Critics Accuse Education Secretary Of Putting NRA’s Bottom Line Ahead Of Student’s Safety
According to sources, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is mulling the idea of using federal funds to arm teachers following the recent string of school shootings. The plan drew fierce condemnation. “Instead of after-school programs or counselors, programs that are critical for creating safe and welcoming schools and addressing the mental health needs of kids, DeVos wants to turn schools into armed fortresses and make kids and educators less safe,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
The Associated Press:
Education Dept. Proposals On Guns In Schools Sparks Outcry
The Education Department says it is weighing whether to allow states to use federal funds to purchase guns for schools, prompting a storm of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and educators. If approved, the plan would likely generate a lot of controversy at a time when a string of especially deadly school shootings earlier this year led to the rise of a powerful student-led gun control movement. (8/24)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Russian Trolls Used Vaccine Debate To Sow Discord, Study Finds
Don’t get #vaccines. Illuminati are behind it.” “Do you still treat your kids with leaves? No? And why don’t you #vaccinate them? It’s medicine!” With messages like those, Russian internet trolls meddling in the 2016 presidential election also lashed out at Americans debating the safety of vaccines, a new study has found. (McNeil, 8/23)
Stat:
HHS Advances Proposal That Could Require Prices Be Included In Drug Ads
The Department of Health and Human Services is moving forward with a policy that could require drug companies to put the price of their medicine in advertisements. The White House Office of Management and Budget received a draft regulation from HHS this week titled “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Regulation to Require Drug Pricing Transparency.” An HHS spokesperson declined to comment on what the regulation would do, but lobbyists told STAT that it relates to the policy of requiring drug price information in ads. (Swetlitz, 8/23)
The Washington Post:
Safest Level Of Alcohol Consumption Is None, Worldwide Study Shows
To minimize health risks, the optimal amount of alcohol someone should consume is none. That’s the simple, surprising conclusion of a massive study, co-authored by 512 researchers from 243 institutions, published Thursday in the prestigious journal the Lancet. The researchers built a database of more than a thousand alcohol studies and data sources, as well as death and disability records from 195 countries and territories between 1990 and 2016. The goal was to estimate how alcohol affects the risk of 23 health problems. The number that jumped out, in the end, was zero. Anything more than that was associated with health risks. (Achenbach, 8/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Scientists Blast EPA Effort That Would Discredit Health Research In The Name Of 'Transparency'
When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a proposal this week to give states more latitude in regulating pollution from power plants within their borders, it came with a sobering forecast of its likely impact on Americans’ health. By 2030, adoption of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule could lead to 470 to 1,400 additional premature deaths each year because of an increase in tiny airborne particles. Children with asthma could wind up missing 21,000 extra days of school annually, and up to 48,000 more people could experience “exacerbated asthma” as air quality deteriorates. (Healy, 8/24)