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"content": "\u003cp>A new, large-scale study linking cannabis consumption with increased risk of heart attacks and strokes has prompted Bay Area researchers to call for heightened clinical screening and regulation of the legal marijuana market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://press.psprings.co.uk/heart/june/heart325429.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The meta analysis (PDF)\u003c/a>, published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal’s \u003ci>Heart\u003c/i>, compiled research results from 24 studies published over six years and found cannabis users face a 20% higher risk of stroke, 29% higher risk of heart attack, and double the risk of cardiovascular death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With legalization came a false perception that cannabis might be a safe, natural wellness product, and that if you take it for pain or for sleep, there’s no risk,” said Dr. Lynn Silver, a pediatrician and researcher at the nonprofit Public Health Institute in Oakland. “That’s just not the case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers evaluated published studies that mostly excluded people who use tobacco, minimizing a common confounding factor in isolating cardiovascular risk of cannabis, but they were imprecise in measuring how people consumed cannabis and how often. While research suggests smoking pot may present more severe health problems than ingesting it, more studies are needed to clarify how to attribute risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11993601 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2018/07/RS28656_GettyImages-91997107-qut-1180x787.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growing body of scientific evidence raises concerns and is enough to warrant more clinical screening for cannabis use among “patients presenting with serious cardiovascular disorders,” the study authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silver and Stanton Glantz, a retired UCSF professor and renowned tobacco researcher, went even further in \u003ca href=\"http://press.psprings.co.uk/heart/june/heart326169.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an editorial published alongside the study (PDF)\u003c/a>, arguing that doctors should screen and educate all patients about the health risks, particularly in light of the fact that cannabis use among 35–50-year-olds — the age range when cardiovascular disease begins to develop — has tripled since 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rate of adults who use cannabis daily is now on par with those who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before we were seeing a wisp of smoke that there was cardiovascular risk,” Silver said. “That became a cloud of smoke. Now we’re starting to see signs of a wildfire of a more serious problem, with pretty consistent evidence emerging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing cannabis consumption should not only become part of the medical framework for how clinicians prevent heart disease and stroke, Silver and Glantz wrote, but preventing heart disease and stroke should also be part of how states regulate cannabis markets. They called for health warning labels on cannabis products, restrictions on marketing, and limits on product potency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today regulation is focused on establishing the legal market with woeful neglect of minimizing health risks,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A new, large-scale study linking cannabis consumption with increased risk of heart attacks and strokes has prompted Bay Area researchers to call for heightened clinical screening and regulation of the legal marijuana market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://press.psprings.co.uk/heart/june/heart325429.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The meta analysis (PDF)\u003c/a>, published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal’s \u003ci>Heart\u003c/i>, compiled research results from 24 studies published over six years and found cannabis users face a 20% higher risk of stroke, 29% higher risk of heart attack, and double the risk of cardiovascular death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With legalization came a false perception that cannabis might be a safe, natural wellness product, and that if you take it for pain or for sleep, there’s no risk,” said Dr. Lynn Silver, a pediatrician and researcher at the nonprofit Public Health Institute in Oakland. “That’s just not the case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers evaluated published studies that mostly excluded people who use tobacco, minimizing a common confounding factor in isolating cardiovascular risk of cannabis, but they were imprecise in measuring how people consumed cannabis and how often. While research suggests smoking pot may present more severe health problems than ingesting it, more studies are needed to clarify how to attribute risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growing body of scientific evidence raises concerns and is enough to warrant more clinical screening for cannabis use among “patients presenting with serious cardiovascular disorders,” the study authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silver and Stanton Glantz, a retired UCSF professor and renowned tobacco researcher, went even further in \u003ca href=\"http://press.psprings.co.uk/heart/june/heart326169.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an editorial published alongside the study (PDF)\u003c/a>, arguing that doctors should screen and educate all patients about the health risks, particularly in light of the fact that cannabis use among 35–50-year-olds — the age range when cardiovascular disease begins to develop — has tripled since 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rate of adults who use cannabis daily is now on par with those who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before we were seeing a wisp of smoke that there was cardiovascular risk,” Silver said. “That became a cloud of smoke. Now we’re starting to see signs of a wildfire of a more serious problem, with pretty consistent evidence emerging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing cannabis consumption should not only become part of the medical framework for how clinicians prevent heart disease and stroke, Silver and Glantz wrote, but preventing heart disease and stroke should also be part of how states regulate cannabis markets. They called for health warning labels on cannabis products, restrictions on marketing, and limits on product potency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today regulation is focused on establishing the legal market with woeful neglect of minimizing health risks,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "this-oakland-block-tried-to-quit-fossil-fuels-heres-what-they-learned",
"title": "This Oakland Block Tried to Quit Fossil Fuels. Here’s What They Learned",
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"headTitle": "This Oakland Block Tried to Quit Fossil Fuels. Here’s What They Learned | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Just before the 2019 holiday season, musician Isaac Zones got an \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/oakland-ecoblock-looking-for-interested-neighborhoods/\">email\u003c/a>, forwarded from a friend. It asked, “Do you and your neighbors want to save money on your energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and survive the next power outage?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His answer was, well, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically, I read it as like free solar for everybody on my block,” Zones said. Zones lives on an East Oakland street lined with century-old single-family Victorians, mid-century, boxy apartment buildings and everything in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984963/electric-avenue-one-oakland-blocks-improbable-journey-to-ditch-gas\">The initiative, headed by researchers at UC Berkeley, invited entire neighborhoods to apply for major upgrades\u003c/a>: energy- and water-efficient appliances, insulation and solar panels, along with a shared back-up battery and microgrid to protect the street from power blackouts. All for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In return, the researchers would get to test out a theory: would retrofitting buildings together, all at once, save money by buying in bulk? Would it save time for a contractor to walk from one job across the street to another? Would people even want to sign up?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project would tackle a significant but overlooked issue: the planet-warming pollution that comes from buildings and the energy they use. In the U.S., that’s roughly \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/commercial-and-residential-sector-emissions\">one-third\u003c/a> of all emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A way to cut that pollution is to wean buildings off fossil fuels like natural gas and swap out gas appliances for electric ones. But doing this home by home and business by business is expensive and slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Therese Peffer, a researcher from UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment CITRIS Climate initiative, helps neighbors plant trees on a block in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2025. The block is part of EcoBlock, a collaborative project bringing together academics, professionals, government agencies, utilities, private donors and residents. The initiative aims to help an entire city block reduce emissions through insulation upgrades, electric appliances and solar panels. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So researchers at UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment set out to study if there was another way to slash pollution from buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They felt there was already enough attention on how to construct new buildings for a warmer world. “New construction is easy, right? It’s sexy and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is,” said Therese Peffer, who heads the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country,” Peffer said — the millions of offices, warehouses, restaurants and homes we already have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, Peffer and her colleagues at UC Berkeley got a \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/CEC-500-2020-009-AP.pdf\">$5 million grant\u003c/a> from the state of California to test out a new, block-scale approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Isaac Zones was ready to sign his block up as the guinea pig.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting neighbors on board\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Isaac Zones and his wife, Vivian Santana Pacheco, had always cared about the environment, but their passion grew after they had their child, now in elementary school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want this world to be a habitable one for him,” Santana Pacheco said. “Already, I feel like we’re behind, and that I’m not doing enough. This feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983903\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Issac Zones (left) and Vivian Santana-Pacheco (right) stand for a portrait in front of their electric vehicle in Oakland, California, on Aug. 11, 2023. The couple is a part of a group of neighbors in Oakland that are beginning to electrify their home appliances. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The pair went door to door, selling neighbors on the project, called “EcoBlock.” The task wasn’t unfamiliar: they’d gone door-knocking after moving to the block almost a decade ago. But that time it was to invite people out for a block party, which has since become an annual tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asking neighbors to come out for a beer is different than asking them to overhaul their largest asset, but Santana Pacheco and Zones had a lot of success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents were immediately game: they wanted air conditioning to deal with California’s increasing heat waves, and they valued how the project prioritized a low and middle-income neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, Santana Pacheco and Zones convinced 15 out of the 25 properties on the block to sign on.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The holdouts\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So, who didn’t want to be part of EcoBlock?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Johnson lives in a white Victorian that’s been in his family for almost 100 years. He’s a retired contractor and spent decades remodeling his home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m 70 years old. I just didn’t want to go through a lot of new construction all over again because I really don’t need it,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995170\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995170\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steven Johnson stands in his kitchen in Oakland on Nov. 13, 2024. Johnson decided against participating in the EcoBlock project. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His energy bills are incredibly low already, and he thinks there are other ways to tackle planet-warming pollution; things like aviation fuel and shipping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, he isn’t ready to give up all fossil fuels just yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just can’t imagine not cooking on gas. And the whole EcoBlock wanted to take away the gas,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was a major goal of the project — weaning homes off natural gas, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane#:~:text=Methane%20is%20the%20second%20most,trapping%20heat%20in%20the%20atmosphere.\">powerful climate pollutant\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other people who opted out of the project had done unpermitted work on their homes, and feared they’d get in trouble with the city. And some people felt distrustful of an outside institution leading the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EcoBlock faced other hurdles: a pandemic, supply chain issues and inflation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As prices rose, the project shrank. Instead of an all-electric utopia, EcoBlock would mostly address the biggest sources of a home’s pollution: heating and cooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Workers, workers everywhere\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Finally, in 2024, construction began.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, there were workers everywhere, blowing insulation into walls, replacing HVAC systems and installing solar panels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had this joke on the block: who’s getting the porta party in front of their house? That’s how we know who’s getting construction done,” Zones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salalai Vongsy, a contractor with Eco Performance Builders, works in Jesse Hassinger’s home in Oakland on Nov. 13, 2024, as part of the EcoBlock project. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, five-and-a-half years after the block signed on, the work is almost done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighbors are reveling in their new comforts: new heating and cooling, insulation, bathroom fans to improve air circulation, solar panels, new roofs to support them and more. The block has also had a facelift, with chunks of sidewalk concrete ripped up and trees and native plants put in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several more ambitious aspects of the project were scrapped along the way due to funding and feasibility limitations: a shared back-up battery, a community microgrid and a shared electric vehicle and charger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But residents ultimately seem grateful for their upgrades and for having an outside entity coordinate all the details for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Did it work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Now that the first EcoBlock is near completion: Did Therese Peffer and her colleagues’ theory work? Is upgrading a whole block faster and cheaper than going house by house?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer’s takeaway: yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is why, and what they’ve learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1995320 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Corlett stands next to a newly installed heat pump at his home in Oakland on Nov. 13, 2024, as part of the EcoBlock project. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Costs\u003c/strong>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>This pilot project was far more expensive than future ones. \u003c/strong>The EcoBlock pilot cost $8 million, funded by a state grant and a private donor. But that included the cost of all kinds of experts, and parts of the project that were designed but never used.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Peffer thinks the next attempt would cost just a third of that, and go much faster. “It takes that first time of kicking the tires and trying to break things to kind of lay that pathway for the next one,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Buying in bulk saves money.\u003c/strong> Peffer estimates EcoBlock saved 10-20% on bulk purchases of equipment like appliances, wires and electric panels. They were also able to get more competitive bids from contractors, because multiple homes needed work.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Return on investment for energy efficiency for low-income residents faces an unexpected hurdle.