Category: Health

The U.S. Department of Justice responded Thursday to a ruling that limits access to the abortion pill mifepristone and said it would ask the Supreme Court for an emergency order to put any restrictions on hold. After conflicting rulings by various courts on mifepristone, a pill that induces abortion and is the most commonly used method in the United States, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that it could be used for now but with some restrictions. They include reducing the period of time when the drug can be taken and prohibiting it from being mailed. Mifepristone has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for 23 years. Last week, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a U.S. district judge in Texas, reversed approval of the pill’s use following a lawsuit by opponents of abortion. Less than an hour later, a judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to preserve access to the drug in 17 states and the District of Columbia. In response, the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted late Wednesday to temporarily narrow the ruling by Kacsmaryk. In a 2-1 vote, the judges on the appeals court put on hold changes made by the FDA in 2016 and 2021 that relaxed the rules for prescribing and dispensing mifepristone. The relaxed rules included allowing the pill to be sent through the mail, lifting a requirement for three in-person doctor visits, and approving the drug’s use for up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy, rather than seven …

An activist in Ghana is swimming the nearly 500-kilometer-long Volta River, including Lake Volta, to bring attention to worsening water pollution. Yvette Tetteh is also collecting water samples along the way to test for pollution. Senanu Tord reports from Lake Volta, Ghana. …

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center on Thursday issued an El Nino watch for the next six months, a climate pattern that is likely to play a role in this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.  In a statement, NOAA said the indications are favorable — a 62% chance — for an El Nino pattern to form sometime from May to July. The pattern is characterized by warmer ocean temperatures and higher than normal precipitation in the central to eastern Pacific Ocean.  The El Nino pattern would follow nearly two continuous years of La Nina conditions in the Pacific.  El Nino and La Nina are opposite extremes of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern that occur across the equatorial Pacific and can influence weather across the United States and around the world. NOAA monitors ENSO and issues monthly outlooks on the patterns.  The agency’s El Nino watch comes as the first forecast for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season was issued by Colorado State University (CSU), led by meteorologist Philip Klotzbach.  The CSU forecast calls for a slightly below normal hurricane season but cautions there is a great deal of uncertainly as the forecast depends heavily on the likelihood of El Nino forming and how strong it might be. The warmer than normal ocean temperatures associated with El Nino are conducive to an active hurricane season.  The CSU forecast predicts 13 named storms to form during the 2023 season compared with the annual average of 14.4. Of …

Ghana has become the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine described as a “world changer” by scientists who developed it at the University of Oxford. The mosquito-spread parasitic disease kills more than 600,000 people every year. The majority are children in sub-Saharan Africa. A statement issued Wednesday by Oxford University says its new malaria vaccine called R21 has secured regulatory approval by Ghanaian officials for use in the age group at highest risk of death from malaria — children age 5-to-36 months. Malaria is an endemic disease in Ghana. The West African country’s health service says it accounts for 38% of all outpatients, with the most vulnerable groups being children younger than 5 years old. “We have tested a lot of vaccines — and to be here now, to have a vaccine that is being approved first for use in Ghana — is fantastic. It is what we’ve all been working hard towards,” said Dr. Katie Ewer, head of malaria immunology and professor of vaccine immunology at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford. Ewer said R21 has higher efficacy — about 75% in the data from the phase two trial. “We think perhaps the durability of the response has been better as well,” she said. Some hesitant to accept vaccine Ghana was one of three African countries in 2019 to have piloted the first malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S. But public acceptance of the vaccine, according to health officials, was somewhat below target due to hesitancy …

NASA opens the door to its Mars simulator. Plus, a private spaceflight contender gets knocked out, and the hooves of a beloved children’s character return to British soil. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …

