HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

May 3, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

Health

• Tick- and mosquito-borne diseases more than triple, since 2004, in the US  CNN)
• Family credits Apple watch for saving daughter’s life (ABC)
• Trump’s health: three big ethics questions (BBC)
• Weedkiller found in granola and crackers, internal FDA emails show (Guardian)

Science and technology

• Data firm at center of Facebook privacy scandal will close (ABC News)
• How private is your DNA on ancestry websites? Golden State Killer case raises questions (Sacramento Bee)
• Hawaii Approves Bill Banning Sunscreen Believed To Kill Coral Reefs (NPR)
• The EU just made a dramatic move to protect bees (Science Alert)

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

Health

Tick- and mosquito-borne diseases more than triple, since 2004, in the US  CNN)

Reported cases of what are called vector-borne diseases have more than tripled nationwide, growing from 27,388 cases reported in 2004 to a whopping 96,075 cases reported in 2016, according to the new Vital Signs report published by the CDC on Tuesday.

Family credits Apple watch for saving daughter’s life (ABC)

Florida resident Deanna Recktenwald may be alive today because of her Apple Watch. The 18-year-old from Lithia, Florida, was at church on April 22 when she got a notification from her Apple Watch: her resting heart rate had skyrocketed to 160 beats per minute.

Trump’s health: three big ethics questions (BBC)

US President Donald Trump's personal doctor Dr Harold Bornstein has claimed Mr Trump wrote his own letter of health during the election and later sent aides to 'raid' the physician's office. Dr Bornstein now says he fell out of favour with the president after divulging some of Mr Trump's prescriptions to US media. The BBC spoke to a US medical ethics expert to detail three of the ethical concerns brought up by these allegations around the president's healthcare.

Weedkiller found in granola and crackers, internal FDA emails show (Guardian)

US government scientists have detected a weedkiller linked to cancer in an array of commonly consumed foods, emails obtained through a freedom of information request show.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been testing food samples for residues of glyphosate, the active ingredient in hundreds of widely used herbicide products, for two years, but has not yet released any official results.

Science and technology

Data firm at center of Facebook privacy scandal will close (ABC News)

Cambridge Analytica is declaring bankruptcy and shutting down

How private is your DNA on ancestry websites? Golden State Killer case raises questions (Sacramento Bee)

The Sacramento Bee - Millions of Americans are doing it – packing up samples of their saliva and mailing it off to an online genealogy company to analyze their DNA and help trace their family tree.

Hawaii Approves Bill Banning Sunscreen Believed To Kill Coral Reefs (NPR)

Hawaii lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the sale of over-the-counter sunscreens containing chemicals they say are contributing to the destruction of the state's coral reefs and other ocean life.

The EU just made a dramatic move to protect bees (Science Alert)

The European Union has announced it will ban the world's most widely used insecticides within 6 months, due to the damage they're doing to vulnerable bee populations. Neonicotinoids will be banned from use in all fields by the end of 2018, and will only be allowed to be used in closed greenhouses.