The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to remove the legal underpinning for most regulations against climate change. If approved, the EPA’s proposal would rescind the 2009 decision that set forth a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants. Known as the “endangerment finding,” it allowed the EPA to limit emissions from vehicles,…  read on >  read on >

 It’s official: The controversial preservative thimerosal will be stripped from all flu vaccines distributed in the United States. U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signed off on the recommendation from an expert panel that recommended removing the mercury-based preservative from all influenza vaccines. Use of thimerosal had been largely phased out in the U.S. by…  read on >  read on >

Veterans who receive traumatic brain injuries in combat often experience crippling post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, leaving them hopeless and potentially suicidal. But help might be on the way from an unlikely source – a psychedelic drug called ibogaine. The drug, derived from the roots of an African shrub called iboga, can safely and…  read on >  read on >

Urgent care clinics are handing out fistfuls of antibiotics, steroids and opioids for conditions these drugs won’t help, a new study says. “Previous studies had shown that patients continue to receive antibiotics for diagnoses where they may not be indicated, such as for a viral respiratory infection, especially in urgent care settings,” said co-lead researcher…  read on >  read on >

Fewer than one-third of American public schools are screening students for psychological problems, years after the U.S. Surgeon General declared a mental health crisis among the nation’s youth. In 2021, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that social media, the COVID-19 pandemic, bullying, lack of safety and a number of other factors were driving an…  read on >  read on >

Insomniacs have a much higher risk for depression if they have chronic inflammation, a new sleep lab experiment says. Seniors with insomnia were three times as likely to report symptoms of depression if they’d been dosed with a substance that promotes inflammation, according to results published July 16 in JAMA Psychiatry. “Insomnia not only robs…  read on >  read on >