The first image of a black hole captured four years ago revealed a fuzzy, fiery doughnut-shaped object. Now, researchers have used artificial intelligence to give that cosmic beauty shot a touch-up. The updated picture, published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, keeps the original shape, but with a skinnier ring and a sharper resolution. The image released in 2019 gave a peek at the enormous black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, 53 million light-years from Earth. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. It was made using data gathered by a network of radio telescopes around the world, showing swirling light and gas. But even with many telescopes working together, gaps remained in the data. In the latest study, scientists relied on the same data and used machine learning to fill in the missing pieces. The resulting picture looks similar to the original, but with a thinner “doughnut” and a darker center, researchers said. “For me, it feels like we’re really seeing it for the first time,” said lead author Lia Medeiros, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey. Medeiros said the team plans to use machine learning on other images of celestial objects, including possibly the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. …

A plan to legalize irrigation around the Donana wildlife reserve in southern Spain, one of Europe’s largest wetlands and a wintering location for migratory birds, has sparked an outcry during a prolonged drought. Andalusia’s conservative regional government wants to allow agricultural irrigation in five municipalities around Donana, saying the move poses no risk to the national park. The regional assembly, where the conservatives have a majority, on Wednesday voted in favor of proceeding with detailed studies of the proposal. During the debate, a lawmaker for the left-wing Adelante Andalucia party emptied a glass full of sand on regional leader Juanma Moreno’s vacant seat after accusing him of wanting to “dry up” Donana. ‘No water at all’ Scientists and the national government warn the park is in critical condition with lagoons drying out and biodiversity disappearing, and want a reduction in water extracted. “There is no water at all. It makes no sense to promise something that is not there,” Environment Minister Teresa Ribera said on Tuesday, vowing to take all possible legal measures to protect Donana from the move “that directly attacks one of the country’s most precious ecosystems.” While some irrigation is already allowed, many farmers use illegal wells that drain underwater reserves. The central government closed this week 220 illegal wells and plans to close hundreds more in the near future. The European Commision, which has already taken Spain to court for failure to protect the wetlands, warned last month the plan could lead to sanctions. Home to …

Electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday. The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states. The vaping company, which has laid off hundreds of employees, will pay $7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company violated West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act by marketing its products to underage users, the state’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday. Last month, the company paid Chicago $23.8 million to settle a lawsuit. Minnesota’s case against Juul went to trial last month with the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison asserting that the company “baited, deceived and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation.” Like some other settlements reached by Juul, this latest agreement includes various restrictions on the marketing, sale and distribution of the company’s vaping products. For example, it is barred from any direct or indirect marketing that targets young people, which includes anyone younger than 35. Juul is also required to limit the purchases customers can make in retail stores and online. “Juul lit a nationwide public health crisis by putting addictive products in the …

Hospitals in Cameroon are reporting an increase in cases of river blindness, a parasitic disease caused by bites from infected blackflies. Hundreds of aid workers have been dispatched to remote, riverside villages to encourage those infected to seek treatment.  In Sa’a district, 74 kilometers north of Cameroon’s capital of Yaounde, 45-year-old Jean Christophe Onana says he has not been able to recover his sight after receiving treatment from an African traditional healer for two months. He says he strongly believes that he has been bewitched by his enemies who are envious of last year’s abundant yield from his cocoa farm. Aid workers say Onana suffers from river blindness, a parasitic disease particularly prevalent in Africa, where 99% of all cases occur. Cameroon’s ministry of public health says that hospitals in Lekie, the administrative unit where Sa’a is located, have reported several hundred fresh cases of river blindness within the past three months.  The central African state’s government says the increase is in areas where there have been floods and where new farmland was opened near rivers, attracting settlers. Ophthalmologist Raoul Edgard Cheuteu, one of the aid workers in Sa’a, says humanitarian agencies and the government of Cameroon have decided to jointly equip the Sa’a district hospital and scores of other hospitals in areas where there is an increase in river blindness cases with standard tests for the diagnosis of the disease. Cheuteu says Onchocerciasis is increasing in Sa’a because of its many rivers that are breeding sites for blackflies that …