\u003c/strong> Many low-income residents have discounted energy rates and/or relatively low energy use, which means the timeline for the return on investment for energy efficiency improvements can be prohibitively long, according to the California Energy Commission.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003col start=\"2\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Proximity of buildings helps, but being on the same street might not be so important.\u003c/strong> The project contractor, Keith O’Hara, who heads Eco Performance Builders, said his crews saved time by being able to use the last few hours of a day to cross a street and start on a new project, or simply to help another crew carry a heavy appliance. But if a full block isn’t attempting to remove all gas appliances from their homes with the goal of removing a gas main beneath their road, they don’t necessarily need to be on the same block. “I just think it’s really hard to get all those people on the block to agree,” O’Hara said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1996563 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/04/250321-VIRTUALPOWERPLANT-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Instead, O’Hara said, homes could be in the same general area as one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003col start=\"3\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>You don’t need to overhaul everything. \u003c/strong>While this project had lofty goals, Peffer thinks future EcoBlocks could focus on smaller, more manageable upgrades. “Maybe it’s bulk purchasing. Like, ‘I want an induction stove, do you want an induction stove? Let’s go in together and see if we can get a 10% discount,’” she said.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>It all hinges on the neighbors. \u003c/strong>Neighbors are crucial to the success of a project like this in several ways:\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>The neighbors need to be committed.\u003c/strong> EcoBlock attempted to do these upgrades on a different Oakland block at first, one that did not raise its hand for the project, and that attempt ended in failure. But having a block volunteer made for much greater buy-in and patience when obstacles came up.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>It helps to have a neighborhood where there is already some sense of camaraderie.\u003c/strong> Because Santana Pacheco and Zones had built ties through an annual block party, they’d already established a baseline of trust among neighbors, which “made it easier for folks to take a leap of faith and not get completely discouraged through all the ups and downs,” Zones reflected.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">If you don’t have a sense of trust among your neighbors, the first step is to build that: share fruit from your backyard tree, host a gathering or start a group chat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>The best publicist for a project like this is your neighbor.\u003c/strong> Because your neighbor can better understand your specific interests, they may speak your language or have some other cultural similarity.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">“Also because we are sticking it out and probably have as much to lose as they do,” Santana Pacheco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Friends and neighbors plant trees on their block in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2025. The block is part of EcoBlock, a collaborative project bringing together academics, professionals, government agencies, utilities, private donors and residents. The initiative aims to help an entire city block reduce emissions through insulation upgrades, electric appliances and solar panels. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Group projects help increase buy-in.\u003c/strong> One of the major project funders, the California Energy Commission, reported that aspects of the project, which brought the block together, such as planned tree plantings, increased engagement.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The final EcoBlock solar panels are slated to turn on in the fall. After gathering data about costs and electricity use for some time, Peffer and her team will have more detailed lessons to share, including guides for other blocks to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, though, it is the desire people have to build community that has stuck with residents and researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s “something about tapping into a community and strengthening the real relationships with good people, not the Facebook relationships or Instagram or whatever,” Peffer said. “The door to door, the face to face, the people that pass you day to day on the street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Zones, the project has meant a lot as he considers how to tackle climate change, which often feels overwhelming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So much of it seems like a string of losses. And this felt like a victory of some kind,” Zones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "This Oakland Block Tried to Quit Fossil Fuels. Here’s What They Learned | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Just before the 2019 holiday season, musician Isaac Zones got an \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/oakland-ecoblock-looking-for-interested-neighborhoods/\">email\u003c/a>, forwarded from a friend. It asked, “Do you and your neighbors want to save money on your energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and survive the next power outage?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His answer was, well, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically, I read it as like free solar for everybody on my block,” Zones said. Zones lives on an East Oakland street lined with century-old single-family Victorians, mid-century, boxy apartment buildings and everything in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984963/electric-avenue-one-oakland-blocks-improbable-journey-to-ditch-gas\">The initiative, headed by researchers at UC Berkeley, invited entire neighborhoods to apply for major upgrades\u003c/a>: energy- and water-efficient appliances, insulation and solar panels, along with a shared back-up battery and microgrid to protect the street from power blackouts. All for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In return, the researchers would get to test out a theory: would retrofitting buildings together, all at once, save money by buying in bulk? Would it save time for a contractor to walk from one job across the street to another? Would people even want to sign up?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project would tackle a significant but overlooked issue: the planet-warming pollution that comes from buildings and the energy they use. In the U.S., that’s roughly \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/commercial-and-residential-sector-emissions\">one-third\u003c/a> of all emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A way to cut that pollution is to wean buildings off fossil fuels like natural gas and swap out gas appliances for electric ones. But doing this home by home and business by business is expensive and slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-16-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Therese Peffer, a researcher from UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment CITRIS Climate initiative, helps neighbors plant trees on a block in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2025. The block is part of EcoBlock, a collaborative project bringing together academics, professionals, government agencies, utilities, private donors and residents. The initiative aims to help an entire city block reduce emissions through insulation upgrades, electric appliances and solar panels. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So researchers at UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment set out to study if there was another way to slash pollution from buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They felt there was already enough attention on how to construct new buildings for a warmer world. “New construction is easy, right? It’s sexy and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is,” said Therese Peffer, who heads the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country,” Peffer said — the millions of offices, warehouses, restaurants and homes we already have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, Peffer and her colleagues at UC Berkeley got a \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/CEC-500-2020-009-AP.pdf\">$5 million grant\u003c/a> from the state of California to test out a new, block-scale approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Isaac Zones was ready to sign his block up as the guinea pig.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting neighbors on board\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Isaac Zones and his wife, Vivian Santana Pacheco, had always cared about the environment, but their passion grew after they had their child, now in elementary school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want this world to be a habitable one for him,” Santana Pacheco said. “Already, I feel like we’re behind, and that I’m not doing enough. This feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983903\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67844_20230810-BlossomStreet-13-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Issac Zones (left) and Vivian Santana-Pacheco (right) stand for a portrait in front of their electric vehicle in Oakland, California, on Aug. 11, 2023. The couple is a part of a group of neighbors in Oakland that are beginning to electrify their home appliances. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The pair went door to door, selling neighbors on the project, called “EcoBlock.” The task wasn’t unfamiliar: they’d gone door-knocking after moving to the block almost a decade ago. But that time it was to invite people out for a block party, which has since become an annual tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asking neighbors to come out for a beer is different than asking them to overhaul their largest asset, but Santana Pacheco and Zones had a lot of success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents were immediately game: they wanted air conditioning to deal with California’s increasing heat waves, and they valued how the project prioritized a low and middle-income neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, Santana Pacheco and Zones convinced 15 out of the 25 properties on the block to sign on.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The holdouts\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So, who didn’t want to be part of EcoBlock?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Johnson lives in a white Victorian that’s been in his family for almost 100 years. He’s a retired contractor and spent decades remodeling his home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m 70 years old. I just didn’t want to go through a lot of new construction all over again because I really don’t need it,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995170\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995170\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-63-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steven Johnson stands in his kitchen in Oakland on Nov. 13, 2024. Johnson decided against participating in the EcoBlock project. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His energy bills are incredibly low already, and he thinks there are other ways to tackle planet-warming pollution; things like aviation fuel and shipping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, he isn’t ready to give up all fossil fuels just yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just can’t imagine not cooking on gas. And the whole EcoBlock wanted to take away the gas,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was a major goal of the project — weaning homes off natural gas, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane#:~:text=Methane%20is%20the%20second%20most,trapping%20heat%20in%20the%20atmosphere.\">powerful climate pollutant\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other people who opted out of the project had done unpermitted work on their homes, and feared they’d get in trouble with the city. And some people felt distrustful of an outside institution leading the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EcoBlock faced other hurdles: a pandemic, supply chain issues and inflation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As prices rose, the project shrank. Instead of an all-electric utopia, EcoBlock would mostly address the biggest sources of a home’s pollution: heating and cooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Workers, workers everywhere\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Finally, in 2024, construction began.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, there were workers everywhere, blowing insulation into walls, replacing HVAC systems and installing solar panels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had this joke on the block: who’s getting the porta party in front of their house? That’s how we know who’s getting construction done,” Zones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/11/241113-ECOBLOCKFOLLOWUP-59-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salalai Vongsy, a contractor with Eco Performance Builders, works in Jesse Hassinger’s home in Oakland on Nov. 13, 2024, as part of the EcoBlock project. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, five-and-a-half years after the block signed on, the work is almost done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighbors are reveling in their new comforts: new heating and cooling, insulation, bathroom fans to improve air circulation, solar panels, new roofs to support them and more. The block has also had a facelift, with chunks of sidewalk concrete ripped up and trees and native plants put in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several more ambitious aspects of the project were scrapped along the way due to funding and feasibility limitations: a shared back-up battery, a community microgrid and a shared electric vehicle and charger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But residents ultimately seem grateful for their upgrades and for having an outside entity coordinate all the details for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Did it work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Now that the first EcoBlock is near completion: Did Therese Peffer and her colleagues’ theory work? Is upgrading a whole block faster and cheaper than going house by house?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer’s takeaway: yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is why, and what they’ve learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1995320 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/241113-EcoBlockFollowup-11-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Corlett stands next to a newly installed heat pump at his home in Oakland on Nov. 13, 2024, as part of the EcoBlock project. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Costs\u003c/strong>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>This pilot project was far more expensive than future ones. \u003c/strong>The EcoBlock pilot cost $8 million, funded by a state grant and a private donor. But that included the cost of all kinds of experts, and parts of the project that were designed but never used.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Peffer thinks the next attempt would cost just a third of that, and go much faster. “It takes that first time of kicking the tires and trying to break things to kind of lay that pathway for the next one,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Buying in bulk saves money.\u003c/strong> Peffer estimates EcoBlock saved 10-20% on bulk purchases of equipment like appliances, wires and electric panels. They were also able to get more competitive bids from contractors, because multiple homes needed work.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Return on investment for energy efficiency for low-income residents faces an unexpected hurdle.\u003c/strong> Many low-income residents have discounted energy rates and/or relatively low energy use, which means the timeline for the return on investment for energy efficiency improvements can be prohibitively long, according to the California Energy Commission.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003col start=\"2\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Proximity of buildings helps, but being on the same street might not be so important.\u003c/strong> The project contractor, Keith O’Hara, who heads Eco Performance Builders, said his crews saved time by being able to use the last few hours of a day to cross a street and start on a new project, or simply to help another crew carry a heavy appliance. But if a full block isn’t attempting to remove all gas appliances from their homes with the goal of removing a gas main beneath their road, they don’t necessarily need to be on the same block. “I just think it’s really hard to get all those people on the block to agree,” O’Hara said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Instead, O’Hara said, homes could be in the same general area as one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003col start=\"3\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>You don’t need to overhaul everything. \u003c/strong>While this project had lofty goals, Peffer thinks future EcoBlocks could focus on smaller, more manageable upgrades. “Maybe it’s bulk purchasing. Like, ‘I want an induction stove, do you want an induction stove? Let’s go in together and see if we can get a 10% discount,’” she said.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>It all hinges on the neighbors. \u003c/strong>Neighbors are crucial to the success of a project like this in several ways:\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>The neighbors need to be committed.