Wednesday, Jan 22nd
Last update08:35:36 AM GMT
Health Glance
President Trump is making good on his preelection pledge to withdraw from the World Health Organization. In one of many orders issued after his inauguration, he announced the start of the process for terminating U.S. membership in the U.N. agency that oversees global health issues.
Trump's frustration with WHO goes back to the height of the COVID era. He's repeatedly criticized the organization for being too slow to respond to the pandemic and being "owned and controlled by China."
When the FDA announced a ban of food dye Red No. 3 this week, the agency pointed to a law that says a food additive may not be authorized if it's been found to cause cancer. And research shows that red No. 3 can cause cancer in laboratory rats when they are exposed to high levels.
Food companies still have a couple of years to eliminate petroleum-based red No. 3 from their products. And there are other synthetic food dyes — in all sorts of different colors — that remain on the market.
Some evidence shows these synthetic dyes can negatively affect children's behavior and mental health.
So, how should parents navigate this food supply? Here are some things to consider.
US regulators on Wednesday banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation’s food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk.
Food and Drug Administration officials granted a 2022 petition filed by two dozen food safety and health advocates, who urged the agency to revoke authorization for the substance that gives some candies, snack cakes and maraschino cherries a bright red hue.
The agency said it was taking the action as a “matter of law” because some studies have found that the dye caused cancer in lab rats. Officials cited a statute known as the Delaney Clause, which requires FDA to ban any additive found to cause cancer in people or animals.
More than 40 people got sick in a gastrointestinal illness outbreak on a Silversea Cruises ship.
Among 681 guests onboard, 38 reported being ill during Silver Ray’s current voyage, along with five crew members, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Their main symptoms were diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
The health agency listed the causative agent as unknown. Silver Ray departed from Callao, Peru on Jan. 4 and is scheduled to arrive at Florida’s Port Everglades on Monday, according to CruiseMapper.
Drugmakers raised the list prices on 575 name-brand drugs in just the first two days of the new year, according to drug price research firm 46brooklyn. Drugs for diabetes, HIV, cancer saw price hikes, among others.
For years a 10% annual price hike was fairly normal, but they've started coming down in recent years. This year's median price hike so far is only 4%, says Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn.
"While it's early, if that number held throughout the year, that would make it the lowest median price increase in over a decade," says Ciaccia.
January is typically a popular time to raise prices on brand name drugs, but companies can raise them throughout the year. There could even be more later this month, he says.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture report has found that "inadequate sanitation practices" at a Boar's Head facility in Virginia contributed to a listeria outbreak that left 10 people dead and dozens hospitalized around the country last year.
The report, released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), reviewed the listeria outbreak linked to the deli meat supplier's facility in Jarratt, Va.
In one case, inspectors said they found "meat and fat residue from the previous day's production on the equipment, including packaging equipment." Other instances included dripping condensation "on exposed product" and "cracks, holes and broken flooring that could hold moisture and contribute to wet conditions."
The 2024 “winners” of the annual Shkreli awards, given each year to perpetrators of the most egregious examples of profiteering and dysfunction within the healthcare industry, have been released from the Lown Institute, an independent healthcare thinktank.
The recipients are chosen by a panel made up of health policy experts, clinicians, journalists and advocates. The awards are named after Martin Shkreli, the infamous “pharma bro” who rose to international notoriety after increasing the price of lifesaving anti-parasitic drug Daraprim 50-fold.
“All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry in desperate need of transformation. In 2024, healthcare practices were put in the spotlight,” Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, said during the ceremony.
“But doing these awards every year shows us that this is nothing new. We’re hoping that these stories illuminate what changes are needed.”
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