health news

January 8, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• How drinking alcohol can affect your health (AP)
• Newsom targets ultra-processed foods to promote healthier living across California (CBS 8)
• Louisiana forbids public health workers from promoting COVID, flu and mpox shots (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• The ‘world’s largest’ vacuum to suck climate pollution out of the air just opened. Here’s how it works (CNN)
• Net neutrality is struck down by federal appeals court  (NPR)
• Is your car spying on you? What it means that Tesla shared data in the Las Vegas explosion (AP)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

How drinking alcohol can affect your health (AP

AP - Moderate drinking was once thought to have benefits for the heart, but better research methods have thrown cold water on that. On Friday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthycalled for updating the existing surgeon general’s health warning label on alcohol-containing beverages to include the risk of cancer. His proposal would require approval from Congress…. / Drinking raises the risk of several types of cancer, including colon, liver, breast and mouth and throat.

Newsom targets ultra-processed foods to promote healthier living across California (CBS 8)

Ultra-processed foods have been known to post a health risk to people because they contain more chemicals, additives, trans fats and emulsifiers.

Louisiana forbids public health workers from promoting COVID, flu and mpox shots (NPR)

A group of high-level managers at the Louisiana Department of Health walked into a Nov. 14 meeting in Baton Rouge expecting to talk about outreach and community events. Instead, they were told by an assistant secretary in the department and another official that department leadership had a new policy: Advertising or otherwise promoting the COVID, influenza or mpox vaccines, an established practice there — and at most other public health entities in the U.S. — must stop... The new policy in Louisiana was implemented as some politicians have promoted false information about vaccines and as President-elect Donald Trump seeks to have anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And some public health experts are concerned that if other states follow Louisiana, the U.S. could face rising levels of disease and further erosion of trust in the nation's public health infrastructure.

SCIENCE AND TECH

The ‘world’s largest’ vacuum to suck climate pollution out of the air just opened. Here’s how it works (CNN)

The “world’s largest” plant designed to suck planet-heating pollution out of the atmosphere like a giant vacuum began operating in Iceland on Wednesday. “Mammoth” is the second commercial direct air capture plant opened by Swiss company Climeworks in the country, and is 10 times bigger than its predecessor, Orca, which started running in 2021.Direct air capture, or DAC, is a technology designed to suck in air and strip out the carbon using chemicals. The carbon can then be injected deep beneath the ground, reused or transformed into solid products.

Net neutrality is struck down by federal appeals court  (NPR)

 A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati on Thursday ruled that the FCC did not have legal authority to reinstate the landmark net neutrality rules…. / Net neutrality was first introduced by the FCC during the Obama Administration in 2015 and was repealed two years later under then-President Donald Trump. / Then, last year, the FCC effectively reinstated net neutrality when it voted to reclassify broadband as a public utility, such as water and electricity, to regulate access to the internet. Under the Communications Act of 1934, such public utility services are subject to government regulation./ In doing so, the FCC aimed to make ISPs accountable for outages, require more robust network security, protect fast speeds, and require greater protections for consumer data.

Is your car spying on you? What it means that Tesla shared data in the Las Vegas explosion (AP)

Your car is spying on you. That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk’s company was impressive, but also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels. Is your car company violating your privacy rights?