\u003c/strong> EcoBlock attempted to do these upgrades on a different Oakland block at first, one that did not raise its hand for the project, and that attempt ended in failure. But having a block volunteer made for much greater buy-in and patience when obstacles came up.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>It helps to have a neighborhood where there is already some sense of camaraderie.\u003c/strong> Because Santana Pacheco and Zones had built ties through an annual block party, they’d already established a baseline of trust among neighbors, which “made it easier for folks to take a leap of faith and not get completely discouraged through all the ups and downs,” Zones reflected.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">If you don’t have a sense of trust among your neighbors, the first step is to build that: share fruit from your backyard tree, host a gathering or start a group chat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>The best publicist for a project like this is your neighbor.\u003c/strong> Because your neighbor can better understand your specific interests, they may speak your language or have some other cultural similarity.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">“Also because we are sticking it out and probably have as much to lose as they do,” Santana Pacheco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/250126-EcoBlock-04-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Friends and neighbors plant trees on their block in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2025. The block is part of EcoBlock, a collaborative project bringing together academics, professionals, government agencies, utilities, private donors and residents. The initiative aims to help an entire city block reduce emissions through insulation upgrades, electric appliances and solar panels. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Group projects help increase buy-in.\u003c/strong> One of the major project funders, the California Energy Commission, reported that aspects of the project, which brought the block together, such as planned tree plantings, increased engagement.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The final EcoBlock solar panels are slated to turn on in the fall. After gathering data about costs and electricity use for some time, Peffer and her team will have more detailed lessons to share, including guides for other blocks to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, though, it is the desire people have to build community that has stuck with residents and researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s “something about tapping into a community and strengthening the real relationships with good people, not the Facebook relationships or Instagram or whatever,” Peffer said. “The door to door, the face to face, the people that pass you day to day on the street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Zones, the project has meant a lot as he considers how to tackle climate change, which often feels overwhelming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So much of it seems like a string of losses. And this felt like a victory of some kind,” Zones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "A Brutal Attack Upended Her Life. It Also Exposed Gaps in California’s Hospital Safety Laws",
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"content": "\u003cp>The assault pulled like a riptide on Dr. Dani Golomb’s life, spinning her in unexpected directions, but not quite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991739/bay-area-medical-psychiatry-pushes-for-hospital-safety-after-violent-attack\">fully pulling her under\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb was working on a California Pacific Medical Center inpatient psychology unit on Sept. 5, 2020, when a patient attacked and dragged her, grabbing her metal clipboard out of her hand and smashing it against her head, knocking her unconscious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb suffered a concussion and a traumatic brain injury, and the headaches and other symptoms still linger. She took multiple leaves of absence from her job, including one that lasted a year, setting her back on her journey to becoming a psychiatrist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attack happened shortly after she finished medical school and moved from Salt Lake City to San Francisco for a residency at California Pacific Medical Center, Sutter Health’s flagship hospital. Golomb wanted to practice psychiatry in the Bay Area, hoping to one day open her own private practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why I went to medical school. Most people go in because they are passionate about medicine,” she said. “I went in because I was passionate about working with individuals in therapy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the attack, Golomb — with her life and career upended — dedicated herself to improving safety protections for her colleagues. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991739/bay-area-medical-psychiatry-pushes-for-hospital-safety-after-violent-attack\">She shared her story with KQED\u003c/a>, which triggered the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980953/california-regulators-investigate-sutter-health-over-unreported-assault-on-psychiatry-worker\">launch an investigation\u003c/a>, including an inspection of the psych unit where she was attacked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1997083\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Sutter Health CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco on Feb. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The details of the investigation, which concluded last fall, have not been discussed publicly until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put so much work into providing [investigators] with as much information as I could, sending them documents, connecting them with people, talking to nurses about the importance of reporting,” Golomb said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She feels state regulators and her employer fell short of providing the safety protections the hospital needs. Her story exposes holes in California’s workplace violence regulations for healthcare workers — namely, a lack of reporting on the part of employers and enforcement on the part of Cal/OSHA and its understaffed offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA investigators identified numerous other colleagues who suffered attacks on California Pacific Medical Center’s inpatient psych unit. In one instance, a patient broke the nose and ribs of a nurse who “will never return again,” the Cal/OSHA inspection found.[aside postID=news_11980953 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']In another case, a patient charged at an occupational therapist who was leading an exercise group and lifted them off the floor. “He carried me across the room by my neck,” the therapist reported, according to interview notes included in the Cal/OSHA report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He dragged me to a corner of the room and pulled a chair in front of us. He said if I don’t get to talk to the judge, ‘I am going to kill her,’” the therapist said, according to the notes. A security guard eventually defused the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, two years after Golomb’s assault, Sutter Health relocated the inpatient psych unit where she was attacked to its Davies Campus. The hospital said it spent about $40 million outfitting the unit with cameras, panic buttons, duress alarms and secured doors to enhance safety. Staff can reach security by phone and a voice-operated device. The floor also has security officers during daytime hours, which Golomb said has made staff feel safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal/OSHA report alleged numerous hospital failures at the new unit on security training, staffing, informing staff of “incident investigations and any corrective actions,” and a lack of “physical barriers between patients and clinicians” in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A patient has jumped from the waist height counter onto a nurse from behind in the past, injuring his shoulders and neck,” the report said, noting blind corners, broken elevators and insufficient emergency exits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997087\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1997087\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-800x1036.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1036\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-800x1036.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-1020x1321.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-160x207.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-768x994.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door.jpg 1076w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photograph of an out-of-order elevator from the Cal/OSHA report on Sutter Health CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Screenshot from Cal/OSHA report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All of the details in the inspection were validating, Golomb said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the first sign it might not produce the meaningful change Golomb sought came when investigators told her that her case fell outside the statute of limitations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, ‘Wait a second, this is off the table?’ That was the impetus for this investigation,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result of the inspection, which cited \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980953/california-regulators-investigate-sutter-health-over-unreported-assault-on-psychiatry-worker\">KQED’s reporting\u003c/a>, regulators issued two small citations to the hospital totaling $1,575: a fine of $525 for failing to maintain two failed separate exits and a $1,050 fine for failing to implement Sutter’s workplace violence prevention plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA must issue a citation no later than six months after the “occurrence of a violation,” according to the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=6317\">labor code\u003c/a>. But the “occurrence” continues until it is “corrected, or the division discovers the violation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA did not appear to become aware of Golomb’s 2020 assault until she came forward with her story years later. Garrett Brown, a former field inspector who worked for more than two decades at Cal/OSHA, said regulators could still have examined Golomb’s attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hospital was legally required to file a violent incident report to state regulators within 72 hours, but Cal/OSHA has no record of the incident. Sutter Health acknowledged that it did not initially report Golomb’s assault or injury but said it did record the assault in an injury log filed with the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statute of limitations should be six months after Cal/OSHA became aware of the assault rather than when it occurred, Brown said, adding that it’s “outrageous” and “pisses him off” that it didn’t look at Golomb’s case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter Health said it has the appropriate safeguards in place, follows state guidelines and is \u003ca href=\"https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1738851.015\">contesting both citations.\u003c/a> Cal/OSHA declined to comment further because of that appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Sutter spokesperson told KQED in a statement that providing a safe place for employees to work and patients to receive care is the hospital’s top priority. “We continually reevaluate our procedures and facilities to ensure we are providing the safest possible environment,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The citations felt like a slap on the wrist for Sutter, Golomb said, and the hospital’s appeal was like a slap across her face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997089\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1997089 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Dani Golomb poses for a portrait in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park on Monday, March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Seeing this was just like, ‘Oh, right, nobody cares about enforcement,’” she said. “And I don’t mean nobody cares about me. I mean, nobody cares about the safety of workers and poor patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem is what Brown calls an “outrageous understaffing” of Cal/OSHA inspectors, with only two individuals who are charged with overseeing all of San Francisco’s workplaces, according to a Cal/OSHA organization chart dated the first of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district manager is under enormous pressure to open, close, open, close, open, close the inspections because there’s this stack that grows every day of complaints and accidents that report,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Lopez, Cal/OSHA’s communications deputy director, pushed back and said in a statement the number of available inspectors does not determine the pace of an investigation. “Timely enforcement is critical, as these cases often involve serious safety concerns that affect both employers and workers,” he said. “Cal/OSHA prioritizes inspection activities based on the greatest risk to employees, responding to imminent hazards, fatalities, serious injury and illnesses and serious complaints.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez added that Cal/OSHA recently hired an associate safety engineer, noting that San Francisco is a particularly competitive market and the agency is “actively” recruiting to fill three remaining vacancies in its office. “The division’s vacancy rate is among the lowest it has been in several years,” he said, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/DOSH-Recruitment-Hiring.html\">pointing to a fact sheet that pegged it at 13%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2014, California health care facilities have been subject to the nation’s strongest workplace violence regulations.[aside postID=science_1991739 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/240209-HOSPITALVIOLENCE-20-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']California Sen. Alex Padilla, when he was a state lawmaker, crafted the rules with SB 1299 “to help ensure safer working environments for the nurses and doctors who provide critical care for our communities, but it’s clear that more needs to be done to build on our efforts,” he told KQED in a statement. “Physicians on the frontlines of our mental health crisis deserve a safe workplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Nurses Association, which sponsored the legislation, has since criticized the state’s enforcement and hospitals for underreporting violent incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb pushed for accountability another way, thrusting herself into an organizing effort with her coworkers and leading residents to push for stronger protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb and her resident colleagues joined the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the Service Employees International Union, and engaged in contentious bargaining with Sutter Health over demands for, among other things, 24-hour security in the inpatient psych unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989597/assault-on-psych-doctor-spurs-call-for-california-health-system-to-boost-safety\">urged Sutter Health in a letter addressed to its leadership\u003c/a> to step up safety measures. “Health care workers who keep us safe and healthy deserve safety in their workplace, too,” then-Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said last June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last October, the residents and Sutter agreed to a contract, which included increased salaries and housing stipends, as well as an education fund to cover conferences and other professional development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997093\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1997093 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Dani Golomb, psychiatry resident at CPMC Sutter Davies Campus, holds a piece of pottery she made at her home in San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2024. Golomb makes art as a coping mechanism after experiencing workplace violence incidents where patients have attacked staff. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the union failed to secure one key demand: round-the-clock security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb said it is hard not to feel disappointed. “A big piece of it is in the institutions,” she said. “But a part of me wants to say to myself, ‘Did I not fight hard enough?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cannot remember what she first envisioned residency to be like. She certainly did not imagine she would have endured such a horrific assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One that could have ended my career in medicine. Then to have a brain that has changed because of it,” she said. “I’ve come such a long way in my recovery, but I also feel that experience has made me even more clear about what my beliefs are in practicing medicine and the kind of doctor I want to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s counting the days until she graduates at the end of June. She’ll take time off before starting a private practice in San Francisco, not too far from California Pacific Medical Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very exciting,” Golomb said. “But it’s very much like being a senior in high school and you’re just like, ‘Come on, let’s go.