A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that exclusive consumption of alcopops, a sweetened beverage marketed to young drinkers, was associated with episodic heavy drinking and alcohol-related injuries.
Drug companies accused of blocking access to cheap drugs
Access to cheap drugs which can prevent blindness is being blocked by pharmaceutical companies, a British Medical Journal investigation has alleged. The Daily Telegraph reports that BMJ describes how drug manufacturers are accused of attempting to derail trials which would show that a drug which costs just £65 a dose works just as well as current treatments sold to the NHS for more than ten times as much.
Trans Pacific Partnership Leak shows how corporations can sue governments
The recent leak of a secret chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement system (ISDS) is getting many people on both the left and the right upset. In this interview from the Washington Post, Rachel Wellhausen, at the University of Texas explains how the ISDS works.
When it comes to e-cigs, Big Tobacco is concerned for your health
The health warning on a MarkTen electronic cigarette package is 116 words long. That’s much longer than the warnings on traditional cigarette packs in the United States. Nicotine, the e-cig warning says, is “addictive and habit-forming, and it is very toxic by inhalation, in contact with the skin, or if swallowed.” “Why the concern?” asks a special investigative report from Reuters.
UK alcohol industry’s “billion units pledge”: interim evaluation flawed
Flaws in the United Kingdom’s Department of Health’s interim evaluation of an alcohol industry pledge to remove one billion alcohol units from the market raise questions about the claimed success argues a new report in the British Medical Journal. The authors say that the report should be withdrawn and revised targets set.
Gun deaths in New Mexico
About 34 percent of New Mexicans say they have guns at home, lower than in other states where the number can be closer to 50 percent. However, New Mexico is one of the states with the least amount of gun regulation – and a high firearm-related fatality rate. A report from KUNM in New Mexico finds that a large majority of gun deaths in New Mexico are from suicide, which account for nearly 75 percent of gun deaths in New Mexico.
Parents wrongly think sugary drinks healthy
Bamboozled by misleading product marketing and labeling, parents have failed to get the message that sugary drinks — beyond soda — are not healthy for kids. That’s the conclusion of a new study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at University of Connecticut, published today in Public Health Nutrition, reports USA Today. As soda sales decline, beverage makers are increasingly turning to waters, flavored waters, juices, sports drinks and even milk products as options.
Better Air Quality Improves Child Health
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that steep decline in air pollution in Southern California since the mid-1990s is strongly associated with “statistically and clinically significant improvements” in children’s lung function and growth. The study provides the strongest evidence yet that years of government regulations to reduce air pollution in California and across the nation are paying off with measurable improvements in children’s health.
Two New Reports on Alcohol Policy in United Kingdom
Two new reports released by Alcohol Research UK examine alcohol problems and policy in the United Kingdom. The first, Understanding the Alcohol Harm Paradox , why people with low individual or neighborhood socioeconomic status show a greater susceptibility to the harmful effects of alcohol. The second, A Measure of Change, finds that the devolution of public health responsibilities to local authorities had led to significant cuts in spending on alcohol services.
Judge Suspends City Gun Laws
A Dauphin County (Pennsylvania) judge has ordered Harrisburg to stop enforcing three of its gun-control ordinances, reports The Burg, a community magazine in Harrisburg. Judge Andrew H. Dowling found that the three ordinances—prohibiting gun possession in a park, by a minor and in a mayor-declared state of emergency—violate the state’s Uniform Firearms Act, which forbids municipalities from regulating the “lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation” of guns and ammunition for purposes that are not considered illegal under state law.
Corporations and Health Watch 