Health News Stories

Excerpts of Key Health News Stories in Major Media

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: This comprehensive list of news stories is usually updated once a week. Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.

A Campbell's Soup Company executive has been put on temporary leave after he allegedly referred to the firm's offerings as "shit for fucking poor people" – a remark purportedly caught on an audio recording and attributed to him in a former employee's wrongful termination lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed last Thursday in Wayne county circuit court in Michigan by Robert Garza, who had joined Campbell's New Jersey headquarters remotely in September 2024 as a security analyst. Garza alleges he was fired in January after he raised concerns about comments made by Martin Bally, Campbell's vice-president of information technology – including referring to one of the company's ingredients as "bioengineered meat" while going off on a racist tirade. In audio recordings captured by Garza after sensing that "something wasn't right," which were later reviewed by the Michigan news outlet WDIV, a voice can be heard saying: "We have shit for fucking poor people." The voice adds: "Who buys our shit? I don't buy Campbell's products barely any more. It's not healthy now that I know what the fuck's in it ... bioengineered meat. "I don't wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer." Garza says he felt "pure disgust" after the meeting but kept the recording private until January, when he reported Bally's behaviour to supervisor JP Aupperle, according to WDIV. Garza said he was dismissed from Campbell's 20 days later and without any prior disciplinary action.

Note: Read our Substack article on how the US government turns a blind eye to the corporate cartels fueling the chronic health crisis. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and food system corruption.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will launch a study on cellphone radiation, a department spokesman said on Thursday, building on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's criticism linking them to neurological damage and cancer. Last year, the department said 22 states had restricted cellphone use in schools to improve the mental and physical health of children under the "Make America Healthy Again" movement. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also took down old webpages saying cellphones are not dangerous. "The FDA removed webpages with old conclusions about cell phone radiation while HHS undertakes a study on electromagnetic radiation and health research to identify gaps in knowledge, including on new technologies, to ensure safety and efficacy," said HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon. "The study was directed by President Trump's MAHA Commission in its strategy report," Nixon added. However, some webpages of agencies such as the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to say that to date there is no credible evidence pointing to health problems from cellphone radiation. The National Cancer Institute, under the National Institutes of Health, says "evidence to date suggests that cellphone use does not cause brain or other kinds of cancer in humans."

Note: Unlike the US, many countries have regulations in place to protect people from cell phone radiation exposure. Check out this comprehensive list of countries with official recommendations and policies on cell phone radiation exposure. A ProPublica investigation found that the FCC brushed aside findings from other government scientists showing evidence of rare cancers linked to cellphone radiation. In 2011, the World Health Organization's cancer research arm classified wireless radiation as "possibly carcinogenic to humans," and in 2018 a major US government study found "clear evidence" that cellphone radiation caused cancer in laboratory animals. Read more about how Big Wireless made us think cell phones carry no cancer risks.

The recently proposed Connect Our Parks Act calls for increased cell service in parks but does not weigh the damaging impacts of wireless radio frequency (RF) radiation – emitted by cellular installations – on all living creatures. Introduced by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Angus King (I-Maine), this new bill does not consider the many ways that cell tower radiating equipment can impair ecologically sensitive areas and every living thing in its wake, ranging from insects to mammals to the plants and trees on which their survival depends. The Parks Act is one of several congressional proposals that unwittingly set the stage for dramatically increasing ambient exposures to wireless radiation, an agent that the government's own studies have found causes cancer and DNA damage in animals. Unsurprisingly, the natural environment is also vulnerable. Studies have documented adverse impacts on birds, bees and trees, including impairment of massive seasonal migrations and the exquisitely sensitive processes of reproduction on which their continuity rests. A shocking regulatory gap exists. Not one federal agency has a mandate to assess the harmful effects of wireless radiation from cell towers, nor is any monitoring regularly conducted of the levels of wireless radiation in our environment from the several hundred thousand operating towers in the U.S. The public generally assumes cell tower radiation has been thoroughly tested for safety. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Note: California firefighters' unions successfully fought to exempt cell towers from being placed on or adjacent to fire stations after firefighters reported serious neurological health problems following cell tower installations. Read the official position opposing cell towers on fire stations from The International Association of Fire Fighters. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on the risks and dangers of wireless technologies.

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.

Popular dietary narratives that romanticize meat heavy or so-called ancestral diets collapse when confronted with the realities of modern food production. What may have made sense in ecological contexts defined by pasture, seasonality, and low chemical inputs no longer maps onto an industrial system dependent on genetically engineered feed, pervasive herbicide use, and routine pharmaceutical intervention. The newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans double down on that disconnect. Rather than grappling with how food is actually produced in the United States today, they reinforce dietary advice that assumes a food system that no longer exists. The guidelines promote increased consumption of meat and dairy while remaining almost entirely silent on how those foods are produced, what they contain, and whether our land, water, animals, and bodies can bear the cost. In the United States today, the overwhelming majority of meat, eggs, and dairy come from highly intensive industrial systems. These systems rely on confinement, routine drug use, chemically saturated feed, and enormous waste burdens. Animals are routinely administered antibiotics, hormones, beta agonists, coccidiostats, and other pharmaceutical agents, many of which accumulate in animal tissues and enter the human food supply. Health policy that ignores these realities is not reform. It is avoidance.