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The assault pulled like a riptide on Dr. Dani Golomb’s life, spinning her in unexpected directions, but not quite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991739/bay-area-medical-psychiatry-pushes-for-hospital-safety-after-violent-attack\">fully pulling her under\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb was working on a California Pacific Medical Center inpatient psychology unit on Sept. 5, 2020, when a patient attacked and dragged her, grabbing her metal clipboard out of her hand and smashing it against her head, knocking her unconscious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb suffered a concussion and a traumatic brain injury, and the headaches and other symptoms still linger. She took multiple leaves of absence from her job, including one that lasted a year, setting her back on her journey to becoming a psychiatrist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attack happened shortly after she finished medical school and moved from Salt Lake City to San Francisco for a residency at California Pacific Medical Center, Sutter Health’s flagship hospital. Golomb wanted to practice psychiatry in the Bay Area, hoping to one day open her own private practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why I went to medical school. Most people go in because they are passionate about medicine,” she said. “I went in because I was passionate about working with individuals in therapy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the attack, Golomb — with her life and career upended — dedicated herself to improving safety protections for her colleagues. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991739/bay-area-medical-psychiatry-pushes-for-hospital-safety-after-violent-attack\">She shared her story with KQED\u003c/a>, which triggered the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980953/california-regulators-investigate-sutter-health-over-unreported-assault-on-psychiatry-worker\">launch an investigation\u003c/a>, including an inspection of the psych unit where she was attacked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1997083\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240208-HospitalViolence-09-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Sutter Health CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco on Feb. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The details of the investigation, which concluded last fall, have not been discussed publicly until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put so much work into providing [investigators] with as much information as I could, sending them documents, connecting them with people, talking to nurses about the importance of reporting,” Golomb said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She feels state regulators and her employer fell short of providing the safety protections the hospital needs. Her story exposes holes in California’s workplace violence regulations for healthcare workers — namely, a lack of reporting on the part of employers and enforcement on the part of Cal/OSHA and its understaffed offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA investigators identified numerous other colleagues who suffered attacks on California Pacific Medical Center’s inpatient psych unit. In one instance, a patient broke the nose and ribs of a nurse who “will never return again,” the Cal/OSHA inspection found.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In another case, a patient charged at an occupational therapist who was leading an exercise group and lifted them off the floor. “He carried me across the room by my neck,” the therapist reported, according to interview notes included in the Cal/OSHA report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He dragged me to a corner of the room and pulled a chair in front of us. He said if I don’t get to talk to the judge, ‘I am going to kill her,’” the therapist said, according to the notes. A security guard eventually defused the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, two years after Golomb’s assault, Sutter Health relocated the inpatient psych unit where she was attacked to its Davies Campus. The hospital said it spent about $40 million outfitting the unit with cameras, panic buttons, duress alarms and secured doors to enhance safety. Staff can reach security by phone and a voice-operated device. The floor also has security officers during daytime hours, which Golomb said has made staff feel safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal/OSHA report alleged numerous hospital failures at the new unit on security training, staffing, informing staff of “incident investigations and any corrective actions,” and a lack of “physical barriers between patients and clinicians” in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A patient has jumped from the waist height counter onto a nurse from behind in the past, injuring his shoulders and neck,” the report said, noting blind corners, broken elevators and insufficient emergency exits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997087\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1997087\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-800x1036.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1036\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-800x1036.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-1020x1321.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-160x207.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door-768x994.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/Elevator-Door.jpg 1076w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photograph of an out-of-order elevator from the Cal/OSHA report on Sutter Health CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Screenshot from Cal/OSHA report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All of the details in the inspection were validating, Golomb said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the first sign it might not produce the meaningful change Golomb sought came when investigators told her that her case fell outside the statute of limitations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, ‘Wait a second, this is off the table?’ That was the impetus for this investigation,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result of the inspection, which cited \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980953/california-regulators-investigate-sutter-health-over-unreported-assault-on-psychiatry-worker\">KQED’s reporting\u003c/a>, regulators issued two small citations to the hospital totaling $1,575: a fine of $525 for failing to maintain two failed separate exits and a $1,050 fine for failing to implement Sutter’s workplace violence prevention plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA must issue a citation no later than six months after the “occurrence of a violation,” according to the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=6317\">labor code\u003c/a>. But the “occurrence” continues until it is “corrected, or the division discovers the violation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA did not appear to become aware of Golomb’s 2020 assault until she came forward with her story years later. Garrett Brown, a former field inspector who worked for more than two decades at Cal/OSHA, said regulators could still have examined Golomb’s attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hospital was legally required to file a violent incident report to state regulators within 72 hours, but Cal/OSHA has no record of the incident. Sutter Health acknowledged that it did not initially report Golomb’s assault or injury but said it did record the assault in an injury log filed with the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statute of limitations should be six months after Cal/OSHA became aware of the assault rather than when it occurred, Brown said, adding that it’s “outrageous” and “pisses him off” that it didn’t look at Golomb’s case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter Health said it has the appropriate safeguards in place, follows state guidelines and is \u003ca href=\"https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1738851.015\">contesting both citations.\u003c/a> Cal/OSHA declined to comment further because of that appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Sutter spokesperson told KQED in a statement that providing a safe place for employees to work and patients to receive care is the hospital’s top priority. “We continually reevaluate our procedures and facilities to ensure we are providing the safest possible environment,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The citations felt like a slap on the wrist for Sutter, Golomb said, and the hospital’s appeal was like a slap across her face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997089\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1997089 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/20250310_Dani-Golomb_DMB_00203_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Dani Golomb poses for a portrait in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park on Monday, March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Seeing this was just like, ‘Oh, right, nobody cares about enforcement,’” she said. “And I don’t mean nobody cares about me. I mean, nobody cares about the safety of workers and poor patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem is what Brown calls an “outrageous understaffing” of Cal/OSHA inspectors, with only two individuals who are charged with overseeing all of San Francisco’s workplaces, according to a Cal/OSHA organization chart dated the first of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district manager is under enormous pressure to open, close, open, close, open, close the inspections because there’s this stack that grows every day of complaints and accidents that report,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Lopez, Cal/OSHA’s communications deputy director, pushed back and said in a statement the number of available inspectors does not determine the pace of an investigation. “Timely enforcement is critical, as these cases often involve serious safety concerns that affect both employers and workers,” he said. “Cal/OSHA prioritizes inspection activities based on the greatest risk to employees, responding to imminent hazards, fatalities, serious injury and illnesses and serious complaints.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez added that Cal/OSHA recently hired an associate safety engineer, noting that San Francisco is a particularly competitive market and the agency is “actively” recruiting to fill three remaining vacancies in its office. “The division’s vacancy rate is among the lowest it has been in several years,” he said, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/DOSH-Recruitment-Hiring.html\">pointing to a fact sheet that pegged it at 13%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2014, California health care facilities have been subject to the nation’s strongest workplace violence regulations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California Sen. Alex Padilla, when he was a state lawmaker, crafted the rules with SB 1299 “to help ensure safer working environments for the nurses and doctors who provide critical care for our communities, but it’s clear that more needs to be done to build on our efforts,” he told KQED in a statement. “Physicians on the frontlines of our mental health crisis deserve a safe workplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Nurses Association, which sponsored the legislation, has since criticized the state’s enforcement and hospitals for underreporting violent incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb pushed for accountability another way, thrusting herself into an organizing effort with her coworkers and leading residents to push for stronger protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb and her resident colleagues joined the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the Service Employees International Union, and engaged in contentious bargaining with Sutter Health over demands for, among other things, 24-hour security in the inpatient psych unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989597/assault-on-psych-doctor-spurs-call-for-california-health-system-to-boost-safety\">urged Sutter Health in a letter addressed to its leadership\u003c/a> to step up safety measures. “Health care workers who keep us safe and healthy deserve safety in their workplace, too,” then-Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said last June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last October, the residents and Sutter agreed to a contract, which included increased salaries and housing stipends, as well as an education fund to cover conferences and other professional development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997093\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1997093 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/240209-HospitalViolence-29-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Dani Golomb, psychiatry resident at CPMC Sutter Davies Campus, holds a piece of pottery she made at her home in San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2024. Golomb makes art as a coping mechanism after experiencing workplace violence incidents where patients have attacked staff. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the union failed to secure one key demand: round-the-clock security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golomb said it is hard not to feel disappointed. “A big piece of it is in the institutions,” she said. “But a part of me wants to say to myself, ‘Did I not fight hard enough?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cannot remember what she first envisioned residency to be like. She certainly did not imagine she would have endured such a horrific assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One that could have ended my career in medicine. Then to have a brain that has changed because of it,” she said. “I’ve come such a long way in my recovery, but I also feel that experience has made me even more clear about what my beliefs are in practicing medicine and the kind of doctor I want to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s counting the days until she graduates at the end of June. She’ll take time off before starting a private practice in San Francisco, not too far from California Pacific Medical Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very exciting,” Golomb said. “But it’s very much like being a senior in high school and you’re just like, ‘Come on, let’s go.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "the-marin-town-where-rfk-jr-s-message-took-root",
"title": "The Marin Town Where RFK Jr.’s Message Took Root",
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"content": "\u003cp>Every Wednesday, Fairfax’s farmers market unfolds beneath a canopy of redwoods in West \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/marin-county\">Marin County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kids run barefoot through the grass while parents line up for heirloom tomatoes and jars of honey. Local bands often strum bluegrass music near the picnic tables. But last year, the presidential election interrupted the bucolic rhythm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of then-candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set up shop at the entrance for months. They waved flags, gathered signatures and spread out rows of campaign merchandise — hats, shirts, flyers — stamped with Kennedy’s health reform slogan: “Make America Healthy Again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was all in this spirit of green libertarian politics,” said former Mayor Chance Cutrano, referring to the town’s mix of environmental values and anti-establishment sensibilities. “It’s not uncommon to see ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ stickers in town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and other local leaders once dismissed Kennedy’s followers as fringe — a cluster of anti-vaccine activists on the margins — but in recent years, those voices began dominating Town Council meetings. Many locals still vote Democratic, but the tone of civic life has changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not realize the community’s degree of love and connection to RFK as this kind of cult figure,” he said. “There’s just an aggressive, adversarial, conspiratorial energy that has come, likely as an outcropping of the pandemic. It’s unrelenting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996847\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A storefront displays a window filled with anti-Trump signs in downtown Fairfax, Marin County, on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That energy — rooted in a long-standing distrust of mainstream medicine — boiled over during the pandemic, expanding into a broader skepticism of science and a push for “medical freedom,” the belief that individuals should make their own health decisions without government interference. The movement was fueled by Kennedy and the organization he founded, Children’s Health Defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mayor, Cutrano pushed for renter protections and environmental reforms — priorities that once defined Fairfax politics. “It used to be about stewardship, equity, protecting our ridgelines and the charm of our downtown,” Cutrano said. “Now it’s about opposition. Anti-vax, anti-DEI, anti-climate policy and anti-tenant protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the summer of 2023, a group of politically active locals published a death threat calling for Cutrano’s public lynching and an end to ‘\u003ca href=\"https://marinlocalnews.com/the-fairfax-revolt-against-woke-authoritarianism/\">woke authoritarianism\u003c/a>.’ He was not reelected in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fairfax is the kind of town where residents in yoga pants sip golden milk and debate detox protocols on the patio at Good Earth, the beloved organic grocery store that doubles as its unofficial town square. Residents pride themselves on living just outside San Francisco’s gravitational pull.