Tag: health

Thousands of U.S. areas afflicted with lead poisoning beyond Flint’s

On a sunny November afternoon in this historic city, birthplace of the Pony Express and death spot of Jesse James, Lauranda Mignery watched her son Kadin, 2, dig in their front yard. As he played, she scolded him for putting his fingers in his mouth.

In explanation, she pointed to the peeling paint on her old house. Kadin, she said, has been diagnosed with lead poisoning.

He has lots of company: Within 15 blocks of his house, at least 120 small children have been poisoned since 2010, making the neighborhood among the most toxic in Missouri, Reuters found as part of an analysis of childhood lead testing results across the country. In St. Joseph, even a local pediatrician’s children were poisoned.

Last year, the city of Flint, Michigan, burst into the world spotlight after its children were exposed to lead in drinking water and some were poisoned. In the year after Flint switched to corrosive river water that leached lead from old pipes, 5 percent of the children screened there had high blood lead levels.

Flint is no aberration. In fact, it doesn’t even rank among the most dangerous lead hotspots in America.

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Hidden hazards: Common household chemicals are damaging brain health, especially in children, reports study

  • A recent study reveals quaternary ammonium compounds in disinfectants and organophosphate flame retardants damage brain cells (oligodendrocytes), leading to cognitive deficits, motor impairments and neurological disorders.
  • Flame retardant metabolites were found in 100 percent of children tested, with higher exposure linked to learning disabilities and special education needs. COVID-era disinfectant overuse doubled quaternary ammonium compound levels in blood.
  • The EPA and FDA rely on industry-funded research, allowing toxic chemicals to be used in household products without long-term safety testing. Outdated fire safety laws keep carcinogenic flame retardants in furniture despite known risks.
  • Manufacturers resist safer alternatives despite evidence linking these chemicals to autism, Parkinson’s, infertility and chronic diseases, all while healthcare costs soar.
  • Consumers can reduce their exposure to these toxic chemicals by replacing toxic cleaners with natural alternatives, buying flame-retardant-free furniture and improving ventilation at home.

For decades, Americans have been taught that a clean home is a healthy home. But a groundbreaking study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio suggests that some of the very products used to sanitize living spaces and prevent fires may be silently eroding brain health — particularly in children.

Published in Nature Neuroscience, the 2024 study reveals that two classes of chemicals found in everyday disinfectants, personal care products and furniture can impair or destroy critical brain cells, potentially leading to cognitive deficits, motor skill impairments and long-term neurological consequences. The findings raise urgent questions about regulatory oversight, corporate accountability and the unintended health costs of modern hygiene and safety standards.

The unseen threat in cleaning supplies and furniture

The study examined 1,823 environmental compounds, zeroing in on two categories with alarming neurotoxic effects:

  • Quaternary ammonium compounds – Commonly found in disinfectant sprays, hand sanitizers and personal care products
  • Organophosphate flame retardants – Used in furniture, electronics and textiles to meet flammability standards

Researchers discovered that these chemicals either stunt the development of oligodendrocytes — brain cells responsible for insulating neurons — or kill them outright. Without proper insulation, neural signals slow or misfire, leading to memory problems, impaired motor function and learning disabilities.

Modern research continues to reveal the many ways these toxic chemicals harm human health. As explained by the Enoch AI engine at Brighteon.AI: “Quaternary compounds disrupt cellular function by interfering with mitochondrial energy production, damaging nerve and muscle cells, while also acting as endocrine disruptors that contribute to hormonal imbalances, infertility and chronic diseases like cancer.

“Organophosphates, meanwhile, permanently bind to and inhibit acetylcholinesterase (a crucial brain enzyme), causing muscle paralysis, seizures, respiratory failure and long-term damage (neurological disorders, Parkinson’s, cognitive decline and immune dysfunction), while also accumulating in fat tissues to wreak havoc over time.” (Related: 5 Toxic ingredients that can be found in common cleaning products.)

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NY Times Slammed For Predictable RFK Health Hit-Pieces

The New York Times came under fire on Monday for running a hit piece against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pro-exercise campaign.

The leftist newspaper, as legacy media often does, leaned on so-called experts cautioning “against jumping into a difficult routine suggested by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth.”

Its headline—100 Push-Ups and 50 Pull-Ups in Under 10 Minutes. What Could Go Wrong?—was predictably snarky.

The piece targeted the “Pete and Bobby Challenge,” a social media campaign aimed at raising awareness about fitness and weight loss.

However, according to The Times and their quoted experts, the exercise “may not be for everyone.”