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

Research on ALS, a debilitating condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease that leads to muscle weakness and death, has found a link between exposure to pesticides and disease development. A new study led by ... Alison O'Neil provides insight into how a specific pesticide damages the nerve cells affected in ALS patients. The paper, published in the prestigious multidisciplinary journal PLOS One, is a follow up to another study O'Neil conducted on the pesticide known as cis-chlordane, which is banned but persists in the environment. "The goal of the study was to try to figure out why cis-chlordane is able to kill motor neurons," which are the nerve cells that die in ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), she said. "It turns out that [the pesticides] are affecting the mitochondria, which are the powerhouse of the cell," said O'Neil. Without mitochondria, the motor neurons weaken and die. This insight points to potential for more effective treatments for a disease when current therapies extend life by only a few months. "The implications of that finding helps us determine what kind of drugs people need," said O'Neil. Since there is clearly an environmental component in most cases of ALS, said Clackson, the research can help pinpoint what is contributing to the disease and potentially change disease trajectory. "If we see these early biomarkers, say pesticides in the blood, then we can perhaps treat them earlier and have a completely different outcome," he said.

Note: It's recently come out that the popular pesticide paraquat probably causes Parkinson's disease. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and toxic chemicals.

The World Health Organization's cancer research agency has classified atrazine – the second most widely used herbicide in the United States – as "probably carcinogenic to humans," adding to growing concerns about toxic exposures in the nation's farm belt. The evaluation means the first and second most widely used herbicides in the U.S. – glyphosate and atrazine – are now both considered probable human carcinogens by the world's leading independent cancer-hazard authority. Atrazine is banned in the European Union and other countries due to health and environmental concerns, but remains widely used in the U.S., where it is a common contaminant in drinking water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Despite these concerns, U.S. regulators allow its continued use. The new assessment by the WHO's cancer agency comes 10 years after the agency's landmark finding that glyphosate, the world's most heavily used herbicide, is also "probably carcinogenic to humans." Both atrazine and glyphosate are also endocrine disruptors, meaning they can disrupt key hormone systems that regulate growth, development and metabolism. Both herbicides are also largely produced by companies outside the United States. Syngenta, owned by ChemChina, produces most of the atrazine used in the U.S., while Bayer, based in Germany, is the dominant producer of glyphosate. The cancer designation for atrazine comes amid reports of rising cancer rates across the U.S. Corn Belt.

Note: It's recently come out that the popular pesticide paraquat probably causes Parkinson's disease. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and toxic chemicals.

Imet my best friend, Ursula Guidry, in college. Ursula died from cancer when her children were in preschool. We'll never know if her death was pure "bad luck," or whether it had something to do with growing up amidst plastics-manufacturing facilities. What we know for certain is that the toxic chemicals emitted by those facilities can ravage the human body. It's against that backdrop that I watch Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin work feverishly to dismantle the safeguards protecting people from toxic chemical exposures. The U.S. averages one chemical spill, fire, or explosion every three days, but Zeldin's attacks almost guarantee an increase. Every part of the petrochemical supply chain puts communities at risk, including the nation's millions of miles of pipelines. In Satartia, Miss., a pipeline carrying carbon dioxide used in oil drilling ruptured from heavy rains and floods, spewing carbon dioxide for hours. The carbon dioxide displaced oxygen in the air, so car engines stopped running and people could not escape. Dozens were hospitalized. Acute CO2 emissions cause heart malfunction and death by asphyxiation. Extreme flooding can also submerge Superfund toxic waste dumps. Nearly 1 in 4 Americans live within three miles of a Superfund site. Zeldin's plans are a gift to the fossil fuel and petrochemical corporations. For the rest of us, they are an explosive and hostile attack on our children, our families, and our best friends.

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

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.