[aside postID=news_12039390 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/IMG_1018-1020x765.jpg']Many longtime locals still carry the ethos of the ’60s counterculture — Deadheads and old-school activists who never stopped questioning authority. They fought smart meters over concerns about electromagnetic radiation and continue to resist the rollout of 5G cellular networks, citing fears over constant exposure to higher frequency signals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, being “natural” isn’t just a health choice — it’s a worldview. The ground, presumably pesticide-free, was tilled and ready for Kennedy’s platform to take root.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulars at public meetings accused us of knowingly harming people with vaccines,” said Matthew Willis, who served as Marin County’s public health officer throughout the pandemic. “They hung banners over Highway 101 calling for me to be locked up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, when supporters led a Kennedy float through the Fairfax Festival parade, Willis felt the need to hide his family as it passed by. “I wasn’t sure what would happen if they saw us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Willis retired at the end of the summer and is still grappling with how quickly the movement gained ground. “I didn’t see all the ways this group was tied to a much stronger national thread, or that the leader of that movement would be put in charge of our entire national health and science system,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996852\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996852\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Matt Willis, former Marin County Public Health Officer, poses for a portrait in San Anselmo on May 15, 2025. After serving as the county’s health official from 2013 to 2024, Willis retired in September 2024 and now focuses on climate health and public health communication initiatives. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As head of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has instilled his own ideology into federal policy. In his first months in office, he launched a controversial autism inquiry focused on environmental causes, cast doubt on bird flu vaccines, condemned the sale of ultra-processed food on Native American reservations as a form of genocide, proposed deep budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health and terminated thousands of federal health workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And on Tuesday, Kennedy announced that the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say his approach could weaken the institutions that prevent disease and respond to health emergencies. However, for supporters like Nathanial Lepp, a family physician and addiction specialist in Fairfax, Kennedy’s early actions are a long-overdue reckoning with the public health system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think he’s directionally correct,” Lepp, 40, said. “Even if he doesn’t always get the details right, he’s asking the question nobody else is asking: Why are we so sick?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lepp’s work experience shaped his worldview. During his residency at a safety-net hospital in Salinas, he had a front-row seat to the opioid crisis. He saw patients harmed not by a lack of care, but by the care itself — from overprescribed painkillers to long-term dependence on psychiatric medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One patient in his 60s arrived in the ER disoriented and unable to hold a conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Small businesses, cafes, and independent shops line the streets of downtown Fairfax in Marin County on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Everyone thought he had dementia,” Lepp said. When tests came back normal, doctors gradually weaned him off a benzodiazepine, a nervous system depressant commonly used to treat insomnia, anxiety and seizures. Over the next three months, the fog lifted. “His symptoms were gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lepp now works with patients to taper off medications that may be doing more harm than good. He said Kennedy is one of the few public figures willing to confront the uncomfortable possibility that medicine itself is part of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Politically, Lepp long considered himself far-left — protesting the Iraq War and supporting progressive presidential candidates like Ralph Nader and Howard Dean. But over time, he grew disillusioned with a system he saw as more focused on preserving the status quo than delivering real reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Democrats consolidated around Joe Biden in 2020, sidelining Sen. Bernie Sanders, he felt his views confirmed. “They were terrible at governing and consistently blocked more populist voices,” Lepp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy, he claimed, is the first national figure in years who seems willing to question the system itself — not just “tinker around the edges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996849\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martin Kaufman sits at a parklet in downtown Fairfax, Marin County, on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martin Kaufman, a 41-year-old cannabis entrepreneur in Fairfax, doesn’t trust much anymore — not public health agencies, not politicians, not the media. He once leaned left, drawn to causes like cannabis legalization and environmental protection. He said his faith in the government gave way to deep cynicism. “I just look at what politicians actually accomplish,” he said. “Most of them? Nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After his second COVID-19 shot, Kaufman said he developed symptoms consistent with cerebral encephalitis — severe headaches, brain fog and cognitive issues that lingered for months. During his recovery, a friend gave him a copy of Kennedy’s 2021 book, \u003cem>The Real Anthony Fauci\u003c/em>, which public health officials have widely criticized for promoting conspiracy theories, including claims that vaccines are tools of population control and that the pandemic was engineered to benefit pharmaceutical companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He wants to study vaccines in a way that hasn’t been allowed for decades,” Kaufman said. “Maybe we find out they’re totally safe. Maybe not. Either way, at least we’ll know. That alone is a public service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists argue that Kennedy’s push to “study vaccines” misrepresents the state of existing research. Dozens of large-scale studies found vaccines to be overwhelmingly safe and effective. Still, for some voters, Kennedy’s outsider stance makes him compelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“None of this stuff even mattered to me until RFK started talking about it,” said Zadie Dressler, a 56-year-old nurse in Petaluma, one of several North Bay cities where Kennedy’s message has caught on. “He’s asking why so many kids have asthma, autism and obesity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996851\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996851 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A local artist sells jewelry in front of Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax, Marin County, on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dressler said she received the first two COVID shots despite feeling hesitant. Months later, she experienced chest pain, tachycardia and fatigue, symptoms she now attributes to the vaccine. Around that time, Kennedy’s videos showed up in her social media feeds. “Everything he said — it felt like the truth,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of Kennedy’s supporters said the same thing — that they didn’t hear his ideas from doctors or the news, but through posts shared online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s not just talking — he’s living it,” Dressler said. “He wants to get to the root of the problem, not just throw more drugs at everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dressler’s sentiment has rippled out across the north bay. For a while, it was just a folding table, a stack of flyers and a few diehard volunteers at the Fairfax farmers market. But the message — medical freedom, skepticism of government, distrust in public health — caught on. A town once positioned outside the mainstream now feels oddly in step with a national zeitgeist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think Fairfax thinks it’s unique,” Cutrano said. “The same story is playing out all across the U.S.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Every Wednesday, Fairfax’s farmers market unfolds beneath a canopy of redwoods in West \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/marin-county\">Marin County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kids run barefoot through the grass while parents line up for heirloom tomatoes and jars of honey. Local bands often strum bluegrass music near the picnic tables. But last year, the presidential election interrupted the bucolic rhythm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of then-candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set up shop at the entrance for months. They waved flags, gathered signatures and spread out rows of campaign merchandise — hats, shirts, flyers — stamped with Kennedy’s health reform slogan: “Make America Healthy Again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was all in this spirit of green libertarian politics,” said former Mayor Chance Cutrano, referring to the town’s mix of environmental values and anti-establishment sensibilities. “It’s not uncommon to see ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ stickers in town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and other local leaders once dismissed Kennedy’s followers as fringe — a cluster of anti-vaccine activists on the margins — but in recent years, those voices began dominating Town Council meetings. Many locals still vote Democratic, but the tone of civic life has changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not realize the community’s degree of love and connection to RFK as this kind of cult figure,” he said. “There’s just an aggressive, adversarial, conspiratorial energy that has come, likely as an outcropping of the pandemic. It’s unrelenting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996847\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-01-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A storefront displays a window filled with anti-Trump signs in downtown Fairfax, Marin County, on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That energy — rooted in a long-standing distrust of mainstream medicine — boiled over during the pandemic, expanding into a broader skepticism of science and a push for “medical freedom,” the belief that individuals should make their own health decisions without government interference. The movement was fueled by Kennedy and the organization he founded, Children’s Health Defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mayor, Cutrano pushed for renter protections and environmental reforms — priorities that once defined Fairfax politics. “It used to be about stewardship, equity, protecting our ridgelines and the charm of our downtown,” Cutrano said. “Now it’s about opposition. Anti-vax, anti-DEI, anti-climate policy and anti-tenant protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the summer of 2023, a group of politically active locals published a death threat calling for Cutrano’s public lynching and an end to ‘\u003ca href=\"https://marinlocalnews.com/the-fairfax-revolt-against-woke-authoritarianism/\">woke authoritarianism\u003c/a>.’ He was not reelected in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fairfax is the kind of town where residents in yoga pants sip golden milk and debate detox protocols on the patio at Good Earth, the beloved organic grocery store that doubles as its unofficial town square. Residents pride themselves on living just outside San Francisco’s gravitational pull.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Many longtime locals still carry the ethos of the ’60s counterculture — Deadheads and old-school activists who never stopped questioning authority. They fought smart meters over concerns about electromagnetic radiation and continue to resist the rollout of 5G cellular networks, citing fears over constant exposure to higher frequency signals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, being “natural” isn’t just a health choice — it’s a worldview. The ground, presumably pesticide-free, was tilled and ready for Kennedy’s platform to take root.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulars at public meetings accused us of knowingly harming people with vaccines,” said Matthew Willis, who served as Marin County’s public health officer throughout the pandemic. “They hung banners over Highway 101 calling for me to be locked up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, when supporters led a Kennedy float through the Fairfax Festival parade, Willis felt the need to hide his family as it passed by. “I wasn’t sure what would happen if they saw us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Willis retired at the end of the summer and is still grappling with how quickly the movement gained ground. “I didn’t see all the ways this group was tied to a much stronger national thread, or that the leader of that movement would be put in charge of our entire national health and science system,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996852\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996852\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-15-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Matt Willis, former Marin County Public Health Officer, poses for a portrait in San Anselmo on May 15, 2025. After serving as the county’s health official from 2013 to 2024, Willis retired in September 2024 and now focuses on climate health and public health communication initiatives. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As head of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has instilled his own ideology into federal policy. In his first months in office, he launched a controversial autism inquiry focused on environmental causes, cast doubt on bird flu vaccines, condemned the sale of ultra-processed food on Native American reservations as a form of genocide, proposed deep budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health and terminated thousands of federal health workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And on Tuesday, Kennedy announced that the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say his approach could weaken the institutions that prevent disease and respond to health emergencies. However, for supporters like Nathanial Lepp, a family physician and addiction specialist in Fairfax, Kennedy’s early actions are a long-overdue reckoning with the public health system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think he’s directionally correct,” Lepp, 40, said. “Even if he doesn’t always get the details right, he’s asking the question nobody else is asking: Why are we so sick?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lepp’s work experience shaped his worldview. During his residency at a safety-net hospital in Salinas, he had a front-row seat to the opioid crisis. He saw patients harmed not by a lack of care, but by the care itself — from overprescribed painkillers to long-term dependence on psychiatric medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One patient in his 60s arrived in the ER disoriented and unable to hold a conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-03-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Small businesses, cafes, and independent shops line the streets of downtown Fairfax in Marin County on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Everyone thought he had dementia,” Lepp said. When tests came back normal, doctors gradually weaned him off a benzodiazepine, a nervous system depressant commonly used to treat insomnia, anxiety and seizures. Over the next three months, the fog lifted. “His symptoms were gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lepp now works with patients to taper off medications that may be doing more harm than good. He said Kennedy is one of the few public figures willing to confront the uncomfortable possibility that medicine itself is part of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Politically, Lepp long considered himself far-left — protesting the Iraq War and supporting progressive presidential candidates like Ralph Nader and Howard Dean. But over time, he grew disillusioned with a system he saw as more focused on preserving the status quo than delivering real reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Democrats consolidated around Joe Biden in 2020, sidelining Sen. Bernie Sanders, he felt his views confirmed. “They were terrible at governing and consistently blocked more populist voices,” Lepp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy, he claimed, is the first national figure in years who seems willing to question the system itself — not just “tinker around the edges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996849\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-08-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martin Kaufman sits at a parklet in downtown Fairfax, Marin County, on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martin Kaufman, a 41-year-old cannabis entrepreneur in Fairfax, doesn’t trust much anymore — not public health agencies, not politicians, not the media. He once leaned left, drawn to causes like cannabis legalization and environmental protection. He said his faith in the government gave way to deep cynicism. “I just look at what politicians actually accomplish,” he said. “Most of them? Nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After his second COVID-19 shot, Kaufman