Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
A Third Of HS Students Experience Racism, Affecting Mental Health
Students who experienced racism said their mental health also deteriorated, a new study showed.聽In 2023, nearly a third of high school students across the U.S. said they'd experienced racism in school, which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who published the findings defined as unfair treatment due to a person's race or ethnicity. Students of color reported they'd had two to three times more racist experiences than white students who said they'd had. (Cuevas, 10/10)
A company is recalling nearly 10 million pounds of meat and poultry products made at an Oklahoma plant because they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria that can cause illness and death. BrucePac of Woodburn, Oregon, recalled the roughly 5,000 tons of ready-to-eat foods this week after U.S. Agriculture Department officials detected listeria in samples of poultry during routine testing. Further tests identified BrucePac chicken as the source. The recall includes 75 meat and chicken products. (Aleccia, 10/10)
More than 2 million Fisher-Price Snuga Swings were recalled following the deaths of five infants over a decade. State of play: Suffocation risks prompted the recall, and customers are told to remove parts of the swing before continuing to use it for "awake-time activities" only. (Rubin, 10/10)
Warehouses in Southern California have been linked with increased pollution in a study that used NASA satellites to map toxic particles in the air. As warehouses were built over the last two decades to keep up with online shopping, air pollution rose too鈥攑articularly affecting low-income neighborhoods nearby. Scientists identified diesel trucks visiting the warehouses as the source of the problem, because of contaminants emitted by their exhaust fumes as they visit to pick up and drop off goods. (Willmoth, 10/10)
Mpox is back. More than 900 people, mostly African children, have died this year and public health officials say the new variant inflicting that toll could arrive in the U.S. at any time. There鈥檚 a lot of blame to go around. It was only two years ago that mpox, previously known as monkeypox, arrived in the U.S. and began spreading. U.S. authorities contained it with a vaccination campaign targeted at those most at risk, men who have sex with men. But no vaccines got to Africa, where the disease is endemic in some countries, making it easier for the new variant to emerge. (Paun, 10/10)