The city of San Francisco filed the nation's first government lawsuit against some of the largest manufacturers of ultra-processed foods on Tuesday, asserting that the 10 corporations knew the products were harming Americans' health but continued to market them anyway. The corporations include cereal giants Kellogg, Post Holdings and General Mills, candy makers NestlĂ© USA and Mars Incorporated, the soda companies behind Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, as well as Kraft Heinz Company, ConAgra Brands and Mondelz International. The suit argues that the health care costs of treating related health conditions tied to consuming ultra-processed foods – upwards of $100 billion a year – have fallen on Americans, cities and states. "These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods," San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said. "They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body." "We must be clear that this is not about consumers making better choices. Recent surveys show Americans want to avoid ultra-processed foods, but we are inundated by them. These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused," he added. Some 70 percent of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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

Around the world, the risks of developing diet-related health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease are rapidly rising. "We're in the middle of a food crisis, but we can't stop eating," says British-Canadian medical doctor Chris van Tulleken in the documentary Foodspiracy. "The evidence is increasingly clear that pre-prepared, packaged, highly processed food is linked to weight gain and obesity, some cancers, dementia, Type 2 diabetes and early death from all causes," van Tulleken says. UPFs are usually cheap and convenient. They've also been engineered to be, quite literally, irresistible by corporations with access to teams of scientists and cutting-edge technology. "The theory is because you're expecting protein that never arrives, you kind of reach for the next chip or the next forkful of noodles because you're going, 'Well, where? Why? Why didn't I get the nutrients?'" says van Tulleken. As a result, we eat – and buy – way more than we should, simply because our bodies don't understand how much we've actually eaten. This is called "vanishing caloric density." It's not just the taste and texture of ultra-processed foods that leave you wanting more: it's everything. "It has all been engineered to get you to eat more," says van Tulleken. "From the pictures on the boxes, all the way through to the mouthfeel, the way it cuts ... the viscosity. There's the ad, the jingle, the cartoon characters. All of it is ultra-processing."

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

For more than 30 years, Frank Frost worked as a long-distance truck driver. He gained weight and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in his 50s. His doctors put him on insulin injections and told him to lose weight and move more. "When l, like most people, failed, they made me feel weak and worthless," says Frost. Then, Frost met a doctor with a completely different approach – one that changed his life. The doctor ... asked Frost about things he enjoyed doing as a kid and discovered he used to love riding a bike. He gave him a prescription for a 10-week cycling course called Pedal Ready for adults getting back into cycling. "I hadn't been on a bike for almost 50 years until I started cycling again," says Frost. What Frost's doctor had done was give him a social prescription, says journalist Julia Hotz. It's the idea of health professionals "literally prescribing you a community activity or resource the same way they'd prescribe you pills or therapies," she explains. The prescriptions include exercise, art, music, exposure to nature and volunteering, which are known to have enormous benefits to physical and mental health. And it all starts with "flipping the script from what's the matter with you to focusing on what matters to you," Hotz says. "What are your activities that you love? What gets you out of bed?" Frost's prescription helped him make friends after years in a solitary profession. And it helped him lose 100 pounds, get his diabetes under control and go off insulin.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this in our comprehensive healing our bodies and healing social division.

Susan Abookire, an internist and professor at Harvard Medical School, had a cure for all that ailed me. "Find a being. The being might be a tree or rock," she told me. "Greet it as you would a friend. You might want to introduce yourself. You may want to share something with that being." I was participating, somewhat skeptically, in a forest bathing session Abookire was leading at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum for seven young doctors. It's part of resident training ... which is looking for ways to reduce stress and burnout within the profession. She explained that just by standing among the trees, we were inhaling essential tree oils called phytoncides and aromatic plant compounds called terpenes. "There's several studies now showing that inhaling phytoncides boosts our immune system, and specifically our natural killer-cell numbers and activities go up," she said. Breathing in tree scents fights infection, prevents cancer and protects against dementia. Qing Li, a professor at Japan's Nippon Medical School ... told me, "the larger the trees, the higher the tree density, and the larger the forest area, the greater the effects of forest bathing." More phytoncides and more terpenes, more benefit. He also believes we profit from inhaling negative ions (found in abundance near waterfalls) as well as a microorganism found in the soil, Mycobacterium vaccae. He recommends spending two to four hours in the forest walking at a slow pace ... and paying attention to your senses.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this in our comprehensive healing our bodies and healing the Earth.

November 30 marks the International Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare. Between 1961 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed an estimated 20 million gallons of herbicides over southern Vietnam, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, and parts of Cambodia. Nearly two-thirds was Agent Orange, later discovered to be contaminated with 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) – a potent, long-lasting dioxin. TCDD is a known human carcinogen and an endocrine disruptor, linked to cancers, reproductive disorders, and birth defects that can span generations. By the letter of the CWC, Agent Orange is not classified as a "chemical weapon." If you ask a Vietnam veteran suffering from Parkinson's, cancer, heart disease, or any of the 19 types of conditions the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) associates with Agent Orange exposure, you'll hear a very different story. To them, it was every bit a weapon designed to destroy life and health. A 2018 Government Accountability Office report found that over 757,000 veterans – about one in four who served – were receiving benefits linked to Agent Orange. The 2022 PACT Act broadened that circle to veterans who served in other areas where Agent Orange was used. By 2024, more than 84,000 new Vietnam-era veterans were granted compensation, many due to exposure. Fifty years after the Vietnam War ended, the toxic legacy of Agent Orange and other dioxins lingers on.