said he developed symptoms consistent with cerebral encephalitis — severe headaches, brain fog and cognitive issues that lingered for months. During his recovery, a friend gave him a copy of Kennedy’s 2021 book, \u003cem>The Real Anthony Fauci\u003c/em>, which public health officials have widely criticized for promoting conspiracy theories, including claims that vaccines are tools of population control and that the pandemic was engineered to benefit pharmaceutical companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He wants to study vaccines in a way that hasn’t been allowed for decades,” Kaufman said. “Maybe we find out they’re totally safe. Maybe not. Either way, at least we’ll know. That alone is a public service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists argue that Kennedy’s push to “study vaccines” misrepresents the state of existing research. Dozens of large-scale studies found vaccines to be overwhelmingly safe and effective. Still, for some voters, Kennedy’s outsider stance makes him compelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“None of this stuff even mattered to me until RFK started talking about it,” said Zadie Dressler, a 56-year-old nurse in Petaluma, one of several North Bay cities where Kennedy’s message has caught on. “He’s asking why so many kids have asthma, autism and obesity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996851\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996851 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250515-CRUNCHYTOALTRIGHT-12-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A local artist sells jewelry in front of Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax, Marin County, on May 15, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dressler said she received the first two COVID shots despite feeling hesitant. Months later, she experienced chest pain, tachycardia and fatigue, symptoms she now attributes to the vaccine. Around that time, Kennedy’s videos showed up in her social media feeds. “Everything he said — it felt like the truth,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of Kennedy’s supporters said the same thing — that they didn’t hear his ideas from doctors or the news, but through posts shared online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s not just talking — he’s living it,” Dressler said. “He wants to get to the root of the problem, not just throw more drugs at everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dressler’s sentiment has rippled out across the north bay. For a while, it was just a folding table, a stack of flyers and a few diehard volunteers at the Fairfax farmers market. But the message — medical freedom, skepticism of government, distrust in public health — caught on. A town once positioned outside the mainstream now feels oddly in step with a national zeitgeist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think Fairfax thinks it’s unique,” Cutrano said. “The same story is playing out all across the U.S.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1:40 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time in over 50 years, emergency room doctors will have a new framework to assess people with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/445528/ucsf-study-probes-long-term-effects-of-head-trauma-and-not-just-in-football\">head injuries\u003c/a> from car or bike crashes, falls and assaults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Existing assessment protocols for traumatic brain injury rely on broad, vague measures that filter patients into three categories based on their symptoms: mild, moderate and severe. Doctors hope the new classification system, published Tuesday in \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(25)00154-1/fulltext\">The Lancet Neurology\u003c/a>, will bring more detail to diagnosis and more nuance to treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Patients labeled as ‘mild’ TBI were told they could go back to work in a couple days. Six weeks later, they’ve got pounding headaches, problems with their visual system, they’re not sleeping well. There’s nothing mild about that,” said Dr. Geoff Manley, professor of neurosurgery at UCSF and lead author of the new framework.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the other hand, there are patients that were diagnosed with ‘severe’ TBI leading full lives, whose families had to consider removing life-sustaining treatment,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people have a 50% chance of experiencing a traumatic brain injury in their lifetime, Manley said. About 40% of those diagnosed with mild injury, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/437552/just-because-you-have-a-mild-concussion-doesnt-mean-youre-ok\">concussion\u003c/a>, never see a doctor, and about half diagnosed with severe injury are withdrawn from ventilators and allowed to die — a decision made, on average, after three days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same day Scott Hamilton crashed his Vespa on Market Street in San Francisco and slid 60 feet into the curb, doctors at San Francisco General Hospital recommended disconnecting his life support machines. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They told my wife: ‘He’s got a 1 in 10 chance of ever coming out of his coma, and if he does, he’s got a 1 in 20 chance of your thinking that was a good idea. He’s unlikely to live the night and I think you will consider that a blessing,’” Hamilton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996936\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996936 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new classification system, developed by a coalition of 94 experts and patients across 14 countries, aims to improve brain injury assessment through a four-part framework: clinical evaluations, advanced imaging, blood tests and consideration of key demographic factors. \u003ccite>(Tom Werner/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Manley saw it differently and insisted his bosses give Hamilton more time. He made a full recovery. Twenty years later he’s married, working full time, and raising two teenage daughters. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lose a lot of sleep at night wondering if I’m doing the right thing,” Manley said. “We certainly don’t want to create someone with profound disability long-term, but we have to give people time to recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new classification system, developed by a coalition of 94 experts and patients across 14 countries, is intended to make those decisions easier by making assessments more objective, detailed and precise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new framework is made up of four pillars: an expanded clinical evaluation; new blood tests; CT and MRI scans; and a review of demographic factors known to affect recovery times, like age, sex, family support, and a history of previous head injuries or mental health conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clinical assessments under the new system require doctors to be more exacting when scoring eye, verbal and motor function and to use new tools to measure pupil function.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New biomarker blood tests, developed by the military, help identify tissue damage and determine which patients need imaging and which can be spared the cost and radiation exposure of an unnecessary scan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where indicated, CT and MRI scans can reveal bleeding, blood clots or fractures that require surgery. Or they could show that a patient is doing better than their clinical presentation alone would indicate, as was the case for Hamilton. [aside postID=science_1996818 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250325-AIVOICEBANK-09-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']The final pillar requires taking an extensive medical and social history of the patient to look for factors likely to affect recovery time. People who are older, women and those with a history of concussions, headaches or mental health problems usually take longer to recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t ask about these elements, you may miss an opportunity to offer a more realistic prognosis to the patient,” said Dr. Cathra Halabi, director of UCSF’s Neurorecovery Clinic, which includes a program focused on people in the first six months after a traumatic brain injury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the new TBI assessment framework is geared primarily toward physicians treating people in acute settings within the first 24 hours of an injury, Halabi said it extends naturally to clinicians like her who see people longer term in an outpatient setting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More detailed assessments will help doctors better determine who needs urgent care and who doesn’t, who needs follow-up care and who doesn’t. They also have the potential to improve clinical trials, bringing more precision to patient selection and a better likelihood of discovering new effective treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the current system, Halabi frequently receives patient charts from the ER that say, “Bicycle accident, mild TBI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She expects the new classification will yield a thorough diagnostic description along the lines of: “Thirty-year-old woman, helmeted bicycle accident, blunt head injury, brief loss of consciousness, peritraumatic amnesia. CT scan negative for bleeding. Experiencing double vision, emotional dysregulation. History of migraines and depression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The additional data will inform Halabi on how to properly care for this patient from the moment she comes into her clinic, and to be on the lookout for lingering and emerging symptoms like sleep impairments or endocrine dysfunction that could complicate healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve seen all sorts of bicycle accidents with mild TBI, and every single person is different,” she said. “Unless you really ask and probe a bit more deeply on the other side of the acute phase, you may miss an opportunity to find an element of the case that’s going to help make that person recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1:40 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time in over 50 years, emergency room doctors will have a new framework to assess people with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/445528/ucsf-study-probes-long-term-effects-of-head-trauma-and-not-just-in-football\">head injuries\u003c/a> from car or bike crashes, falls and assaults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Existing assessment protocols for traumatic brain injury rely on broad, vague measures that filter patients into three categories based on their symptoms: mild, moderate and severe. Doctors hope the new classification system, published Tuesday in \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(25)00154-1/fulltext\">The Lancet Neurology\u003c/a>, will bring more detail to diagnosis and more nuance to treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Patients labeled as ‘mild’ TBI were told they could go back to work in a couple days. Six weeks later, they’ve got pounding headaches, problems with their visual system, they’re not sleeping well. There’s nothing mild about that,” said Dr. Geoff Manley, professor of neurosurgery at UCSF and lead author of the new framework.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the other hand, there are patients that were diagnosed with ‘severe’ TBI leading full lives, whose families had to consider removing life-sustaining treatment,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people have a 50% chance of experiencing a traumatic brain injury in their lifetime, Manley said. About 40% of those diagnosed with mild injury, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/437552/just-because-you-have-a-mild-concussion-doesnt-mean-youre-ok\">concussion\u003c/a>, never see a doctor, and about half diagnosed with severe injury are withdrawn from ventilators and allowed to die — a decision made, on average, after three days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same day Scott Hamilton crashed his Vespa on Market Street in San Francisco and slid 60 feet into the curb, doctors at San Francisco General Hospital recommended disconnecting his life support machines. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They told my wife: ‘He’s got a 1 in 10 chance of ever coming out of his coma, and if he does, he’s got a 1 in 20 chance of your thinking that was a good idea. He’s unlikely to live the night and I think you will consider that a blessing,’” Hamilton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996936\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996936 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/BrainMRIGetty2-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new classification system, developed by a coalition of 94 experts and patients across 14 countries, aims to improve brain injury assessment through a four-part framework: clinical evaluations, advanced imaging, blood tests and consideration of key demographic factors. \u003ccite>(Tom Werner/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Manley saw it differently and insisted his bosses give Hamilton more time. He made a full recovery. Twenty years later he’s married, working full time, and raising two teenage daughters. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lose a lot of sleep at night wondering if I’m doing the right thing,” Manley said. “We certainly don’t want to create someone with profound disability long-term, but we have to give people time to recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new classification system, developed by a coalition of 94 experts and patients across 14 countries, is intended to make those decisions easier by making assessments more objective, detailed and precise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new framework is made up of four pillars: an expanded clinical evaluation; new blood tests; CT and MRI scans; and a review of demographic factors known to affect recovery times, like age, sex, family support, and a history of previous head injuries or mental health conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clinical assessments under the new system require doctors to be more exacting when scoring eye, verbal and motor function and to use new tools to measure pupil function.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New biomarker blood tests, developed by the military, help identify tissue damage and determine which patients need imaging and which can be spared the cost and radiation exposure of an unnecessary scan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where indicated, CT and MRI scans can reveal bleeding, blood clots or fractures that require surgery. Or they could show that a patient is doing better than their clinical presentation alone would indicate, as was the case for Hamilton. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The final pillar requires taking an extensive medical and social history of the patient to look for factors likely to affect recovery time. People who are older, women and those with a history of concussions, headaches or mental health problems usually take longer to recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t ask about these elements, you may miss an opportunity to offer a more realistic prognosis to the patient,” said Dr. Cathra Halabi, director of UCSF’s Neurorecovery Clinic, which includes a program focused on people in the first six months after a traumatic brain injury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the new TBI assessment framework is geared primarily toward physicians treating people in acute settings within the first 24 hours of an injury, Halabi said it extends naturally to clinicians like her who see people longer term in an outpatient setting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More detailed assessments will help doctors better determine who needs urgent care and who doesn’t, who needs follow-up care and who doesn’t. They also have the potential to improve clinical trials, bringing more precision to patient selection and a better likelihood of discovering new effective treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the current system, Halabi frequently receives patient charts from the ER that say, “Bicycle accident, mild TBI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She expects the new classification will yield a thorough diagnostic description along the lines of: “Thirty-year-old woman, helmeted bicycle accident, blunt head injury, brief loss of consciousness, peritraumatic amnesia. CT scan negative for bleeding. Experiencing double vision, emotional dysregulation. History of migraines and depression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The additional data will inform Halabi on how to properly care for this patient from the moment she comes into her clinic, and to be on the lookout for lingering and emerging symptoms like sleep impairments or endocrine dysfunction that could complicate healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve seen all sorts of bicycle accidents with mild TBI, and every single person is different,” she said. “Unless you really ask and probe a bit more deeply on the other side of the acute phase, you may miss an opportunity to find an element of the case that’s going to help make that person recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Lilly Payne turned to Woebot, a therapy chatbot powered by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a>, she was deeply unmoored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I also felt like I was annoying people when I reached out for support,” she said. “It’s easier to text a chatbot than to ask a friend for reassurance over and over again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the height of the pandemic, she had abandoned her dream of an arts career in New York City and retreated — resentfully — to her childhood home in Kentucky. Feeling isolated, she sought out Woebot after learning about it through a mental health newsletter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even just knowing I had it in my pocket made me feel a little more in control,” said Payne, 28 years old. “It was always there — no scheduling, no waiting. It helped me talk through everyday anxieties.