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032, a move it says could mean two out of every three new vehicles automakers sell will be electric within a decade. The proposal, if finalized, represents the most aggressive U.S. vehicle emissions reduction plan to date, requiring 13% annual average pollution cuts and a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements. The EPA is also proposing new stricter emissions standards for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks through 2032. The EPA projects the 2027-2032 model year rules would cut more than 9 billion tons of CO2 emissions through 2055 – equivalent to more than twice total U.S. CO2 emissions last year. Automakers and environmentalists say the administration is moving quickly in order to finalize new rules by early 2024 to make it much harder for a future Congress or president to reverse them. Then President Donald Trump rolled back tough emissions limits through 2025 set under Barack Obama but the Biden administration reversed the rollback. The agency estimates net benefits through 2055 from the proposal range from $850 billion to $1.6 trillion. By 2032 the proposal would cost about $1,200 per vehicle per manufacturer, but save an owner more than $9,000 on average on fuel, maintenance, and repair costs over an eight-year period.   “A lot has to go right for this massive – and unprecedented – change in our automotive market and industrial base to succeed,” said John Bozzella, …

The U.S. has named a veterinary tranquilizer as an “emerging threat” when it’s mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl, clearing the way for more efforts to stop the spread of xylazine. The Office of National Drug Control Policy announced the designation Wednesday, the first time the office has used it since the category for fast-growing drug dangers was created in 2019. Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the drug policy office, said xylazine has become increasingly common in all regions of the country. It was detected in about 800 drug deaths in the U.S. in 2020 — most of them in the Northeast. By 2021, it was present in more than 3,000 fatalities —with the most in the South — according to a report last year from the Drug Enforcement Administration. “We cannot ignore what we’re seeing,” Gupta said. “We must act and act now.” Xylazine was approved for veterinary use in 1971. Sometimes known as “tranq,” it’s been showing up in supplies of illicit drugs used by humans in major quantities in only the last several years. It’s believed to be added to other drugs to increase profits. Officials are trying to understand how much of it is diverted from veterinary uses and how much is made illicitly. The drug causes breathing and heart rates to slow down, sometimes to deadly levels, and causes skin abscesses and ulcers that can require amputation. Withdrawal is also painful. While it’s often used in conjunction with opioids, including fentanyl and related illicit lab-made …

U.S. health officials released data Tuesday showing how chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases have been accelerating, but doctors are hoping an old drug will help fight the sexually transmitted infections. Experts believe STDs have been rising because of declining condom use, inadequate sex education, and reduced testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans are infected each year. Rates are highest in men who have sex with men, and among Black and Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. “Sexually transmitted infections are an enormous, low-priority public health problem. And they’ve been a low-priority problem for decades, in spite of the fact that they are the most commonly reported kind of infectious disease,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., a retired health official who lectures at the Colorado School of Public Health. To try to turn the tide, many doctors see promise in doxycycline, a cheap antibiotic that has been sold for more than 50 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drafting recommendations for using it as a kind of morning-after pill for preventing STDs, said Dr. Leandro Mena, director of the agency’s STD prevention division. The drug is already used to treat a range of infections. A study published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine showed its potential to prevent sexually transmitted infections. In the study, about 500 gay men, bisexual men and transgender women in Seattle and San Francisco with previous STD infections took one doxycycline pill within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Those …

Even before he has dipped his toes into the murky waters of Paris ‘ famous but forbidden River Seine, French triathlete Thibaut Rigaudeau is already fielding questions from disbelieving friends. “Are you scared of swimming in the Seine?” he says they ask him. “It looks disgusting.’” For decades, it was. Though immortalized in art, literature and song, and cherished by lovers who whisper sweet nothings or tearfully part on the privacy of its banks, the river was ecologically dying. It was too toxic for most fish and for swimmers, largely useful only as a waterway for goods and people or as a watery grave for discarded bicycles and other trash. Swimming in the Seine has, with some exceptions, been off-limits since 1923. Now, however, its admittedly unappetizing green-brown waters hide a tale of rebirth. A costly and complex cleanup is resuscitating the Seine just in time for it to play a starring role in the 2024 Paris Olympics and, after that, for it to genuinely live up to its billing as the world’s most romantic river, one that’s actually fit again for people. And in a warming world, a renewed ability to take cooling dips in the river should help France’s capital remain livable during increasingly frequent heat waves. It possibly might also inspire other cities to invest in reclaiming their waterways. “It will create waves, so to speak, across the world because a lot of cities are watching Paris,” says Dan Angelescu, a scientist who is tracking the Seine’s …

