Month: March 2022

Doctor fired from ER warns about effect of for-profit firms on U.S. health care

Doctor fired from ER warns about effect of for-profit firms on U.S. health care

People trying to find crisis therapy at the busy Overland Park Regional Healthcare Centre in Kansas near Kansas Town, Missouri, did not know their basic safety was possibly at possibility. But the professional medical director of the unexpected emergency office noticed the risk in 2012 

Holyoke Medical Center is conducting a health survey

Holyoke Medical Center is conducting a health survey

Mayor Sarno announces third round of ARPA funding … 28 mins ago Local towns take part in Vietnam Veterans Day ceremonies 48 mins ago US omicron variant wave creates surge in at-home … 59 mins ago Holyoke High School to receive $75K early college … 1 hour ago 

Hancock initiative key to healthy living | Wellness

Hancock initiative key to healthy living | Wellness

CARTHAGE, Sick. — Sandwich boards about the Carthage sq. supply meals for considered for balanced living.

How a lot water do you drink day by day? How many several hours do you rest a night time?

Count down healthier behaviors daily from 10,000 steps a day to one session of training.

A new Hancock County effort just could possibly be the key to great overall health. Keep Encouraging Your self, or Important, released Saturday to persuade nutritious existence to lessen chronic illness among the residents and embrace physical, social and mental wellness by way of screenings, schooling and activities.

“We want to get people engaged and conscious that generating healthful way of life improvements doesn’t have to be huge. You really do not have to do something drastic,” mentioned Ashlyn Housewright, a Critical committee member and Memorial Hospital’s executive director of neighborhood overall health and wellness. “You can start off to choose up more fruits and vegetables at the keep, acquire gain of the farmers sector.”

The committee at the rear of Vital arrived jointly prior to COVID-19, but with many associates operating in health and fitness treatment and well being-connected businesses, all ended up impacted by the pandemic.

“It’s taken a though to get off the ground,” Housewright mentioned. “We are at last moving forward to take tiny ways to increase the wellness of Hancock County.”

Goals incorporate implementing balanced Essential codes at dining places, sharing back links to healthy recipes, ideas and suggestions for supplemental movement and improving the infrastructure for secure cycling and going for walks in Hancock County communities.

“Life is fast paced, and we all want further guidance and encouragement, especially if it is a thing we are striving to make on and make a portion of our each day routine,” claimed Melita Finney, community health and fitness director at the Hancock County Health Section and a Essential committee member.

First inspiration arrived in 2019 when info introduced by the Illinois Significant Accessibility Healthcare facility Network about a New Ulm, Minn., community wellbeing initiative task intrigued Memorial Hospital CEO Ada Bair.

Bair needed to see a comparable effort — on a more compact scale — in Hancock County, which led to a organizing committee symbolizing Carthage Veterinary Expert services and Specialist Swine Management, Hancock County Health Department, Location Health and fitness Education and learning Centre, Memorial Medical center, Memorial Clinic Basis, More Professional medical Supplies, Carthage Parks and Recreation and the Carthage Elementary University District.

Options contact for “just permitting individuals know the assets that are offered proper listed here in Hancock County,” Housewright stated. “Some persons really don’t even know the variety of parks we have, so furnishing them with resources of wherever parks are situated (is crucial) so they can get outside the house with their young ones as a spouse and children and acquire benefit of our parks or matters the park districts are accomplishing.”

The park district, for case in point, just executed a kayak launching pad very last 7 days and quickly hopes to have kayaks for rent.

The committee wants to develop motion groups involving local community customers and concentrate on well being-associated challenges this kind of as diet and dining places or secure routes to faculty.

“There demands to be more folks involved to make this a achievements,” Housewright claimed. “We hope it is a little something that lives on.”

CBD: The Most Powerful Natural Medicine? – NoHo Arts District

CBD: The Most Powerful Natural Medicine? – NoHo Arts District

through pexels-los-muertos-crew-8391428 Have you heard about CBD remaining employed for medicinal needs but do not know significantly additional than that? Do you want to know more about this powerful all-natural medicine and how it works? Cannabidiol, greater known as CBD, is a strong organic drugs 

Health tips while working in a hybrid work environment post Covid

Health tips while working in a hybrid work environment post Covid

New Delhi: Sad to say, the widespread coronavirus pandemic has ruled our lives for the earlier two yrs. The regular arrival of new variants is posing demanding difficulties for organisations and posing tricky eventualities for them to resume complete-fledged operations. Anticipating the place of work 

Food packaging contains dangerous chemicals, report says

Food packaging contains dangerous chemicals, report says

The new report comes more than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, when the public has relied heavily on takeout and grocery deliveries.