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

Ultra-processed food (UPF) is linked to harm in every major organ system of the human body and poses a seismic threat to global health. UPF is also rapidly displacing fresh food in the diets of children and adults on every continent, and is associated with an increased risk of a dozen health conditions, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression. The findings, from a series of three papers published in the Lancet, come as millions of people increasingly consume UPF such as ready meals, cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks and fast food. In the UK and US, more than half the average diet now consists of UPF. For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPF is typical. Evidence reviewed by 43 of the world's leading experts suggests that diets high in UPF are linked to overeating, poor nutritional quality and higher exposure to harmful chemicals and additives. A systematic review of 104 long-term studies conducted for the series found 92 reported greater associated risks of one or more chronic diseases, and early death from all causes. One of the Lancet series authors, Prof Carlos Monteiro ... said the findings underlined why urgent action is needed to tackle UPF. "The first paper in this Lancet series indicates that ultra-processed foods harm every major organ system in the human body. The evidence strongly suggests that humans are not biologically adapted to consume them."

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

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.

In 2001, the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) published a paper declaring that the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) was "generally well tolerated and effective" for adolescent depression. That conclusion was false. The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), knew from its own data that the drug failed to outperform placebo and carried a serious risk of suicidal behaviour. Instead of telling the truth, GSK hired a public-relations firm to ghostwrite the paper, enlisted academic co-authors who never saw the raw data, and used the publication to promote Paxil to doctors treating children. It became known as Study 329 – one of the most infamous cases of scientific fraud in modern psychiatry. The paper remained in circulation – cited hundreds of times, shaping prescribing habits, and legitimising a lie that cost young lives. The paper listed 22 authors – two were GSK employees, and most had never reviewed the raw data or disclosed their financial ties to the company. Once the article appeared in print, GSK's sales force distributed it to thousands of doctors as "proof" that Paxil worked in teens. Within three years, the company made more than a billion dollars from what it called the "adolescent market." In 2003, the FDA concluded: "There is currently no evidence that Paxil is effective in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder." In 2012, GSK pleaded guilty and paid a $3 billion settlement to resolve criminal and civil charges.

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

Since 1971, the U.S. has spent more than a trillion dollars on the war on drugs, prioritising law enforcement responses and fuelling mass incarceration within its borders. It has also played a leading role in pushing and funding punitive responses to drugs internationally. This has continued despite clear evidence that such approaches don't work to achieve their stated aims (ending drug use and sales) while having devastating effects on rights and health, including mass criminalisation, disease transmission, repression and displacement. The U.S. government spends more on international "counternarcotics" activities than it does on education, water supply, sanitation, and women's rights in low- and middle-income countries: Almost $13 billion of U.S. taxpayer money has been allocated to "counternarcotics" activities internationally since 2015. This amount is more than the U.S. government spent over that decade on primary education or water supply and sanitation in low- and middle-income countries. Funding meant to end global poverty is going to "counternarcotics" activities. A growing amount of this "counternarcotics cash" has even come from the same U.S. official development assistance budgets that are supposed to help end global poverty. Funding for "narcotics control" and "counternarcotic activities" has resulted in human rights abuses, rising HIV rates, aerial fumigation with toxic chemicals, and militarised responses in various regions.

Note: Don't miss our in-depth investigation into the dark truths behind the War on Drugs. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and the War on Drugs.

It was early 2012 when doctors found a tumor in Kim Franzi's brain. Franzi underwent a risky two-day brain surgery to remove the mass, which doctors warned could leave her paralyzed or prove fatal. The operation was successful, but more than 13 years later, she still suffers from side effects, including issues with her reflexes, teeth, hearing, and vision. Before discovering the tumor, Franzi used the birth control shot Depo-Provera for more than 15 years. The shot has been used by roughly one in four sexually active women in the United States, bringing in hundreds of millions in profits annually for the pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer, which manufactures and distributes the drug. But according to more than 1,200 lawsuits, Pfizer has failed to properly warn the public about long-established links between Depo-Provera and meningiomas. That includes a lawsuit submitted on Franzi's behalf, plus more than 9,500 cases that have yet to be filed. In 2024, a large study of more than 18,000 cases of women undergoing surgery for meningiomas found that "prolonged use of [Depo-Provera] was found to increase the risk of intracranial meningioma." Specifically, the scientists found that use of Depo-Provera was associated with a more than five-fold heightened risk of developing a meningioma that required surgery, and that risk increased further if patients used Depo-Provera for more than a year. Drug labels for Depo-Provera in the European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada ... warn about these brain tumors.

Note: Read the full article to learn about how Pfizer omitted six studies that found significant links between patients taking the birth control shot and brain tumors. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and Big Pharma corruption.

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.

Important Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.