The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency.  The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country’s economic, health and welfare systems. Some of the emergency measures have already been successfully wound down, while others are still being phased out. The public health emergency — it underpins tough immigration restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border — is set to expire on May 11.  The White House issued a one-line statement Monday saying Biden had signed the measure behind closed doors, after having publicly opposed the resolution though not to the point of issuing a veto. More than 197 Democrats in the House voted against it when the GOP-controlled chamber passed it in February. Last month, as the measure passed the Senate by a 68-23 vote, Biden let lawmakers know he would sign it.  The administration said once it became clear that Congress was moving to speed up the end of the national emergency it worked to expedite agency preparations for a return to normal procedures. Among the changes: The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s COVID-19 mortgage forbearance program is set to end at the end of May, and the Department of Veterans Affairs is now returning to a requirement for in-home visits to determine …

An international team of scientists is rushing to save West Africa’s Atlantic humpback dolphin, which environmental groups say has been pushed to the brink of extinction. In 1987, Senegal banned nylon monofilament fishing nets that threaten dolphins and other marine life, but critics say the government has failed to enforce the law. Annika Hammerschlag reports from Senegal’s Sine Saloum Delta. …

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has paused its practice of paying for emergency contraception — and in rare cases, abortions — for victims of sexual assault, a move that drew criticism from some victim advocates. Federal regulations and state law require Iowa to pay many of the expenses for sexual assault victims who seek medical help, such as the costs of forensic exams and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Under the previous attorney general, Democrat Tom Miller, Iowa’s victim compensation fund also paid for Plan B, the so-called morning after pill, as well as other treatments to prevent pregnancy. A spokeswoman for Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, who defeated Miller’s bid for an 11th term in November, told the Des Moines Register that those payments are now on hold as part of a review of victim services. “As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds,” Bird Press Secretary Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement. “Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed.”   Victim advocates were caught off guard by the pause. Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said in a statement that the move was “deplorable and reprehensible.” Bird’s decision comes as access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty following conflicting court rulings on Friday over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone. For now, …

Climate change, deforestation, and urbanization are some of the major risk factors behind the increasing number of outbreaks of viruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya around the world, warns a study by the World Health Organization.  The study says the incidence of infections caused by these mosquito-borne illnesses, which thrive in tropical and subtropical climates, have grown dramatically in recent decades.  The report says cases of dengue have increased from just over half a million globally in 2000 to 5.2 million in 2019.  And the trend continues.  The latest data show about half of the world’s population now is at risk of dengue, the most common viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people, with an estimated 100 to 400 million infections occurring every year.  “Right now, around 129 countries are at risk of dengue, and it is endemic in over 100 countries,” said Raman Velayudhan, unit head of WHOs global program on control of neglected tropical diseases coordinating dengue and arbovirus initiative.   He said dengue in South America alone is moving further south to countries such as Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay.  Climate change gives rise to increased precipitation, higher temperatures and higher humidity, conditions under which mosquitos thrive and multiply.  There is new research, which shows that even dry weather enables mosquitos to breed.  Scientists say dry weather makes mosquitos thirsty and when they become dehydrated, they want to feed on blood more often.  “This is really worrying because this shows that climate change has played a key …