“There is evidence from human and animal studies that PFAS exposure may reduce antibody responses to vaccines,” stated the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. “More research is needed to understand how PFAS exposure may affect illness from COVID-19.”

More than 100 food products tested

The Consumer Reports investigation collected 118 food packaging products sold by 24 companies in the tristate area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It tested those products for organic fluorine — a marker for PFAS. Researchers then sent samples of products with the highest levels to an independent laboratory that could perform more specific tests, said Michael Hansen, senior staff scientist for advocacy at Consumer Reports.

Regulatory limits for how much PFAS food packaging should contain can vary greatly. In the US, there are no federal limits, leaving action up to the states. Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington have passed bills banning intentional use of PFAS in food packaging, but haven’t yet specified a limit, according to Consumer Reports. In January 2023, a new law in California will set the limit at less than 100 ppm (parts per million).
However, Denmark set a much lower regulatory limit of 20 ppm with great success, said Xenia Trier, a chemicals, environment and human health expert at the European Environment Agency.

“In Denmark we’ve seen both a decrease in noncompliance by industry from 60{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} to about 30{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} and a decrease in levels of PFAS in packaging products over the past 10 years,” Trier told CNN. “It does work to set limits and enforce them. It is possible to find alternative solutions and if one manufacturer can make packaging without PFAS, then it should be possible for everybody to do it.”

The Consumer Reports investigation found the highest indicators for PFAS — 876 ppm and 618 ppm — in two types of bags for sides at Nathan’s Famous restaurants.

Makeup may contain potentially toxic chemicals called PFAS, study finds

High indicators of PFAS (in the 500s) were also found in a Chick-fil-A sandwich wrapper and in fiber bowls at Cava, a Mediterranean restaurant chain.

Indicator levels in the 300s and 400s were found in a bag of cookies at Arby’s, bamboo paper plates at Stop & Shop, and in a bag for both cookies and French toast sticks at Burger King.

Levels of PFAS indicators in the 200s were found in a Sweetgreen paper bag for focaccia, additional items at Cava, and in bags for french fries, cookies and Chicken McNuggets at McDonald’s.

However, all of the companies listed had additional food packaging that tested at levels below 200 ppm. Four companies — Arby’s, Nathan’s Famous, McDonald’s and Stop & Shop — also sold food in packaging that had no detectable levels of PFAS, the report said.

The Consumer Reports investigation did not test packaging from every food product sold at each company.

“I would not urge consumers to take these brand names and only go to this one or that one, as this investigation only looked at just over 100 products,” said Graham Peaslee, a professor of physics, chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“However, this will hold industry’s toes to the fire, so in that sense, I think it’s a valuable report,” he added. “Measuring and saying PFAS is there and it’s dangerous gets people’s attention, and companies tend to avoid attention like that.”

Health impact of PFAS

PFAS chemicals are in many products: nonstick cookware, infection-resistant surgical gowns and drapes, cell phones, semiconductors, commercial aircraft and low-emission vehicles. The chemicals also are used to make carpeting, clothing, and furniture resistant to stains, water and grease damage.

In use since the 1950s, PFAS are chemicals most Americans have “in their blood,” especially perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA),” according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which is charged with protecting the public from hazardous substances.

In the Consumer Reports investigation, the most common chemical found in the food packaging that was tested was PFOA, with PFOS coming in fifth, according to the report.

Toxic chemicals may be in fast-food wrappers and takeout containers, report says

In addition to impacts on the immune system, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said studies in humans and lab animals have found links between certain PFAS chemicals and an increase in cholesterol levels, alterations in liver enzymes, a higher risk of developing kidney or testicular cancer, small reductions in infant birth weights and an additional risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women.

“PFAS have also caused birth defects, delayed development, and newborn deaths in lab animals,” the agency stated, while adding “not all effects observed in animals may occur in humans.”

As environmental groups and the public began to take notice of the health impacts of the chemicals, manufacturers started to voluntarily phase out the use of PFOS and PFOA in the US. Between 1999 and 2014, blood levels of PFOS in Americans had declined by more than 80{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} and blood levels of PFOA had declined by more than 60{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d}, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry stated.

