Public/Global Health

The Obama administration has launched an online tool to bolster research into links between climate change and health and inform “more effective responses.”

The interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program on Thursday unveiled its Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health (MATCH) platform.

“It is a publicly accessible digital platform for searching and integrating metadata ... extracted from more than 9,000 health, environment, and climate-science datasets held by six Federal agencies,” said Tom Armstrong, executive director of the interagency climate program, in a blog post.

The rollout dovetailed with President Obama’s order that directs federal agencies to make more data publicly accessible and easier to search, which The Hill's Ben Goad wrote about Thursday on our Hillicon Valley blog.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is launching an inquiry into a potentially dangerous stimulant used in dietary supplements sold by General Nutrition Centers (GNC).

Top lawmakers on the committee sent a series of letters Wednesday to federal regulators, GNC and USPlabs, maker of a dietary supplement known as Jack3d.

The powder is marketed as a workout enhancer and contains dimethylamylamine, a synthetic drug linked to several deaths. 

Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are calling for a speedy release of federal guidelines to reduce the amount of arsenic in fruit juice.

The two lawmakers pushed the White House budget office to release industry guidance on arsenic now under consideration from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"It is inexcusable that these guidelines are stalled while consumers continue to be exposed to potentially dangerous levels of arsenic," Pallone and DeLauro wrote. 

A new bipartisan Senate bill seeks to combat drug-resistant disease by requiring federal health officials to enhance reporting of antibiotic use in agriculture.

The measure would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to report antibiotic sales data "publicly, comprehensively and predictably," according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"This bill is critical to helping us understand how antibiotic overuse on industrial farms is affecting human health," says Laura Rogers, director of Pew’s campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.

Sen. Rockefeller wrote to executives of three major cruise lines asking about their standards and the industry's role in the economy.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is bringing back a bill to fight breast cancer with a new commission to identify prevention and treatment strategies for the disease.

The measure, "Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act," is designed to help end breast cancer by 2020, Whitehouse said.

"Breast cancer continues to affect too many of our mothers, wives, sisters, and friends," the Rhode Island Democrat said in a statement. "This bill … will help drive our efforts to put an end to this tragic disease." 

Federal health officials are calling for new attention on suicide in middle age after finding that more U.S. adults are taking their own lives.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported Thursday that the rate of middle-aged suicide has risen "substantially" in the last decade and now surpasses the rate of car crash deaths.

The agency speculated that the recent economic downturn and the wider availability of opioid prescription drugs may be responsible for the trend.

The American public handed over 371 tons of prescription drugs to the government this past weekend.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) collected the unused, expired and unwanted pharmaceuticals, equaling about nine tractor-trailer trucks, from more than 5,800 nationwide locations as part of its sixth scheduled National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

Saturday's haul collected 50 percent more pills than the previous event, which the agency pointed to as a sign of support for the program.

Gun violence will be back on the agenda Tuesday as members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) climb Capitol Hill to push for more robust gun control measures.

About 110 pediatricians from 40 states will meet with congressional staff during the fly-in, according to the AAP.

The group will advocate for stronger background checks, an assault weapons ban, and federal research on gun violence prevention. 

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