“For the average person, I would definitely recommend building volume in these movements over three to four weeks before giving it a go,” said Utah athlete Dallin Pepper.

The leftist rag then cited Toronto-based personal trainer Chris Smits to say that the regimen proposed by Hegseth and Kennedy is not feasible for most Americans.

Citing experts is a common tactic in legacy media attacks on conservatives.

Self-described journalists pick a topic, guide the experts toward the conclusions they desire and then publish the story.

This cycle allows them to wash their hands by claiming they are simply reporting.

On X, critics piled on The Times, describing the hit piece as predictable as it was laughable.

“The New York Times really hates working out,” wrote Republican communicator Nathan Brand.

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CNN Doctor Who Raised Alarms Over Trump Diagnosis Is an NAACP ‘Health Equity’ Director, Not a Practicing Physician

A CNN doctor who painted a dark picture of President Donald Trump’s health appears not to have practiced medicine since her residency, instead spending her career as a diversity, equity, and inclusion specialist. She is also an “apostle” of a church whose leader describes Trump as the “antichrist.”

Chris Pernell, a frequent television doctor on CNN and other news stations, warned last week that President Trump’s broadly unremarkable diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency could be more than it seemed.

“It is a disease that is progressive,” Pernell said. “And what that means is that if there aren’t conservative treatments, elevation, compression, medication, if needed, to treat accompanying ulcers or skin changes, it can worsen and actually put a person at risk for deep venous thrombosis.”

Pernell went on to suggest other potential complications as a result of chronic venous insufficiency.

“If a person is sitting or standing for prolonged amounts of time, you can get chronic venous insufficiency, and while it is not life threatening, it can be debilitating,” she added. “You can develop ulcers in addition to skin discoloration. And if a person develops ulcers, you want to make sure those ulcers aren’t infected.”

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Trump Admin Will Encourage All Americans To Use Wearables, Says RFK Jr.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon start a massive advertising blitz to encourage uptake of wearables such as fitness trackers among Americans, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on June 24.

“We’re about to launch one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history to encourage Americans to use wearables,” Kennedy said on Capitol Hill in Washington during a congressional hearing.

Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) spoke positively about what he described as innovative wellness tools and asked Kennedy to describe how the government is promoting access to such tools. Balderson noted that research suggests that increased patient engagement can result in improved health.

“It’s a way people can take control over their own health, they can take responsibility, they can see what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates, and a number of other metrics as they eat it, and they can begin to make good judgements about their diet, about their physical activity, about the way they live their lives,” Kennedy said.

“We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda, Making America Healthy Again. My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years.”

Balderson also asked about concerns over keeping data from wearables private. Kennedy declined to address that aspect of the matter.

In addition to his role as health secretary, Kennedy is chairman of the MAHA Commission, established by President Donald Trump to study ways to improve the health of Americans.

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Barbie launches first doll with Type 1 diabetes, glucose monitor

Barbie is aiming to expand on inclusivity with the launch of its first doll with Type 1 diabetes.

The doll, part of Barbie’s Fashionistas line, comes complete with a continuous glucose monitor, insulin pump and other features to represent those diagnosed with the chronic disease.

The brand partnered with Breakthrough T1D, formerly JDRF, a diabetes research organization, to create the doll. Barbie said in a news release that it is also donating dolls to the Breakthrough T1D 2025 Children’s Congress, a biennial event that brings over a hundred children with Type 1 diabetes to Washington to meet with members of Congress.

“Introducing a Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes marks an important step in our commitment to inclusivity and representation,” Krista Berger, senior vice president of Barbie and global head of dolls at Mattel, said in a release. “Barbie helps shape children’s early perceptions of the world, and by reflecting medical conditions like T1D, we ensure more kids can see themselves in the stories they imagine and the dolls they love.”

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Illness and Endless Wars

Hey, you remember that guy, right? You know, the candidate who, in his third campaign for president in 2024 insisted that he was the one who would remove this country’s “warmongers and America-last globalists” and that returning him to the White House would “turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending war. They never ended.”

Yes, indeed, America’s wars haven’t ended, not by a long shot, not with Donald Trump back in the White House a second time. And yes (again), he did indeed swear that he was done with such wars. But then he wasn’t thinking about Bibi Netanyahu, was he? He wasn’t thinking about Israel bombing Iran. In typical fashion, he wasn’t thinking three (two? one?) steps ahead. And now, of course, we have Iran. I know, I know, after his bombing runs against that country’s nuclear sites, there is at least what passes for a truce in place (until, of course, there isn’t). With Netanyahu once again focused on killing Palestinians in Gaza and Trump focused on… well, himself, it’s easy enough to forget that he did indeed bring American-style warfare back to a Middle East that already had an estimated 40,000-50,000 American soldiers stationed at perhaps 19 sites across the region. And mind you, he hasn’t stopped implying that there might be worse to come. (“Can it start again? I guess someday, it can. It could maybe start soon.”)