However, “as PFOS and PFOA are phased out and replaced, people may be exposed to other PFAS,” the agency continued. Newer versions of PFAS in food packaging appear to be absorbed by food more readily than the older versions, according to a 2016 study.

Studies in Denmark have shown that PFAS do “migrate from the paper into the food,” Trier said. “Even though it was not 100{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d}, we still saw substantial transmission. In general, transmission from packaging to food is increased as the temperature of the food rises and the time spent in wrapping materials increases.”

Industry response

The Consumer Reports investigation mirrored results of reports in 2018 and 2020 by Toxic-Free Future and Safer Chemicals Healthy Families. Those reports found “harmful” levels of PFAS in fast-food packaging and in nearly two-thirds of takeout containers made of paper, like those used at self-serve salad buffets and hot bars.

In response to the 2018 report, Whole Foods became the first grocery chain in North America to publicly commit to remove PFAS from takeout containers and deli and bakery paper. Other companies have followed suit, including Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons, Amazon.com, Cava, Chipotle, Freshii, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Sweetgreen, Trader Joe’s and Wendy’s, according to Toxic-Free Future.

In the new investigation, Consumer Reports tested 13 food packaging products from retailers that had previously committed to phasing out PFAS. Seven of the 13 had levels of PFAS above 20 ppm, the report said.

Burger King, which had high levels of PFAS in three of six products tested, had not made a public commitment to phase out PFAS, according to Consumer Reports. Early Thursday, parent company Restaurant Brands International announced it will globally phase out any “added” PFAS from “guest-facing packaging materials” at the Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes brands “by the end of 2025 or sooner.”

Nathan’s Famous, which Consumer Reports said also has not made a public commitment to reducing PFAS, told CNN the company had begun phasing out the bags. “One of our goals in this complete package redesign is to reduce PFAS,” said Phil McCann, vice president of marketing at Nathan’s Famous. “Full transition will be complete by December 2022.”

FDA must do more to regulate thousands of chemicals added to your food, petitioners say
Chick-fil-A told CNN it had been on a four-year journey to phase out PFAS: “Chick-fil-A has eliminated intentionally added PFAS from all newly produced packaging going forward in our supply chain. While some legacy packaging may still be in restaurants, it is expected to be phased out by the end of this summer,” the company tweeted Wednesday.

Cava, which had previously pledged to reduce PFAS but had five out of six products with indicators between 200 ppm and 548 ppm, told CNN that “due to a multitude of factors related to the pandemic, and especially global supply chain shortages, the transition to eliminating added PFAS, which began in August of 2021, is taking longer than planned. Our teams are working with our suppliers to complete the transition within the year.”

A McDonald’s spokesperson said less than 7.5{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} of the company’s global food packaging contained added PFAS at the end of 2020 and said the company was continuing its search for alternative materials that offered proper grease-resistant barriers, with a goal of reducing deliberately added PFAS by the end of 2025.

Sweetgreen told CNN the company was “proud to share that we are currently in the process of rolling out new PFAS-free focaccia bags that will be available in all Sweetgreen locations by the end of Q2.”

Jennifer Brogan, director of external communications and community relations for Stop & Shop, told CNN the company could “confirm that these Nature’s Promise brand plates have been removed from all store locations.”

A spokesperson from Arby’s told CNN in an email that the company has “minimal packaging materials containing PFAs and is on track to have PFAs removed from all packaging products by the end of 2022.”

Actions the public can take

Experts say people who want to avoid PFAS in their takeout and food delivery packaging should favor companies that have pledged to remove the chemicals.

Take food out of the container as soon as you receive it, and never reheat food in its original container. Instead, remove your food and heat it in ceramic or glass containers, Trier said.

The Consumer Reports investigation found some of the highest levels of PFAS were in paper bags (192.2 ppm) and molded fiber bowls and trays (156.8 ppm). Paper plates tested at 149 ppm, and food wrappers and liners came in at 59.2 ppm.

Don’t be fooled by “environmentally friendly” claims — they don’t guarantee a product is PFAS-free. When Consumer Reports tested those products, some had levels of PFAS above 100 ppm, and most had some detectable levels, the report said.

Experts also suggest reducing the frequency of takeout meals to once a week or less, and recommend that people instead make food at home.

You can also reach out to your congressional representative and senators and support the bipartisan bill Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act, experts said. Designed to ban the use of any PFAS as a food contact substance, the bill was introduced into both chambers in November.