HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

May 20, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• FDA sets new requirements for COVID vaccines in healthy adults and children (ABC)
• Common Energy Drink Ingredient Linked to Blood Cancer (People)
• Trump EPA Guts Rules Against Toxic Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water (Common Dreams)
• The FDA approves first U.S. at-home tool as a Pap-smear alternative (KPBS)
• Measles math: What to know about 1,001 measles cases across the country (KPBS)
• The US hasn't seen a human bird flu case in 3 months. Experts are wondering why (AP)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• A Baby Received a Custom Crispr Treatment in Record Time  (Wired)
• Trump bans 'revenge porn': Melania Trump co-signs the document (USA Today)
• Victims of explicit deepfakes will now be able to take legal action against people who create them (CNN)
• Insight: Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters (Reuters)

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

HEALTH

FDA sets new requirements for COVID vaccines in healthy adults and children (ABC)

Federal health officials will no longer routinely approve annual COVID-19 shots for younger adults and children who are healthy... the FDA framework urges companies to conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people. In a framework published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, agency officials said the approach still could keep annual vaccinations available for between 100 million and 200 million people.

Common Energy Drink Ingredient Linked to Blood Cancer (People)

Taurine was found to “significantly accelerate disease progression” in a new study of the supplement, commonly given to chemotherapy patients

Trump EPA Guts Rules Against Toxic Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water (Common Dreams)

"Once again, the Trump administration has demonstrated that its priority is bending to corporate interests, not protecting the safety and well-being of everyday people," said one critic.

The FDA approves first U.S. at-home tool as a Pap-smear alternative (KPBS)

The Food and Drug administration has approved the U.S.'s first at-home alternative to the Pap smear, a procedure generations of women have dreaded and often found painful.

Measles math: What to know about 1,001 measles cases across the country (KPBS)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there have been 1,001 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. this year. It's the second-highest case count in 25 years, topped only by 2019, when more than 1,200 measles cases were detected. The best way to contain measles is two doses of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella).

The US hasn't seen a human bird flu case in 3 months. Experts are wondering why (AP)

Has the search for cases been weakened by government cuts? Are immigrant farm workers, who have accounted for many of the U.S. cases, more afraid to come forward for testing amid the Trump administration’s deportation push? Is it just a natural ebb in infections? 

SCIENCE AND TECH

A Baby Received a Custom Crispr Treatment in Record Time  (Wired)

KJ Muldoon was born with a potentially fatal genetic disorder. Just six months later, he received a Crispr treatment designed just for him.

Trump bans 'revenge porn': Melania Trump co-signs the document (USA Today)

The new law requires platforms to remove reported “nonconsensual, sexually exploitative images” within 48 hours of receiving a valid request.

Victims of explicit deepfakes will now be able to take legal action against people who create them (CNN)

After months of outcry over the issue of AI-generated, non-consensual deepfakes, President Donald Trump is set to sign a law that will make sharing them illegal.

Insight: Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters (Reuters)

U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter says.