A 17-meter-long said Sunday, making it the third whale that beached itself on the Indonesian island in just a little over a week.  The male sperm whale was found stranded on Yeh Leh beach in west Bali’s Jembrana district Saturday afternoon.  “We are currently trying to pull the carcass to the shore to make it easier for the necropsy test and we will bury it after the test is concluded,” Permana Yudiarso, a local marine and fisheries official, told AFP Sunday.  This is the third whale that has beached itself in Bali, a popular tourist destination for, in April alone.  On Wednesday, an 18-meter-long male sperm whale was stranded in Klungkung district, on Bali’s eastern coast.  Before that, a Bryde’s whale weighing more than two tons and at least 11 meters long was found stranded on a beach in Tabanan on April 1 — its carcass already rotted when discovered by locals.   Yudiarso told AFP that their initial suspicion is that the sperm whale found Saturday also died of sickness, “just like the whale found stranded a few days ago.”  “The body looked skinny and sickly,” he said.  Yudiarso said it would take at least three weeks for the necropsy test to be concluded but forensic experts found some bleeding in the whale’s lungs and its colon was filled with fluids.  Police have cordoned off the location to prevent people from stealing the mammal’s meat or body parts.  In 2018, a sperm whale was found dead in Indonesia with …

Qamar Ali Haji has been using skin-lightening products for four years. Initially she liked the change in her appearance but now the exposure to the chemicals in the products is taking a toll. She says she regrets it. “I can’t sit too long in the school, I cannot bear the heat, my cheeks turn red, and I cannot go into the kitchen,” Haji said. “I cannot bear the slightest heat, I become boiled, there are ulcers on my legs, redness all over.” The 19-year-old student is one of a growing number of women in Somalia who use the skin-lightening products. Locally known as “qasqas” or “mixture,” the term reflects the combination of various skin-whitening products. Health advocates say using these products can cause dangerous side effects and lead to physical and mental health problems. Somali officials and activists said the country’s political upheavals and the war on the al-Shabab militant group are overshadowing socially driven health dangers like skin-whitening. Due to a lack of awareness, some people don’t realize how dangerous these products can be. The issue has attracted the attention of Amira Adawe, a leading activist with a master’s degree in public health from Minnesota. Adawe has traveled to the Horn of Africa region multiple times in recent years as part of her research into the practice of skin-whitening. She is the founder of Beautywell, an organization that has been addressing this issue in the United States. Adawe said the skin-lightening products from Kenya and Somalia that she tested …

During the coronavirus pandemic, telemedicine became a virtual phenomenon. As people remained in their homes during the pandemic, they began chatting with their doctors over the phone or video platforms on subjects such as chronic disease management, ongoing medical support, mental health issues and specialty care. To reach their patients, many health professionals had to figure out quickly how to set up their first online systems for telemedicine, also known as telehealth. “Doctors hadn’t provided it as an option previously because the infrastructure and technology wasn’t widely available,” said Dr. Shira Fischer, a physician policy researcher at the RAND Corp., which has conducted surveys asking Americans whether they use telehealth. Fisher noted that in a February 2019 survey, less than 4% of the respondents said they used video telehealth. But two years later during the pandemic, that number had skyrocketed to 45%. “I think telehealth is great,” said Michael Wu, a restaurant manager who lives in Alexandria, Virginia. “When I have a cold or the flu, I don’t have to take time off work to go to the doctor’s office for an exam, and maybe to get medication. It’s easier for me to have a video appointment with my doctor using my cellphone.” Here to stay Many health professionals think telemedicine is here to stay. “Telehealth can be really useful,” Dr. Jack Resneck Jr., president of the American Medical Association, told VOA. “If you’re talking to a patient with diabetes, for instance, and you ask them about their diet, they …

With the whir of a mower under a clear blue sky, Senegalese researchers have begun harvesting a crop of experimental homegrown wheat, the latest step in a yearslong effort to reduce reliance on imports. The second-most consumed cereal after rice, wheat is an important staple in the bread-loving West African nation. But Senegal, like many of its neighbors, depends entirely on foreign supplies. It imports 800,000 metric tons of the grain per year. Its tropical climate is not naturally suited to wheat, but domestic trials have been underway for years. Supply chain problems, rising grain prices and inflation caused by the war in Ukraine have added urgency to the country’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. Four varieties Since late last week, researchers from the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research, a public research institute, have been harvesting four varieties of wheat on a demonstration plot in Sangalkam, 35 kilometers from the capital Dakar. Three of the varieties are Egyptian and the fourth was developed by the institute. It operates five demonstration plots in total, two near Dakar and three in the Senegal River Valley, and has tested hundreds of wheat varieties, Amadou Tidiane Sall, one of the researchers, told AFP. Not all thrive Many have proved unsuitable. The Sangalkam crop, one of several successful experiments by the institute, was sown in early January and matured in three months during Senegal’s cold season. Agriculture Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye visited the plot earlier this month. He said he had requested Egyptian seeds on a …