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the promise of round-the-clock support, millions of users are turning to AI therapy platforms like Woebot, Wysa and Therapist GPT. For some, these chatbots provide a lifeline, offering instant reassurance during a panic attack or structured exercises to reframe negative thoughts. But AI therapy doesn’t always get it right. Bots can misinterpret distress signals and offer generic advice that sounds like a Hallmark greeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996454\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilly Payne poses for a portrait at the Albany Bulb in Albany on March 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the tools are advancing rapidly, experts warn that they still lack the nuance, accountability, and privacy safeguards of a human psychologist. Payne has obsessive-compulsive disorder, which can lead her to fixate on worst-case scenarios. When Payne typed the word “suicide” into Woebot, it didn’t understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It immediately flagged me as being in crisis,” said Payne, who was worried she might think about taking her life in the future. “I was like, no, no, no, that’s not what I meant. It wasn’t that I wanted to die — it was that my OCD tricked me into thinking I could. I would type out my fears and the bot would respond like I was actively in danger, offering crisis resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woebot’s crisis alert could have escalated the situation unnecessarily if she hadn’t already been through therapy, she said.[aside postID=news_12032768 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/06/GettyImages-854491752-1180x867.jpg']“I think it’s important to note that Woebot is not intended for people with OCD, and most importantly, is not appropriately used as a crisis service,” wrote Alison Darcy, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Woebot Health, in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The demand for mental health services has surged in recent years, yet access remains a significant barrier. Nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-by-the-numbers/\">one in five U.S. adults\u003c/a> struggles with a mental health condition, but only 43% of that group receives treatment. About \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2023/may/understanding-us-behavioral-health-workforce-shortage\">55% of U.S. counties\u003c/a>, many in rural areas, have no practicing psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker. With long waitlists and high costs limiting traditional care, AI-driven therapy has emerged as a round-the-clock, free or low-cost alternative without the need for appointments or insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were so many moments when I was spiraling at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, and my therapy appointment wasn’t until Thursday,” said Sean Dadashi, co-founder of Rosebud. “I wished I had something that could help me recognize when I was going down an unhelpful path in real time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosebud does not claim to be a substitute for a therapist. Instead, it acts as a digital journal, using AI to analyze entries, provide reflection and offer prompts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a companion to therapy,” Dadashi said. “It helps people process their thoughts, but it also knows when to suggest reaching out to a real therapist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996455\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996455 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilly Payne poses for a portrait at the Albany Bulb in Albany on March 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A user who expresses a desire to hurt themselves or writes about domestic abuse, for example, Rosebud will validate the experience and then suggest professional mental health resources. But not all platforms are designed with the same crisis tools — or any at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October 2024, users of Character.ai filed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25248089-megan-garcia-vs-character-ai/\">lawsuit\u003c/a> against the platform, which enables people to have open-ended conversations with AI-generated personalities ranging from fictional characters to historical figures. Many people use it for entertainment or casual companionship, while some turn to it for emotional support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One 14-year-old grew attached to a character he created over the course of several months, and when he opened up about his distress, rather than steering him toward help, the bot allegedly reinforced his suicidal thoughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boy took his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AI models are trained to mimic patterns found in data,” said Ehsan Adeli, director of the Stanford Translational AI in Medicine and Mental Health Lab. “They recognize and respond to textual cues, but they don’t really understand emotions the way humans do. Instead, they simulate an understanding by processing massive amounts of data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Ehsan Adeli, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of AI/Inovation in Precision Mental Health in the department of Psychiatry at Stanford University, poses for a portrait in the reflection of a one-way mirror used for clinical observation in Palo Alto on March 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Character.ai did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A chatbot replies using what it’s learned from past conversations, therapy techniques and advice found online. The responses may sound supportive but lack human understanding. Sometimes, the models cannot distinguish between mild distress and a serious mental health crisis, making them a risky tool for vulnerable users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2023, the National Eating Disorders Association replaced its human-staffed helpline with an AI chatbot named “Tessa.” The bot was supposed to help people struggling with eating disorders, but instead offered weight-loss tips, including advice on counting calories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People quickly complained when Tessa suggested they do the exact behavior that led some to develop an eating disorder in the first place. NEDA responded by taking Tessa \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs4BiC9AhDe/\">offline\u003c/a>, noting that the bot provided “information that was harmful and unrelated to the program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NEDA did not respond to a KQED request to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike human therapists, who are trained to challenge unhealthy thinking patterns, AI chatbots tend to validate whatever the user is saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996519 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Can AI therapy apps like Rosebud, Therapist GPT and Woebot bridge the gap in mental health care — offering comfort and support in an era of stress, loneliness and anxiety? \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A chatbot is often built to be unconditionally empathic,” said Vaile Wright, a senior director for the Office of Healthcare Innovation at the American Psychological Association. “And to mirror back the exact tone, feeling and thoughts that a user is expressing. To keep them on the platform. And that’s not what a therapist does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Payne picked up on this as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would ask questions, but it was very much just guiding me through a script,” said Payne, who is employed by KQED but was not at the time of her interaction with Woebot. “There was no real back-and-forth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of pushback from the chatbots is especially concerning for people with conditions like borderline personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder, as uncritical validation can reinforce harmful behaviors.[aside postID=news_11947432 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0168-1020x765.jpg']While AI mental health tools have exploded in popularity, they are not bound by the same \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/php/resources/health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act-of-1996-hipaa.html\">privacy laws\u003c/a> as human therapists. Rosebud and Woebot state on their websites that they never store or sell user data, but many chatbots operate in a gray area where data may be used for advertising, research or even sold to a third party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Users could be targeted with personalized ads for mental health treatments — or worse, insurance companies could adjust someone’s policy premiums based on their psychological profile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People assume AI chatbots don’t judge them,” Adeli said. “But what happens when that data is used against them?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taking a moment to pause and reflect — whether through a chatbot or another self-care technique — can be better than doing nothing at all. However, many licensed therapists describe AI as a promising yet limited tool. The current generation of chatbots doesn’t have the capacity of a human to assess appearance, pace of speech and body language for a complete picture of how a person is doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The enormous con is that it’s a bot and there is no real person on the other end,” said David Goldman, a marriage and family therapist. “Deep isolation, estrangement and disconnection from life can actually be heightened. It can say the right thing, but human connection is the basis of therapy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AI therapy was useful for quick check-ins, a way to ease social anxieties or get reassurance in moments of doubt, Payne said. Woebot, though, fell short of truly understanding her OCD. Eventually, she grew tired of chat sessions on her phone and relied exclusively on a therapist for support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A huge part of therapy is knowing that there’s someone there to catch you or at least trying to,” she said. “People heal in relationships.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Lilly Payne turned to Woebot, a therapy chatbot powered by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a>, she was deeply unmoored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I also felt like I was annoying people when I reached out for support,” she said. “It’s easier to text a chatbot than to ask a friend for reassurance over and over again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the height of the pandemic, she had abandoned her dream of an arts career in New York City and retreated — resentfully — to her childhood home in Kentucky. Feeling isolated, she sought out Woebot after learning about it through a mental health newsletter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even just knowing I had it in my pocket made me feel a little more in control,” said Payne, 28 years old. “It was always there — no scheduling, no waiting. It helped me talk through everyday anxieties.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the promise of round-the-clock support, millions of users are turning to AI therapy platforms like Woebot, Wysa and Therapist GPT. For some, these chatbots provide a lifeline, offering instant reassurance during a panic attack or structured exercises to reframe negative thoughts. But AI therapy doesn’t always get it right. Bots can misinterpret distress signals and offer generic advice that sounds like a Hallmark greeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996454\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0390-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilly Payne poses for a portrait at the Albany Bulb in Albany on March 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the tools are advancing rapidly, experts warn that they still lack the nuance, accountability, and privacy safeguards of a human psychologist. Payne has obsessive-compulsive disorder, which can lead her to fixate on worst-case scenarios. When Payne typed the word “suicide” into Woebot, it didn’t understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It immediately flagged me as being in crisis,” said Payne, who was worried she might think about taking her life in the future. “I was like, no, no, no, that’s not what I meant. It wasn’t that I wanted to die — it was that my OCD tricked me into thinking I could. I would type out my fears and the bot would respond like I was actively in danger, offering crisis resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woebot’s crisis alert could have escalated the situation unnecessarily if she hadn’t already been through therapy, she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I think it’s important to note that Woebot is not intended for people with OCD, and most importantly, is not appropriately used as a crisis service,” wrote Alison Darcy, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Woebot Health, in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The demand for mental health services has surged in recent years, yet access remains a significant barrier. Nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-by-the-numbers/\">one in five U.S. adults\u003c/a> struggles with a mental health condition, but only 43% of that group receives treatment. About \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2023/may/understanding-us-behavioral-health-workforce-shortage\">55% of U.S. counties\u003c/a>, many in rural areas, have no practicing psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker. With long waitlists and high costs limiting traditional care, AI-driven therapy has emerged as a round-the-clock, free or low-cost alternative without the need for appointments or insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were so many moments when I was spiraling at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, and my therapy appointment wasn’t until Thursday,” said Sean Dadashi, co-founder of Rosebud. “I wished I had something that could help me recognize when I was going down an unhelpful path in real time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosebud does not claim to be a substitute for a therapist. Instead, it acts as a digital journal, using AI to analyze entries, provide reflection and offer prompts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a companion to therapy,” Dadashi said. “It helps people process their thoughts, but it also knows when to suggest reaching out to a real therapist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996455\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996455 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0509-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilly Payne poses for a portrait at the Albany Bulb in Albany on March 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A user who expresses a desire to hurt themselves or writes about domestic abuse, for example, Rosebud will validate the experience and then suggest professional mental health resources. But not all platforms are designed with the same crisis tools — or any at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October 2024, users of Character.ai filed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25248089-megan-garcia-vs-character-ai/\">lawsuit\u003c/a> against the platform, which enables people to have open-ended conversations with AI-generated personalities ranging from fictional characters to historical figures. Many people use it for entertainment or casual companionship, while some turn to it for emotional support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One 14-year-old grew attached to a character he created over the course of several months, and when he opened up about his distress, rather than steering him toward help, the bot allegedly reinforced his suicidal thoughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boy took his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AI models are trained to mimic patterns found in data,” said Ehsan Adeli, director of the Stanford Translational AI in Medicine and Mental Health Lab. “They recognize and respond to textual cues, but they don’t really understand emotions the way humans do. Instead, they simulate an understanding by processing massive amounts of data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250320_AI-THERAPY_DB_0158-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Ehsan Adeli, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of AI/Inovation in Precision Mental Health in the department of Psychiatry at Stanford University, poses for a portrait in the reflection of a one-way mirror used for clinical observation in Palo Alto on March 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Character.ai did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A chatbot replies using what it’s learned from past conversations, therapy techniques and advice found online. The responses may sound supportive but lack human understanding. Sometimes, the models cannot distinguish between mild distress and a serious mental health crisis, making them a risky tool for vulnerable users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2023, the National Eating Disorders Association replaced its human-staffed helpline with an AI chatbot named “Tessa.” The bot was supposed to help people struggling with eating disorders, but instead offered weight-loss tips, including advice on counting calories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People quickly complained when Tessa suggested they do the exact behavior that led some to develop an eating disorder in the first place. NEDA responded by taking Tessa \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs4BiC9AhDe/\">offline\u003c/a>, noting that the bot provided “information that was harmful and unrelated to the program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NEDA did not respond to a KQED request to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike human therapists, who are trained to challenge unhealthy thinking patterns, AI chatbots tend to validate whatever the user is saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996519 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/IMG_0963-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Can AI therapy apps like Rosebud, Therapist GPT and Woebot bridge the gap in mental health care — offering comfort and support in an era of stress, loneliness and anxiety? \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A chatbot is often built to be unconditionally empathic,” said Vaile Wright, a senior director for the Office of Healthcare Innovation at the American Psychological Association. “And to mirror back the exact tone, feeling and thoughts that a user is expressing. To keep them on the platform. And that’s not what a therapist does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Payne picked up on this as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would ask questions, but it was very much just guiding me through a script,” said Payne, who is employed by KQED but was not at the time of her interaction with Woebot. “There was no real back-and-forth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of pushback from the chatbots is especially concerning for people with conditions like borderline personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder, as uncritical validation can reinforce harmful behaviors.