EPA announces rollback for some Biden-era limits on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it plans to weaken limits on some “forever chemicals” in drinking water that were finalized last year, while maintaining standards for two common ones. The Biden administration set the first federal drinking water limits for PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, finding they...
U.S. overdose deaths fell 27% last year, the largest 1-year decline ever seen
There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023....
Lawmakers question Kennedy on staffing cuts, funding freezes and policy changes at health department
WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats alike on Wednesday questioned the deep staffing cuts, research funding freezes and drastic policy changes that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made in a few short months at the helm of the nation’s health department. Kennedy, who was to...
FDA, RFK Jr. aim to remove ingestible fluoride products used to protect kids’ teeth
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators announced an effort Tuesday to phase out ingestible fluoride supplements sometimes used to strengthen children’s teeth, opening a new front in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort against a mainstay of dental care. The Food and Drug Administration said it will conduct a scientific...
UnitedHealth Group CEO steps down; suspends 2025 outlook on higher-than-expected medical costs
UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for personal reasons and the nation’s largest health insurer suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs. UnitedHealth cut its 2025 forecast last month following its first quarterly earnings miss in more than a decade. Shares of UnitedHealth, which have plummeted...
Trump signs executive order setting 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower prescription drug costs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits over what the government will pay. The order calls on the health department, led by Robert F. Kennedy...
At least 10 people sickened in U.S. listeria outbreak linked to prepared foods
SAN FERNANDO, Calif. — At least 10 people in the U.S. have been sickened in a listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat food products, and a producer is voluntarily recalling several products, federal officials said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Saturday that federal, state and local officials are investigating...
Zepbound beats Wegovy for weight loss in first head-to-head trial of blockbuster drugs
People taking Eli Lilly’s obesity drug, Zepbound, lost nearly 50% more weight than those using rival Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in the first head-to-head study of the blockbuster medications. Clinical trial participants who took tirzepatide, the drug sold as Zepbound, lost an average of 50 pounds over 72 weeks, while those...
Trump promises to order that the U.S. pay only the price other nations do for some drugs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he’ll sign an executive order on Monday that, if implemented, could bring down the costs of some medications — reviving a failed effort from his first term on an issue he’s talked up since even before becoming president. The order Trump is promising will...
2 bladder cancer survivors turn their journey into a lifeline for others
Bill Russell and Jim Rieker are survivors. Both diagnosed with bladder cancer, the men have made it their mission to help others with the disease through the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, the largest bladder cancer advocacy group in the nation. “When I was diagnosed, I didn’t know about the group,”...
Experts call Kennedy’s plan to find autism’s cause unrealistic
WASHINGTON — For many experts, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s promise for “pulling back the curtain” to find autism’s causes in a few months is jarring — and unrealistic. That’s because it appears to ignore decades of science linking about 200 genes that play a role — and...
U.S. infant mortality dropped in 2024. Experts partly credit RSV shots
NEW YORK — The nation’s infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau. Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be...
Woman pushes limits as arthritis walk shines light on rising cases of autoimmune disorder
Jeanine McGuire was diagnosed at 14 with rheumatoid arthritis, something she considered to be an old person’s disease. An athlete at North Catholic High School at the time, McGuire assumed her dreams of a collegiate soccer career were dashed. “I never thought I’d get better,” said McGuire, now 37, of...
Cancer before age 50 is increasing. A new study looks at which types
Cancer before age 50 is rare, but increasing, in the United States and researchers want to know why. A new government study provides the most complete picture yet of early-onset cancers, finding that the largest increases are in breast, colorectal, kidney and uterine cancers. Scientists from the National Cancer Institute...
Donald Trump taps wellness influencer close to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for surgeon general
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is tapping Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as his nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post. Trump said in a social media post Wednesday...
How Utah dentists are preparing patients for 1st statewide fluoride ban
SALT LAKE CITY — With Utah’s first-in-the-nation ban on fluoride in public drinking water set to take effect Wednesday, dentists who treat children and low-income patients say they’re bracing for an increase in tooth decay among the state’s most vulnerable people. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed the law against the...
A community rallied to share flu shot experiences. Then the government stopped the study
WASHINGTON — Some Denver parents got texts during this winter’s brutal flu season with videos sharing why people in their neighborhoods chose flu shots for their kids, an unusual study about trust and vaccines in a historically Black community. But no one will know how it worked out: The Trump...
CDC reports 216 child deaths this flu season, the most in 15 years
NEW YORK — More U.S. children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago, according to a federal report released Friday. The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eclipse the 207 reported last year. It’s...
Trump’s health agency urges therapy for transgender youth, not broader gender-affirming health care
President Donald Trump’s administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued...
Tarentum natives donate $3 million to Allegheny Health Network
Joe and Kathy Guyaux were without health insurance when their first child was born in 1972 at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison. “I paid $15 a month with no interest. I’ll always remember that,” said Joe Guyaux, a Tarentum native who now lives in Fox Chapel. “We know what it...
How bugs and beet juice could play roles in the race to replace artificial dyes in food
ST. LOUIS — As pressure grows to get artificial colors out of the U.S. food supply, the shift may well start at Abby Tampow’s laboratory desk. On an April afternoon, the scientist hovered over tiny dishes of red dye, each a slightly different ruby hue. Her task? To match the...
Texas measles outbreak nears 650 cases, but fewer than 10 actively infectious
DALLAS — Texas public health officials on Friday reported an additional 22 measles cases in the ongoing outbreak, for a total of 646 outbreak cases. The state’s Department of State Health Services estimates 1% of the total cases — or fewer than 10 cases — are actively infectious. The department...
Whooping cough cases rising again in the U.S.
Whooping cough cases are rising, and doctors are bracing for yet another tough year. There have been 8,485 cases reported in 2025, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s twice as many cases as this time last year, based on the CDC’s final...
Public health officials in Pa. won’t say how they’d handle a $500M cut sought by Trump admin
This story first appeared in How We Care, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring original reporting and perspectives on how we care for one another at all stages of life. Pennsylvania health officials are facing down a potential $500 million loss of federal funding, but are tight-lipped about which...
Worries about flying seem to be taking off. Here’s how to cope with in-flight anxiety
NEW YORK — Adelynn Campbell’s last plane trip ended with a panic attack that she got through largely with the help of a kind flight attendant. That was last year — before 67 people died in January when an American Airlines jet collided with a helicopter over Washington, D.C., in...
