Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Giving Kids Digital Tablets Too Young Can Lead To Anger Flare-Ups
Virtually every parent of young children has experienced outbursts of anger and frustration from their toddlers, whether it鈥檚 time to get up, go to bed or eat a sandwich without the crusts cut off. According to a new study, there鈥檚 another possible reason for the frequency of their outbursts: tablet use. The new study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, shows that child tablet use at 3.5 years old was associated with a higher number of expressions of anger and frustration a year later. (Hetter, 8/12)
Five people who were recently in the area near a resort hotel in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with Legionnaires鈥 disease, health officials announced Monday. All five people may have been exposed to contaminated water droplets from a cooling tower behind the RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain in downtown Lincoln in June and July, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. (O'Laughlin, 8/12)
A warmer climate聽means聽mosquito season is getting longer, prompting not only an increase in the pesky insects but also greater potential for them to spread diseases like West Nile virus.聽To help reduce the risk In New York City, expert "insect hunters" track the summer pests among the trees and marshes of parks that residents use to escape the summer heat. (Gounder, Winick and Moniuszko, 8/12)
The idea for Todd Wagner鈥檚 new advocacy organization FoodFight USA, he says, came to him after visiting George Clooney in Lake Como. He鈥檚 recruited Morgan Freeman, who is 鈥渙bviously鈥 a friend. He personally lobbied Arnold Schwarzenegger and current California Gov. Gavin Newsom to support food makers鈥 nightmare scenario 鈥 a first-in-the-nation law banning certain food additives in the state, which was signed into law last year. (Florko, 8/13)