Blog

Health officials are warning people not to “fry,” but to protect their skin and eyes while enjoying the outdoors this Memorial Day weekend.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention announced that Friday marks the 16th annual “Don’t Fry Day,” a day meant to encourage people to protect themselves from the sun as the weather starts warming up over the long weekend. Officials warned that too much exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation can increase the risk of developing skin cancer and cataracts.“Remember to protect your skin and eyes from UV rays before you go outdoors,” EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation Joseph Goffman said in a press release announcing Fry Day. “Don’t Fry Day is a great annual rem...

Geneva — A global treaty to fight pandemics like COVID is going to have to wait: After more than two years of negotiations, rich and poor countries have failed — for now — to come up with a plan for how the world might respond to the next pandemic.After COVID-19 triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. In 2021, member countries asked the U.N. health agency to oversee negotiations to figure out how the world might better share scarce resources and stop future viruses from spreading globally.On Friday, Roland Driece, co-chair of WHO’s negotiating board for the agreement, acknowledged that countries were unable to come up with a draft. WHO had hoped a final draft treaty...

NEW ORLEANS — First-of-its-kind legislation that classifies two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances was signed into law Friday by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.The Republican governor announced his signing of the bill in Baton Rouge a day after it gained final legislative passage in the state Senate.Opponents of the measure included many physicians who said the drugs have other critical reproductive health care uses, and that changing the classification could make it harder to prescribe the drugs.Supporters of the bill, which affects the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, said it would protect expectant mothers from coerced abortions, though they cited only one example of that happening, in the state of Texas. Source link

A bill passed by Louisiana lawmakers Thursday could see the state become the first in the country to classify two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances—a move doctors and reproductive rights advocates say could have far-reaching implications for health care access in the state. The bill, SB 276, passed the state Senate with a vote of 29 to 7, after having passed in the House with a vote of 66 to 30 on Tuesday. It will next go to Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it into law. Supporters of the bill say it will protect pregnant people from coerced abortions, while opponents argue that the two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, have many other uses aside from abortion, and that reclassifying them as controlled substances would make it more difficu...