pesticides

When it comes to pesticides, the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, Commission has a serious problem: The Commission's newly released strategy for addressing childhood chronic disease is better for the pesticide industry than for people. The US currently uses over a billion pounds of pesticides annually on our crops, about one-third of which is chemicals that have been banned in other countries. Many have been linked to serious health problems from cancer to infertility to birth defects. Those pesticides contaminate our air, our water, and our bodies. One cancer-linked pesticide, glyphosate, is now found in 80% of adults and 87% of children. [The Commission] barely mentions organic farming, despite the fact that organic is the clearest pathway to transforming our food system into one that is healthy and nontoxic. The US Department of Agriculture organic seal prohibits more than 900 synthetic pesticides allowed in conventional agriculture. Just one week on an organic diet can reduce pesticide levels in our bodies up to 95%. Synthetic food dyes–a key issue for the MAHA movement–are all prohibited by the organic seal, along with hundreds of other food additives and drugs. The Commission's strategy ignores organic. Instead, it leans into promoting industry-friendly "precision agriculture"–the use of AI, machine learning, and digital tools on farms to optimize inputs–which primarily benefits corporate giants like Bayer.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.


Monsanto settles with over 200 exposed to chemicals in Monroe school
2025-08-21, Seattle Times
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/pcb-maker-settles-wi...

A major settlement announced this week brought an end to a lengthy battle between chemical manufacturer Monsanto and students, parents and staff of a Monroe school who were exposed to toxic PCBs for years. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are human-made chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency has linked to some cancers and other illnesses. They festered at Sky Valley Education Center, an alternative school in Snohomish County, where fluorescent lights and building caulking were contaminated. The preservatives were once widely relied upon for building durability, but the EPA has since banned their use. More than 200 people from Sky Valley blamed their serious illnesses on exposure to the toxicant. This week's announcement marks the largest, and only significant, PCB personal injury settlement since Monsanto was acquired by Bayer Pharmaceuticals in 2018 And it appears to be among the largest, if not the largest, PCB settlement stemming from a single site containing the pollutant. The terms of the settlement, including the dollar amount, are confidential. But in July, before the agreement, Germany-based Bayer informed its investors that it had set aside 530 million euros, or about $618 million, for Sky Valley settlements and litigation costs. Sky Valley students, staff and others ... described devastating diagnoses, including various cancers, brain damage, autoimmune diseases and miscarriages. Some, including children, reportedly died.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on corporate corruption and toxic chemicals.


New evidence of chlorpyrifos harm to kids' brains amid regulatory retreat
2025-08-18, The New Lede
https://www.thenewlede.org/2025/08/chlorpyrifos-harms-kids-brains-epa/

Children highly exposed to an insecticide prior to birth showed signs of impaired brain development and motor function, according to a new study of chlorpyrifos – a pesticide still used on US crops despite decades of warnings about its impact on children's health. The study ... is the first to tie prenatal exposure to the pesticide to "enduring and widespread molecular, cellular, and metabolic effects in the brain," the authors wrote. The study ... comes months after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its plans to partially ban chlorpyrifos but allow continued use on 11 crops. The EPA ... banned chlorpyrifos in 2021 after a federal court ordered the agency to take action amid litigation and a wealth of evidence of the risks it poses to children. But the agency reversed course again after a different federal court sided with farm groups in opposition. MRI scans showed that kids with the highest levels of exposure were more likely to have reduced blood flow to the brain, thickening of the brain cortex, abnormal brain pathways, impaired nerve insulation and other problems. Chlorpyrifos was the 11th most frequently found pesticide in food samples in the most recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pesticide residue monitoring report, and a 2023 US Department of Agriculture pesticide residue report found traces of the chemical in baby food made with pears, as well as in samples of blackberries, celery and tomatoes.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.


The cancer patient who inspired French movement to block reintroduction of pesticide
2025-08-08, The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/08/the-cancer-patient-who-inspired...

French MPs gave themselves a round of applause for approving legislation to reintroduce a banned pesticide last month. A figure rose from the public gallery to shout: "You are supporters of cancer ... and we will make it known." Fleur Breteau made it known. Her outburst and appearance – she lost her hair during chemotherapy for breast cancer – boosted a petition against the "Duplomb law" to well over 2m signatures. On Thursday, France's constitutional court struck down the government's attempt to reintroduce the pesticide acetamiprid – a neonicotinoid banned in France in 2018 but still used as an insecticide in other EU countries as well as the UK – in a judgment that took everyone by surprise. The ruling said the legislature had undermined "the right to live in a balanced and healthy environment" enshrined in France's environmental charter. For Breteau, 50, a battle is won but the struggle goes on. "The law is a symptom of a sick system that poisons us. The Duplomb law isn't the real problem. It's aggravating an already catastrophic system," she said. "We are living in a toxic world and need a revolution to break the chain of contamination in everything ... If people don't react we'll find ourselves in a world where we cannot drink water or eat food that is uncontaminated, where a slice of buttered bread or a cup of tea poisons us. It will be a silent world, without animals, without insects, without birds."

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and toxic chemicals.


False positives, real profits: the dark side of cancer screening
2025-07-29, iai News
https://iai.tv/articles/you-cant-test-your-way-to-health-auid-3271

Medical care has overinvested in screening, to the detriment of human health. It doesn't reduce the overall number of deaths among those who are screened, and there are real human costs to getting ahead of symptoms. Patients are diagnosed with diseases not destined to bother them, and are subsequently harmed by unnecessary treatment, the side-effects of medication and complications of pointless procedures. Many more face abnormal test results, triggering cascades of more testing, procedures, complications and anxiety. Some are told that, while they don't have the disease, they are at "high risk" for it. More generally, screening relies on fear. To persuade asymptomatic people to be screened, they must first be made to worry about diseases they might get in the future. This undermines our sense of well-being, which lies at the very core of health. All of this costs time and money–and a lot of it. Cancer screening alone in the US has been estimated to cost $43 billion annually. For a variety of reasons, I think this is a low-ball estimate: the real number is closer to $100 billion. That kind of money could go a long way toward improving treatment for symptomatic patients or, more broadly, tackling the social determinants of health. And then there is a lot of magical thinking: not only do we assume that more screening will save more lives, but that testing large swaths of the population will somehow ... reduce disparities in healthcare outcomes.

Note: Read more about how harmless cancers are being overdiagnosed in the us. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and Big Pharma profiteering.


Almost 1 in 3 adolescents have prediabetes: CDC
2025-07-11, The Hill
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5396656-almost-30-percent-adolescents-p...

More than 30 percent of American teenagers were considered prediabetic in 2023, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC calculated there were 8.4 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 who were labeled prediabetic – or those whose blood sugar level may be higher than normal – that year, putting them at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes or other health problems like heart disease and stroke. That translates to 32.7 percent of the total adolescent population in the country. Some diabetes experts have taken issue with the CDC's findings since the organization only released a summary and not any raw data or a peer-reviewed study outlining how it came to its conclusion. The CDC also changed its methodology from a 2020 prediabetes analysis without explaining why. "I am going to be skeptical of data updates until there is transparency and clarity on the source of the data and analysis," [said] Christopher Gardner, a diabetes expert. The CDC's newest findings do align with other data showing that prediabetes is becoming more common among American adolescents. One 2022 study published in JAMA Pediatrics ... found that about 1 in 3 American adolescents were prediabetic and the rate among those ages 12-19 more than doubled between 1999 to 2002. From 2015 to 2018, according to the study, the rate for the condition jumped from 12 percent to 28 percent among that age group.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health.


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