And with all of that looming, and the unpredictable Donald Trump in the White House, let TomDispatch regular Andrea Mazzarino, one of the founders of the invaluable Costs of War Project, take you on a grim voyage into what war — in fact, the wars this country has so regularly fought in this century across the Greater Middle East and Africa (where, by the way, the Trump administration is still sending American planes on remarkably regular bombing runs in Somalia at a pace that could set a Trumpian record this year) — does to our health. It isn’t pretty, believe me.

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Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman Says N-Word Is to Blame for Blacks Suffering from Obesity, Cancer, and Heart Disease

Former Congressman Jamaal Bowman has claimed that black people are suffering from serious medical conditions because they are called the N-word so regularly.

Appearing on a CNN panel on Thursday, Bowman outlined his theory that rates of cancer, obesity, and heart disease are higher among black Americans because of people allegedly using the N-word.

“I’m a black man in America,” Bowman explained.

“The reason why heart disease and cancer and obesity and diabetes are bigger in the black community is because of the stress we carry from having to deal with being called the n-word directly or indirectly every day.”

Bowman’s rhetoric was so bizarre and extreme that even the Democratic Party ultimately rejected him.

In last year’s Congressional primary, Bowman lost to former New York State Assemblyman George Latimer by over 20 points.

In the wake of President Trump’s landslide election victory, Bowman openly attacked white people for not supporting his political ideas and claimed that some are simply “too far gone.”

“Dear White People,” he wrote at the time. “I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you. I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us.

“Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy.”

“I just wanna call out the hypocrisy and evil of it all and just continue to hope.

”I won’t rely completely on you because I know what’s most important is to work with my community and other like minded allies in the fight for justice.”

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Trump administration funds $10 million study on health effects of East Palestine train derailment

The Trump administration has launched a study of the long-term health consequences for residents of East Palestine, Ohio, from a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals in 2023.

The initiative, spearheaded by Vice President J.D. Vance, comes after he was brushed off by Biden administration officials when he urged a study on any detrimental environmental and health effects on the East Palestine community. Mr. Vance was a U.S. senator representing Ohio at the time.

Under President Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Director of the National Institutes of Health Jay Bhattacharya have launched a five-year, $10 million research initiative to investigate the disaster’s long-term health impacts.

“I’ve been to East Palestine a number of times, and they’re very worried about, what are the long-term impacts of these chemicals in the water, in the air, what effect does it have on their kids and grandkids after five years, 10 years, 15 years of exposure?” Mr. Vance said during an announcement of the initiative, while flanked by Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Battacharya.

“I tried as a United States senator to work with the Biden administration, and they refused to do anything to actually study the effects of these long-term exposures on the people of East Palestine,” he said.

Mr. Kennedy called the effort “the first large-scale, coordinated, multi-year federal study focused specifically on the long-term health impacts of the East Palestine disaster.

“The program will support robust community-engaged epidemiological research to understand the impacts of exposures on short and long-term injuries,” he said.

According to Mr. Kennedy, the program will also “support public health tracking and surveillance of the community’s health conditions to help us make informed health care choices and take appropriate preventative measures.”

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Despite decades of Democrat health initiatives, Americans are sicker than ever

Heath and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a viral and heated exchange with Senator Patty Murphy, D-Wash., during a Senate Appropriations hearing last week that was supposed to focus on budget priorities for his department.

The exchange between the two went off the rails when Murray accused Kennedy of “sprinting down the road to illegally impounding billions in funding through intentional action and incompetence.” She highlighted a number of programs which fall under his purview that Kennedy has considered altering or omitting.

Kennedy’s came back with a mic-drop response that tied decades of growing health problems in America to the policies of Murray’s party.

“Senator, you’ve presided here, I think for 32 years. You have presided over the destruction of the health of the American people. Our people are now the sickest people in the world, because you have not done your job,” Kennedy fired back.

Data and history back up his argument.

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed public trust in health authorities and agencies.

In April 2020, trust sat at a reasonable 71.5%. Four years later in April 2024 it plummeted to 40.1%, according to a 50-state survey of U.S. adults led by Northeastern University’s distinguished professor of political science and computer sciences.

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