• Health

EPA and FL Set To Begin Experimental Mosquito Program To Fight — Mosquitos

• climate change
• genetically modified organism
• mosquitos
• Zika

The office that approves pesticides at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the trial release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitos in the Florida Keys and Texas.  Now the state and the county housing the Florida Keys have approved a pilot project for 2021 and 2022 as a way to defeat the spread of mosquitos that carry Zika and other diseases, while one county in Texas already approved its use in 2021.

Why This Matters:  Trust in government matters when it comes to approving an experiment like this one.  The problem here is that environmental organizations and local citizens groups do not have confidence that the EPA has their best interest at heart.

• Health

Coronavirus Compounds Black Lung Disease as Coal Miners Fight for Their Health

• black lung disease
• Coal Miners
• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• public health

While we’re still learning about the long terms damage caused by the novel coronavirus, we have enough evidence to show that some of the virus’ victims experience permanent lung damage. But for America’s coal miners, there’s a lung disease that most fear far more than coronavirus: black lung disease. Not only is black lung disease […]

• Health

One Funny Thing: Uncurbing Dr. Fauci’s Enthusiasm

• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• Fauci

In Dr. Anthony Fauci’s recent interview with In Style Magazine, he kept a diplomatic tone about how well the White House takes the hard truths he has to share about the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if we had an anger translator to tell us what cool, calm, collected Fauci ACTUALLY means? Sounds amazing, we nominate […]

• Health

Study Shows Spending On Conservation For Pandemic Prevention Yields Huge Benefits

• Conservation International
• COVID-19
• pandemic
• wildlife trade
• wildlife trafficking
• zoonotic disease

A new study published in the Journal Science yesterday found that the costs preventing pandemics using three conservation strategies are substantially less than the economic losses and mortality costs of responding to a global zoonotic virus once it occurs.

Why This Matters:  As the study’s authors explain, the risks of zoonotic disease are higher than ever as increasingly intimate associations between humans and wildlife disease reservoirs accelerate the potential for viruses to spread globally.

• Health

Bubonic Plague Emerges in Mongolia and Colorado

• bubonic plague
• Colorado
• Mongolia
• zoonotic disease

As the world is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization has warned that another infamous killer–the bubonic plague–has made a comeback by categorizing it as a re-emerging disease. As CNN reported, on July 7, Chinese authorities confirmed a case of the bubonic plague in inner Mongolia. and yesterday in an unrelated case, […]

• Health

Farmworkers Face Outsized Heat Fatalities, States Must Work to Protect Their Health

• agriculture
• Farm Workers
• food safety
• labor
• labor rights

by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer Farmworkers in Florida have to work in “dangerously hot” heat for 116 days of the year, Sam Bloch reported in The Counter. These farmworkers, according to the CDC, are 20 times more likely to die from heat than other US civilians. Despite the high levels of fatalities farmworkers face […]