Engaging with the arts is not an indulgence or an afterthought-it is part of the infrastructure of health. Just as we invest in clean water, nutrition and safe housing, we must invest in cultural participation as a determinant of wellbeing.
Signed by more than 1,200 health professionals including doctors, nurses and public health directors, the letter stresses that the bill is urgently needed. The chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, Hazel Cheeseman, said: Every week, thousands of young people become trapped in a cycle of deadly addiction that will shorten their lives. Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product, killing more than half of long-term users. Politicians can protect future generations by passing this truly gamechanging legislation.
The Maldives began implementing a smoking ban on anyone born after January 2007, becoming the only country with a generational prohibition on tobacco, according to its health ministry. The move, which was initiated by the president, Mohamed Muizzu, earlier this year and came into effect on 1 November, will protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation, the ministry said.
Getty Images Parents are being urged to get their children vaccinated against flu over half-term as the NHS warned of rising cases of the disease. There is an early flu season, health officials say, and the latest data for England showed cases and hospitalisations were increasing. NHS England said many school children will have already received the vaccine at school but there are still options for those who have not, including pop-up clinics.
Bacon and ham sold in the UK should carry cigarette-style labels warning that chemicals in them cause bowel cancer, scientists say. Their demand comes as they criticise successive British governments for doing virtually nothing to reduce the risk from nitrites in the decade since they were found to definitely cause cancer. Saturday marks a decade since the World Health Organization in October 2015 declared processed meat to be carcinogenic to humans, putting it in the same category as tobacco and asbestos.
Only one prosecution for illegal wood burning has been made in the past year despite 15,195 complaints across England, data shows. Additionally, just 24 fines were issued by local authorities between September 2024 and August 2025, responses to freedom of information requests by the campaign group Mums for Lungs revealed. In smoke control areas alone, 9,274 complaints were made a 65% increase on the previous year.
It's been more than six decades since New York City banned the use of lead paint in residential buildings-one of the first cities in the nation to do so, recognizing the health risks it posed, particularly for children. But the age of the city's housing stock means lead paint is still a presence: last year, 4,655 New York City children under the age of 6 tested positive for elevated lead levels in their blood, according to public data.
Travellers are advised to watch out for signs of methanol poisoning such as blurry vision and confusion, which can lead to serious illness and death. Methanol is an industrial chemical found in antifreeze and windscreen washer fluid. It is not meant for human consumption and is highly toxic. But there have been instances of unscrupulous backyard brewers adding methanol to drinks to make them go further, and some bars and street sellers mixing it with spirit-based drinks and cocktails to cut costs.
After the success of the polio vaccine campaign in the 1950s, vaccine researchers developed individual vaccines from 1963-1969 against three viruses-measles, mumps, and rubella-that were associated with birth defects, infertility, deafness, and death. In 1971, a combined vaccine (MMR) was introduced, and vaccine uptake in children increased dramatically. Parents preferred a combination vaccine, because it meant fewer injections and fewer clinic visits, and pediatricians preferred it because it simplified vaccine ordering and storage. Illness from these three viruses fell dramatically.
Last year's flu season was the worst California had seen in years - and state health officials warn this year could potentially be just as bad. While forecasting disease isn't an exact science, there are some troubling signs. In Asia, the flu has made an early comeback, and quickly swelled to epidemic proportions in Japan and Taiwan. And stateside, some experts are sounding the alarm about continued lower uptake of the flu vaccine. There's also the possibility of a seasonal COVID-19 wave - the likes of which didn't materialize last winter, but had been commonplace since the pandemic - as well as a simultaneous rise in respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
The shutdown of the US government, about to enter its third week, is starting to take a toll on US science. Since the shutdown began, the administration of US President Donald Trump has cancelled funding for clean-energy research projects and laid off public-health workers. The activities of some federally funded museums and laboratories have been suspended, along with the processing of grant applications by agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF).
But the shakeup has former leaders of the program, and mothers who participated, raising alarms. "There are so many women who went through this program because they trusted and knew Dr. Bev and any of the referrals she gave. Putting someone in there they don't know - it will be like starting over again," Alma Burrell, who formerly managed the program as a county employee for two decades, told San José Spotlight.
Hundreds of federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration's mass firings over the weekend, current and laid-off workers said Monday, as the administration aimed to pressure Democratic lawmakers to give in and end the nearly two-week-long government shutdown. The government-wide reduction-in-force initiative that began Friday roiled the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
7-OH, which is short for 7-hydroxymitragynine, is a powerful opioid related to the drug kratom that's often sold in candy-flavored pills. Rivers first noticed 7-OH at a gas station five minutes away from his family's Bay Area house and bought it out of curiosity. Immediately hooked, he returned the following day for more. Within three months, he had spent over $5,000 on 7-OH, as he quickly developed a tolerance and had to take more and more to get the relief he was looking for, and was in a deep stage of addiction.
