HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

September 11, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Trump administration plans to ban sale of flavored electronic cigarettes (NBC news)
• Vaccination Against Yellow Fever is Intensified in Brazil’s South Region (Rio Times)
• Vaping illness claims first Southland victim (Patch)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Dangerous new hot zones are spreading around the world (Washington Post)
• Major US Insurer Says It Will No Longer Underwrite and Invest in Coal (Truthout)
• Apple, angry at Google, hits back at hack claim (BBC)
• Ring doorbell cameras attract congressional concern (USA Today)

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

HEALTH

Trump administration plans to ban sale of flavored electronic cigarettes (NBC news)

… “The Trump Administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools and communities,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “We will not stand idly by as these products become an on-ramp to combustible cigarettes or nicotine addiction for a generation of youth.”

Vaccination Against Yellow Fever is Intensified in Brazil’s South Region (Rio Times)

With an outbreak of the virus detected in the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina, vaccination against yellow fever is being intensified in the South Region.

Vaping illness claims first Southland victim (Patch)

Los Angeles health officials announced the first fatality statewide from the mysterious vaping illness that has sickened smokers nationwide.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Dangerous new hot zones are spreading around the world (Washington Post)

The day the yellow clams turned black is seared in Ramón Agüero’s memory…The clam die-off was an alarming marker of a new climate era…

Major US Insurer Says It Will No Longer Underwrite and Invest in Coal (Truthout)

...Chubb, the largest commercial insurance company in the U.S., announced a new policy to address climate change. Saying that it “will not underwrite risks related to the construction and operation of new coal-fired plants,” the company has become the first major U.S. insurer to adopt a policy restricting coal insurance… With Chubb’s announcement, in which the company said it “recognizes the reality of climate change and the substantial impact of human activity on our planet,” the pressure is now on other major fossil fuel insurers in the U.S. like Liberty Mutual and AIG to follow suit…

Apple, angry at Google, hits back at hack claim (BBC)

…In a statement posted on Friday, Apple took issue with Google’s characterisation that this was a broad attack on all iPhone users. "Google’s post, issued six months after iOS patches were released, creates the false impression of 'mass exploitation' to 'monitor the private activities of entire populations in real time,' stoking fear among all iPhone users that their devices had been compromised,” it reads. "This was never the case.” 

Ring doorbell cameras attract congressional concern (USA Today)

Amazon-owned doorbell camera company Ring is facing questions from a U.S. senator over its partnerships with police departments around the country.