Tuesday, June 25, 2024

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1/ The U.S. surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis. In a first-of-its-kind advisory, Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that gun violence poses a “serious threat to the health and well-being of our country.” The 39-page advisory underscores the physical and mental toll of gun violence and called on Congress to pass laws to require safe and secure firearm storage, implement universal background checks, ban assault weapons and large capacity magazines for civilian use, increase mental health care, and regulate the safety of firearms like any other consumer products. “Gun violence has now become the leading cause of death among kids and teens,” Murthy said. More than 4,600 deaths under the age of 19 were caused by gun violence in 2022, 54% of adults say they or a relative have experienced a firearm-related incident, nearly 80% of adults report being anxious about the prospect of a mass shooting, and more than a third of adults say they don’t go to certain places or events for fear of being shot. About 60% of Americans are worried about losing someone they care about to gun violence. “For too long, this issue has been mired in polarization and politics, but our goal, my goal, is to take this issue out of the realm of politics and put it into the realm of public health, which is where it belongs,” Murthy said, adding that “a deep sense of fear” now pervades American society. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Axios / STAT News)

2/ After Texas’ ban on abortion went into effect, infant deaths in the state increased by nearly 13%. In the rest of the country, infant mortality increased less than 2% over the same period, according to the new study out of Johns Hopkins University. Texas Senate Bill 8 took effect on Sept. 1, 2021, and prohibits abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which can be as early as five weeks, with no exceptions for incest, rape or fetal abnormalities. Previously, abortion was allowed until 20 weeks. “This is pointing to a causal effect of the policy; we didn’t see this increase in infant deaths in other states,” said Alison Gemmill, who led the research. “These findings suggest that restrictive abortion policies may have important unintended consequences in terms of infant health and the associated trauma to families and medical costs.” (

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