Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
A ‘Fountain Of Youth’ Pill? Sure, If You’re A Mouse.
The race for the cure to aging sparks hope and hype among top scientists — plus billions of dollars in investment. (Marisa Taylor, )
Good morning! Today Gov. Gavin Newsom will give his State of the State address, where he’s expected to touch on priorities he laid out in his budget, such as universal health care and homelessness. According to advance excerpts, Newsome will also strive to position California as a leading voice in the resistance against President Donald Trump. Make sure to check back tomorrow for more coverage. Now, here are some of the top California health stories for the day.
California’s First Surgeon General Envisions Earlier Intervention To Address Childhood Trauma: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a San Francisco-based pediatrician who will be the state’s first surgeon general, is an expert in adverse childhood experiences and the way they can effect children long-term into adulthood. According to Burke Harris, 61 percent of Californians have had at least one adverse childhood experience, which includes things like physical and sexual abuse, neglect, or having a parent in jail affect long-term health. One of Burke Harris’ top priorities is emphasizing programs that work toward early intervention with the goal of mitigating some of the negative consequences to childhood trauma. Read more from KQED.
Names Of Planned Parenthood Workers In Case Over Secret Recording Will Remain Sealed: San Francisco Superior Court Judge Christopher Hite is presiding over the case against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress—two activists accused of secretly making videos that Planned Parenthood argued were heavily edited to unfairly show workers agreeing to sell fetal material for profit. While the names of the workers were posted on a website over the weekend, Hite said he would punish anyone discovered to have provided the information. Hite also said he would rule later on Planned Parenthood’s unusual legal demand to join California’s criminal prosecution. Read more from The Associated Press.
How Unconscious Physician Biases About Race, Ethnicity And Pain Plays A Role In The Opioid Crisis: A new study reveals that residents of California neighborhoods with the highest proportions of white people were more than twice as likely to be prescribed an opioid pain reliever than residents of neighborhoods where whites were most scarce. There's been much research done over the years that confirms that doctors prescribe less medication to minority patients who describe the same intensity of pain as white patients do, but the results paint a picture of just how big a role those biases played in the opioid crisis. “Medicine has a long, unsavory history of expecting people of color to tolerate larger levels of pain,” said Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, in the Los Angeles Times’ coverage.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day. Media outlets report on news about hospitals, wildfires, legislation to protect sex workers, immigration, the supplement industry, and more.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
Sen. Wiener To Introduce California Bill Protecting Victimized Sex Workers
California Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, will introduce legislation Monday that would prevent law enforcement from arresting and charging sex workers who come forward as victims or witnesses to serious crimes. The proposed law, SB233, would also prevent officers from using condoms as probable cause to arrest a sex worker in any situation. (Sernoffsky, 2/11)
Ventura County Star:
Fire-Scarred Ventura Psych Hospital Opens More Beds
A Ventura psychiatric hospital closed by the Thomas Fire opened 28 more beds Monday afternoon in a move observers say will address but not come close to ending a crisis-level need for in-patient psych care in Ventura County. Before flames raced across Ventura County in a December 2017 fire that was then the state's largest ever wildfire, Vista del Mar Hospital operated 87 psychiatric beds. As many as 34 beds were available for adolescents 12 and older — the only such beds in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. (Kisken, 2/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Camp Fire, Woolsey Fire Cleanups New Fully Underway
In a dramatic rebuke last summer, California officials accused the federal government of “re-victimizing” wildfire survivors in Sonoma and Napa counties by allowing cleanup crews to damage property and over-scrape home sites. Now, it’s California’s turn on the hot seat. Following another devastating fire season, state emergency recovery officials are taking the sole lead on cleanup at all fire zones this year, from the slopes of Butte County to the Los Angeles coast, with a big phase 2 cleanup launch last week. (Bizjak, 2/12)
Los Angeles Times:
More Than 70 Detainees Condemn Conditions At San Diego Immigration Facility
More than 70 people being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center while they wait for immigration court hearings have signed a letter decrying conditions at the facility. The letter, written in December, alleges that detainees have experienced medical neglect, safety issues, and racism and discrimination, according to Freedom for Immigrants, the group to whom the letter was addressed. The detainees also said their complaints were not being heard at the facility. (Morrissey, 2/11)
KPCC:
Meet The Angelenos Who Aren't Waiting For The Government To Address The Homelessness Crisis
Consider the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles. What started as a band of neighbors who wanted to get to know their homeless neighbors on a first name basis has grown into one of the strongest advocates for the homeless in its corner of the city, between downtown L.A., Hollywood. For the past two years, SELAH volunteers have visited the same homeless encampments every other weekend. None of the group's core volunteers are professional homeless service workers. (Tinoco, 2/11)
