harms

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Alcohol’s Harms Are Easy To Document, But Health Benefits Hard To Prove

Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world, including in the United States. About 70 percent of adults in the United States report past-year alcohol consumption, with over 37 million drinkers reporting binge drinking (defined for women as four or more drinks per occasion, and five or more drinks per occasion for men) at least once a week. The prevalence of past-year drinking has increased in the past two decades, from 65.4 percent in 2001 to 2002 to 72.7 percent in 2012 to 2013. Partially because it is such a commonly used substance, heavily marketed and glamorized in pop culture, Americans’ comfort with and acceptance of alcohol is high. Should it be? I research alcohol use and the associations between drinking and a wide range of problems. While the rising opioid epidemic has ...

E-Cigarettes Get FDA Approval: Essential Reads On The Harms And Benefits Of Vaping

Matt Williams, The Conversation After being on the U.S. market for around 15 years, an e-cigarette has, for the first time, been authorized for sale by the Food and Drug Administration. The government agency announced on Oct. 12, 2021, that three products from the vaping company Vuse had been given the green light to be marketed, along with one device in which the approved cartridges are placed. Although limited in scope – the authorization only relates to tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and not the wider range of flavors that critics say are aimed at younger consumers – the move by the FDA is seen as a major development for the vaping industry. Many manufacturers of e-cigarettes are currently in a state of limbo, with their products still awaiting official authorization. The FDA said th...

Reparations Should Cover Past Harms And Current Value Of Slavery-Built Infrastructure That Still Creates Wealth In US

American cities from Atlanta to New York City still use buildings, roads, ports and rail lines built by enslaved people. The fact that centuries-old relics of slavery still support the economy of the United States suggests that reparations for slavery would need to go beyond government payments to the ancestors of enslaved people to account for profit-generating, slave-built infrastructure. Debates about compensating Black Americans for slavery began soon after the Civil War, in the 1860s, with promises of “40 acres and a mule.” A national conversation about reparations has reignited in recent decades. The definition of reparations varies, but most advocates envision it as a two-part reckoning that acknowledges the role slavery played in building the country and directs resources to the ...