Health & Safety

Left: A Kool cigarettes advertisement targeting Black communities for a sponsored event, the Kool Jazz Festival; Right: A Newport cigarettes ad targeting young Black customers.

How the tobacco industry targeted Black Americans with menthol smokes

10:14am April 29, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

The Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to ban menthol cigarettes, which the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed toward African Americans since 1964.

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Health & Safety

A review of the pandemic suggests Americans have lost interest in public health

5:13am April 29, 2022

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Ed Yong, a staff writer for The Atlantic who won a Pulitzer for his pandemic coverage, about the failed public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Food and Drug Administration says its proposal to ban menthol cigarettes has the potential to significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco by "reducing youth experimentation and addiction." Here, menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products

The FDA is proposing a ban on menthol cigarettes

6:09pm April 28, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

The agency says the proposal has the potential to significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco by "reducing youth experimentation and addiction."

California is considering safe injection centers to help alleviate overdose crisis

5:05pm April 28, 2022

by Lesley McClurg

California lawmakers are debating whether safe injection centers will help combat the overdose crisis. A new bill would establish facilities for drug use under the supervision of a health care worker.

FDA proposes menthol cigarette ban

4:51pm April 28, 2022

by Allison Aubrey

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing a ban on menthol cigarettes and all types of flavors in cigars. The agency says the ban would significantly reduce disease and death from tobacco.

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2 Shanghai residents share how they've handled the city's lockdown

4:51pm April 28, 2022

NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with two residents of a housing complex in Shanghai about how they have experienced the city's lockdown — which is approaching its sixth week.

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Video games could help treat cognitive disorders like depression and ADHD

4:40pm April 28, 2022

by Keller Gordon

Researchers are turning to a unexpected treatment for cognitive disorders: video games.

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Health & Safety

Rural NC hospitals struggling to find workers

4:27pm April 28, 2022

by Paul Garber

Some smaller hospitals are facing staff shortages that have caused administrators to change the way they provide care, speakers at a virtual town hall on the state of rural health care in North Car

Jerome Adams, who served as Trump's U.S. surgeon general, says he hopes that coming out of the pandemic, people can have a healthier respect for the scientific process.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams calls for masking 'compassion'

3:19pm April 28, 2022

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

The U.S. needs to ensure everyone has an equitable chance to protect themselves, and if people don't have that opportunity, they need to be able to rely on others to be compassionate, he says.

New funding will help North Carolina transition to 9-8-8 Suicide Prevention Lifeline number

10:34am April 28, 2022

by Neal Charnoff

A new federal grant will help North Carolina transition to a three-digit suicide prevention lifeline.