In The News

BBC: Health Impact of Separating Children from Parents

Jessica Lussenhop June 21, 2018
Doctors speak out against a Trump administration policy that separates children from parents attempting to cross the US border. The policy could cause long-term, irreversible harm unless the families are swiftly reunited. The new policy began in a chaotic way with empty big-box stores and tents used to shelter the children, including babies and toddlers, with the risk that some families may never...

Smithsonian: Globalization Changed How We Fight Disease

Daniel Fernandez June 5, 2018
Globalization has contributed both to spreading diseases quickly via travel and faster transportation systems and providing early warnings that lead to swift prevention mechanisms and treatments: “the rise of civilization – namely, the development of agriculture, animal husbandry and domesticated life – led to the growth of catastrophic illnesses such as smallpox, tuberculosis and polio,” writes...

New York Times: Improve a Billion Lives With Eyeglasses

Andrew Jacobs May 10, 2018
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other deadly diseases are at the forefront of global health crises. This had allowed certain widespread health issues to be overlooked. Poor vision and lack of access to eyeglasses, while not necessarily fatal, afflicts more than a billion people worldwide. Eye exams and eyeglasses can be very expensive, while the resources allotted to improving vision care in...

Caixin: US Approval Offers Shot in the Arm to China’s Traditional Medicine

Coco Feng February 2, 2018
Traditional medicines, once customized for each patient, are increasingly standardized and manufactured in large modern factories, for delivery around the globe. To expand markets, Chinese manufacturers are conducting clinical trials and putting their products under the review of the US Food and Drug Administration, considered among the world’s toughest regulators for drugs. “Although China...

CNN: Black Death Spread by Humans, Vindicating Rats

Meera Senthilingam January 17, 2018
“Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, a zoonotic bacteria, usually found in small mammals and their fleas,” reports the World Health Organization. “It is transmitted between animals through fleas. Humans can be infected through.” The Black Death pandemic occurring sporadically from the 14th to 19th centuries was not spread by rats, as once assumed, but through...

China Dialogue: Processed Food Is a Global Health Crisis

Judy Bankman December 12, 2017
Processed food and Western diets that are high in fats, sugars and salt are not healthy and also contribute to poor agriculture methods and climate change. Farming methods could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help stem climate change, according to an agreement made during the UN COP23 summit on climate change in Bonn. “Dietary changes are taking place at ‘unprecedented speed,’ and people in...

Spiegel Online: Monsanto Faces Blowback Over Cancer Claims

Philip Bethge November 7, 2017
A class-action lawsuit in the United States claims that the active ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, glyphosate, causes a form of lymph node cancer. “Monsanto's strategies for whitewashing glyphosate have been revealed in internal e-mails, presentations and memos,” reports Philip Bethge for Spiegel Online. The company’s argument: The chemical could not be described as a...