Changes in air patterns as the world warms will likely push more and nastier hurricanes up against the United States’ East and Gulf coasts, especially in Florida, a new study said. While other studies have projected how human-caused climate change will probably alter the frequency, strength and moisture of tropical storms, the study in Friday’s journal Science Advances focuses on where hurricanes are going. It’s all about projected changes in steering currents, said study lead author Karthik Balaguru, a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory climate scientist. “Along every coast they’re kind of pushing the storms closer to the U.S.,” Balaguru said. The steering currents move from south to north along the Gulf of Mexico; on the East Coast, the normal west-to-east steering is lessened considerably and can be more east-to-west, he said. Overall, in a worst-case warming scenario, the number of times a storm hits parts of the U.S. coast in general will probably increase by one-third by the end of the century, the study said, based on sophisticated climate and hurricane simulations, including a system researchers developed. The central and southern Florida Peninsula, which juts into the Atlantic, is projected to get even more of an increase in hurricanes hitting the coast, the study said. Climate scientists disagree on how useful it is to focus on the worst-case scenario as the new study does, because many calculations show the world has slowed its increase in carbon pollution. Balaguru said because his study looks more at steering changes than strength, the …

Dust off your eclipse glasses: It’s only a year until a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America.  On April 8, 2024, the moon will cast its shadow across a stretch of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, plunging millions of people into midday darkness.  It’s been less than six years since a total solar eclipse cut across the U.S., from coast to coast. That was on August 21, 2017.  If you miss next year’s spectacle, you’ll have to wait 20 years until the next one hits the U.S. But that total eclipse will be visible only in Montana and the Dakotas.  Here’s what to know to get ready for the 2024 show:  Where can I see it?  Next year’s eclipse will slice a diagonal line across North America on April 8, which falls on a Monday.  It will start in the Pacific and first reach land over Mexico around 11:07 a.m. local time, NASA predicts. Then, it’ll cross over into Texas and move across parts of the Midwest and Northeast in the afternoon.  All in all, it will hit parts of 13 U.S. states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Cities in its path include Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis; Cleveland and Buffalo, New York.  Parts of Canada, including Quebec and Newfoundland, will also get a glimpse before the eclipse heads out to sea in the early evening.  A total eclipse will be visible within a 115-mile-wide swath — the …

A growing number of state legislatures are considering bans on cosmetics and other consumer products that contain a group of synthetic, potentially harmful chemicals known as PFAS. In Vermont, the state Senate gave final approval this week to legislation that would prohibit manufacturers and suppliers from selling or distributing any cosmetics or menstrual products in the state that have perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, as well as a number of other chemicals. The products include shampoo, makeup, deodorant, sunscreen, hair dyes and more, said state Sen. Terry Williams, a Republican, and member of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare. “Many known toxic chemicals are used in or found as contaminants in personal care products, including PFAS, lead and formaldehyde,” Williams said in reporting the bill to Senate colleagues. California, Colorado and Maryland passed similar restrictions on cosmetics that go into effect in 2025. Other proposals are under consideration in Washington and Oregon while bills have also been introduced in Illinois, Rhode Island and Georgia. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, studies have linked PFAS exposure to increased cancer risk, developmental delays in children, damage to organs such as the liver and thyroid, increased cholesterol levels and reduced immune functions, especially among young children. Like in Colorado and California, the proposed Vermont crackdown on PFAS — known as “forever chemicals” for their persistence in the environment — goes beyond cosmetics. The bill, which now must be considered by the Vermont House, would extend the ban to apparel, including outdoor apparel …