KQED:
State Raises Safety Concerns At S.F. Sewage Treatment Plant Near Ocean
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission says it has made safety improvements at the sewage plant that serves the west side of the city after state workplace regulators issued penalties against the agency following an inspection that uncovered potentially dangerous conditions there. In late August, the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) handed down four fines against the SFPUC over safety violations at the Oceanside Treatment Plant, a facility that treats about 6.6 billion gallons of sewage and stormwater annually. (Goldberg, 2/11)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Residents Oppose Marijuana Farming Permits
The Stanislaus County Planning Commission recommended denying one of the nursery permits on California Avenue, south of Maze Boulevard, and also turned down a permit for indoor cultivation on El Roya Avenue near the Beard Industrial District in southeast Modesto. Adding fuel to Shiloh-area opposition was that project proponent Legacy Nursery is partly owned by a county planning commissioner, Marc Etchebarne. (Carlson, 2/11)
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Warns Supplement Makers To Stop Touting Cures For Diseases Like Alzheimer’s
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned 12 sellers of dietary supplements to stop claiming their products can cure Alzheimer’s disease. At the same time, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s commissioner, suggested that Congress strengthen the F.D.A.’s authority over an estimated $40 billion industry, which sells as many as 80,000 kinds of powders and pills with little federal scrutiny. (Kaplan, 2/11)
The Washington Post:
FDA Launches Tougher Oversight Of Supplements
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency is planning policy changes that could lead to the most important regulatory modernization since enactment of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which set up the regulatory regime. Under the law, dietary supplements are regulated as food and, therefore, are not subject to premarket approval or the kind of safety and effectiveness testing required for drugs. Since the law was enacted, the industry has grown from 4,000 products and $4 billion a year in sales to as many as 80,000 products and $50 billion in sales, according to the FDA. (McGinley, 2/11)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Challenges Supplement Makers’ Marketing Claims
“Legitimate industry benefits from a framework that inspires the confidence of consumers and providers,” Mr. Gottlieb said. “Patients benefit from products that meet high standards for quality.” Dietary supplements are a booming industry, with some 80,000 kinds of supplements sold in 2016, according to a recent government report. U.S. supplement sales reached nearly $133 billion in 2016, according to the most recent data from Zion Market Research. (Hopkins, 2/11)
The Associated Press:
What The FDA's Actions Mean For Dietary Supplements
The agency warned 17 companies for illegally making claims about their products' ability to treat diseases. Here's a look at what the FDA's announcement means. (2/11)
The Wall Street Journal:
Medicare For All Bill Puts Pressure On Democrats’ 2020 Field
House Democrats are planning to unveil Medicare for All legislation soon, turning up the heat on Democratic presidential candidates facing questions over how far they want to go in embracing a national government health system. The bill from Rep. Pramila Jayapal and other House Democrats is expected to closely mirror a Senate Medicare for All bill from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), which would expand government-run health insurance to all and do away with the current system of employer-provided coverage. At the same time, more than 100 organizing events will take place this week nationwide to help build grass-roots support for Medicare for All. (Armour, 2/11)
The Washington Post:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s 2020 Policy Agenda: Lower Drug Costs, Prepare For ‘Digital Disruption,’ Expand Savings Accounts
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is running for president on a policy agenda of lowering prescription drug costs, expanded savings accounts to help people save for their educations, and a slew of Internet-related policies, including expanding rural broadband and tougher privacy laws, according to aides to the senator. Klobuchar, who has withheld her support from the more liberal proposals made by Democratic lawmakers, will also push for automatically registering all eligible voters, an overhaul of election security, and committing the United States to the Paris agreement to combat climate change, aides said. (Stein, 2/11)
Stat:
Cory Booker Looks To Shake His Reputation For Drug Industry Coziness
For the past two years, [Cory] Booker has been repeatedly reminded of that kind of anger over high drug prices — and hounded by criticism that he has an overly cozy relationship with the pharma industry. Last week, the hosts of “Pod Save America,” a progressive political podcast, said he had taken “a bad vote on pharmaceuticals.” A viral Facebook video viewed nearly a quarter-million times questions whether Booker is a “Big Pharma” candidate. And on the left-leaning “Breakfast Club” radio show last week, Booker was pointedly asked whether he could be trusted to hold large pharmaceutical companies accountable. That reputation, deserved or not, could become a major political liability for Booker, particularly at a time of concern over drug prices and in a race with other progressive lawmakers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders whose disdain for large drug companies is palpable. (Facher, 2/12)