Big Pharma has run into a rare rough summer — and that could be positive news for all the rest of us regular folks. Just how? Consider: One of the world’s largest makers of prescription medications — which also is one of several pharma titans implicated in the record-breaking opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis,….
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Opioid drug overdose crisis is ripping up communities of color
The opioid drug abuse and overdose crisis is not only smashing fatality records, it also is slamming poorer people and communities of color and taking a savage toll on younger black Americans. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has analyzed data from Washington, D.C., and 25 states, finding in its study published online,….
Continue ReadingAs road toll soars, experts see vehicles as ‘candy stores’ of distraction
Anyone who has so much as contemplated buying a vehicle in recent times will quickly catch on to what experts fear may be a root cause of the nation’s spiking road toll: Step back and consider just how much importance manufacturers — and consumers — pay to those rolling infotainment systems. Their screens have grown….
Continue ReadingEnjoy a great Fourth — safely and without dangerous, illicit fireworks
This great country will celebrate its 246th birthday on July 4, 2022 — a national holiday marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. Here’s hoping one and all have a glorious, fun, and safe Fourth! Wouldn’t the holiday be all the finer if folks, especially those fortunate….
Continue ReadingBillionaire Mark Cuban’s discount drug startup gains serious attention
While some individuals with jaw-dropping wealth have pushed into showy extremes of shooting themselves and their pals into outer space or dropping hundreds of millions of dollars on yachts or Manhattan penthouses, a tech mogul and pro basketball franchise-owning billionaire is winning attention by attempting something different, challenging, and potentially beneficial to regular folks in….
Continue ReadingFDA bans Juul vaping products and seeks to slash nicotine in cigarettes
Federal regulators have cracked down on Big Tobacco and its zealous, profit-seeking promotion of products that fuel some of the leading causes of preventable disease in this country: cigarette smoking and vaping. The federal Food and Drug Administration ordered the maker of Juul, a pioneer in pushing so-called e-cigarettes and vape flavorings on the young,….
Continue ReadingHidden code leaks private data from hospitals and ‘pregnancy centers’
The kids may obsess about social media platforms. But just how much do patients want them to snoop into their most personal medical information, accessed due to hidden snippets of computer code embedded on the sites of some of the nation’s biggest and most respected hospitals, as well as facilities purportedly dealing with women’s reproductive….
Continue ReadingU.S. finds high risks in tally of wrecks involving self-driving vehicles
Though it may be tempting for owners of and passengers in expensive, high-tech vehicles to leave the driving to increasingly smarter cars, Americans still must beware of lethal, injurious shortcomings in this new autonomous age. In just 10 recent months, federal officials say, almost “400 crashes in the United States … involved cars using advanced….
Continue ReadingCovid vaccines Okayed for babies and tots. What will parents do?
Parents with little kids — those ages 6 months to 5 years old — now must decide whether, how, and when to get these babies and tots their coronavirus vaccines, newly approved by federal regulators. They should talk with their pediatricians and others with medical expertise and experience. The American Academy of Pediatricians, a leading….
Continue ReadingNewer diabetes drugs can lead to weight loss. Wish it was that simple.
As medical scientists increase the understanding of diabetes and the role that hormones can play in treating the disease and clinical obesity, doctors, drug makers, insurers, and others in U.S. health care are running smack into familiar, significant problems. These include issues with public perceptions about weight, diet, and appropriate prescribing of powerful medications, as….
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