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While AI mental health tools have exploded in popularity, they are not bound by the same \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/php/resources/health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act-of-1996-hipaa.html\">privacy laws\u003c/a> as human therapists. Rosebud and Woebot state on their websites that they never store or sell user data, but many chatbots operate in a gray area where data may be used for advertising, research or even sold to a third party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Users could be targeted with personalized ads for mental health treatments — or worse, insurance companies could adjust someone’s policy premiums based on their psychological profile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People assume AI chatbots don’t judge them,” Adeli said. “But what happens when that data is used against them?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taking a moment to pause and reflect — whether through a chatbot or another self-care technique — can be better than doing nothing at all. However, many licensed therapists describe AI as a promising yet limited tool. The current generation of chatbots doesn’t have the capacity of a human to assess appearance, pace of speech and body language for a complete picture of how a person is doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The enormous con is that it’s a bot and there is no real person on the other end,” said David Goldman, a marriage and family therapist. “Deep isolation, estrangement and disconnection from life can actually be heightened. It can say the right thing, but human connection is the basis of therapy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AI therapy was useful for quick check-ins, a way to ease social anxieties or get reassurance in moments of doubt, Payne said. Woebot, though, fell short of truly understanding her OCD. Eventually, she grew tired of chat sessions on her phone and relied exclusively on a therapist for support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A huge part of therapy is knowing that there’s someone there to catch you or at least trying to,” she said. “People heal in relationships.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Cuddly but Costly: The Unseen Dangers of Fleece in Kids Clothes and Toys",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s not just the fleece sweater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the fleece stuffed animals and lovies my kid sleeps with, cuddled up under his chin throughout the night. It’s also the blankets, hats and pants. I’m increasingly concerned about the ubiquity of fleece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why worry?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101891083/microplastics-corrupted-our-planet-heres-what-we-can-do\">Because it’s plastic\u003c/a>. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerreports.org/toxic-chemicals-substances/how-plastic-can-harm-your-health-a2854312421/\">plastic is a poison\u003c/a>. It can both cause harm due to its size and composition and act as a chemical Velcro, trapping and transporting toxic materials that shouldn’t be in a young, growing body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve wondered about this for years — ever since learning babies have significantly higher levels of \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/baby-poop-is-loaded-with-microplastics/\">plastic in their poop\u003c/a> than adults — and even more so since giving birth to my own child. To decide what to do for myself and my family, I spent weeks talking to toxicologists, chemistry experts and professionals in the textile industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The upshot: Many experts agree that microplastic shedding poses risks to children, particularly through exposure to food and air. However, reasonable households and parents may reach different conclusions about how they want to handle fleece toys and clothes. Examining this opened up a new way for me to think about consumer choices, regulation and whether we can ever be rid of what we throw away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Danielle Venton plays with her son Teddy and his fleece stuffed animals at the KQED offices in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For my family, I’m slowly reducing the fleece in our house without waging outright war.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I continue, first, let me tell you a little bit about my sweet and talkative three-year-old boy. He adores his stuffed animals like I adore him. The favorites are Bunny, a green, floppy rabbit, and Dancing Man, a sky-blue sea otter with a blanket-like tummy. In the morning, he wakes up and gathers all the lovies together in his arms to bring them into our bed. He tells us about dreams or disputes the animals had and gives each of us one or two to hold for ourselves. I feel lucky when I’m handed Dancing Man — but I also feel a twinge of concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stuffed animal crew is made from polyester fleece, a fabric created by combining two petroleum derivatives: terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. When these refined crude oils are blended at high temperatures, they form a new liquid chemical called polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. As it cools, the mixture grows thick and syrupy, and a machine pushes it through tiny holes in a disk, where it hardens into a string that can be knitted together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996399\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-800x544.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-1020x693.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-768x522.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-1536x1044.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plastic bottles, which are single-use plastics, are piled on the floor of one section of the Recology Center in Hunters Point in San Francisco on Sept. 6, 2019. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many fleece garments are formed from a combination of virgin polyester and recycled soda bottles, which can seem like a great thing. However, recycled plastic can retain chemicals from whatever it was recycled from. Washing fleece releases plastic fibers that flow away from our house and, whether passing through a water treatment facility or a septic system, end up in the natural world. It ultimately returns to us — to our kids — in the form of polluted \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169772224000640\">water\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722069340\">food\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://e360.yale.edu/features/plastic-waste-atmosphere-climate-weather\">air\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The average person globally is estimated to ingest up to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33130380/\">the weight of a credit card\u003c/a> in microplastics each week from a variety of sources. Ingested plastic is linked to a host of respiratory, digestive and reproductive problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, researchers found strong evidence that microplastics harm human fertility and could increase cancer risk in the digestive and respiratory tracts, according to a survey commissioned by the California Legislature that \u003ca href=\"https://prheucsf.blog/2023/02/13/microplastics-more-like-macro-problem/\">summarized\u003c/a> 2,000 studies. In an update last year, the researchers added an additional 1,000 studies and reached the same conclusions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Scientists have gotten used to saying, ‘We don’t know for sure if microplastics are harming us,’” said Tracey Woodruff, a researcher in reproductive health and the environment at UCSF and one of the report authors.[aside postID=news_11901288 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS52998_DSC_1298_edit-qut-1020x598.jpeg']That became an excuse used by industry and policymakers for not enacting regulations. Plastic pollution comes from many sources, but fabric is a large contributor to the microplastic particles found in the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’re now at the point where we have enough evidence to act,” Woodruff said. “It is really mind-blowing how much comes from textiles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kids’ bodies are smaller, and they crawl around on floors and put hands, feet — heck, everything — in their mouths, making them especially at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is reason to be concerned,” Woodruff said, adding that reducing exposure to plastic is in everyone’s interest. “The production of plastic is expected to double to triple in the next 20, 30 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the half dozen experts I spoke to, none said I should take Bunny and Dancing Man away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I think] individual prized objects like a stuffy or a favorite sweater are not the things to try to eliminate,” said Megan Schwarzman, researcher and associate director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Green Chemistry, who has a young son herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996368\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996368 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Roberts Regional Recreation Area Barrier Free Playground in Oakland on March 17, 2025. Microplastics can trigger inflammation and oxidative stress in human cells, potentially damaging DNA, breaking cell membranes, and contributing to chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease, according to the National Library of Medicine. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Plastic is everywhere, and one stuffed animal is “such a tiny fraction of the real true exposure that the battle is not worth it in terms of real risk reduction to the kid,” Schwarzman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children wearing or holding fleece might inhale some particles, but probably aren’t absorbing a lot of plastic through their skin, she said. A likely larger source of microplastics would be from degraded tires and paint sloughing off our roads and buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, his fleece is exposing him to a little bit of extra plastic, but the best short-term strategy to keep it out of his body would be to eliminate plastic from the kitchen, Schwarzman said. Store food and beverages in glass or metal. Do not microwave food in plastic. Do not reuse takeout containers, as they tend to be made from low-quality plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is currently a matter of personal choice and responsibility, but ought it to be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996403 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plastic utensils at the bottom of a trash bin in Oakland, California, on Dec. 4, 2024. Recent research has pointed to microplastics as potentially harmful to human digestion and a possible driver for the increase of colorectal cancer. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I started thinking about new kitchen items to buy to cut down on plastic, but Schwarzman pushed me to think bigger. A shift toward fewer plastics and more natural materials would reduce some personal exposure and could send signals to the marketplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do a disservice when we suggest that people can solve the problem by buying different things,” she said. “It’s really putting public pressure on policymakers, [large-scale] purchasers, brands and manufacturers is what creates change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greener products, she noted, come at a price premium, “and there’s no way for them to compete because plastic is really cheap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, the environment and our bodies bear the toxic cost of manufactured materials, but the producers do not. What’s needed, Schwarzman said, is public policy that makes manufacturers responsible for a product’s true cost. California is taking a stab with SB 54, a 2022 law designed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11747798/california-weighs-how-to-lighten-its-plastic-problem\">reduce plastic packaging and increase recycling\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1092837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1092837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/PlasticBags1%E2%80%94Bags-e1742579030377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plastics can contain or absorb endocrine-disrupting chemicals that interfere with hormones, potentially leading to reproductive and developmental issues, according to the National Library of Medicine. \u003ccite>(Thinkstock)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Industry groups acknowledge concerns about the potential for their products to harm human health and the environment but emphasize the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of plastic. They point to \u003ca href=\"https://corporate.dow.com/content/dam/corp/documents/about/066-00469-01-2023-progress-report.pdf#page=32\">innovating new products\u003c/a> and recycling as a solution for sustainability. Although only a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700782\">tiny fraction\u003c/a> of plastic produced is recycled, the process itself \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/23/recycling-can-release-huge-quantities-of-microplastics-study-finds\">releases a ton\u003c/a> of microplastic pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people within private industry are working to influence the marketplace to reduce the production of new garments altogether. Americans are buying four times as many apparel items as we did in the 1980s, according to Andy Ruben, who launched Walmart’s sustainability efforts in 2004, which set standards for product sourcing and reducing corporate emissions.[aside postID=forum_2010101891083 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/43/2022/10/GettyImages-1331594926-1020x680.jpg']After Walmart, he founded \u003ca href=\"https://trove.com/\">Trove\u003c/a>, a company that helps businesses create a resale market so that less new stuff needs to be made for a brand to be profitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have enough clothing on the planet right this minute to dress the next six generations of humans,” Ruben said, quoting data touted by the British Fashion Council. “The best thing to do with an item you no longer need is to pass it down, sell it back, keep it in use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The microplastics that we’re talking about last 500 to 1,000 years. To address the root cause, we really need to talk about the amount of production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Changing consumption habits is a big challenge, he said. His views on the best approach to a more sustainable future have evolved over the past 20 years. He once believed that individual choices would put enough pressure on markets to drive change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I still believe market forces are a powerful driver for innovation and progress,” he said. “But ultimately, I think that [change] will require legislation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After spending an embarrassing amount of time thinking about this, I’ve identified my fleece policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. No new fleece, only hand-me-downs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Clothes shed a lot in their first few washes when they’re new,” said Lisa Erdle, a biologist and toxicologist at the 5 Gyres Institute, which researches plastic pollution. “Typically, hand-me-downs or things from the thrift store have already gone through the majority of microfiber shedding.” She noted that at the end of their lifespan, when they become threadbare, shedding can accelerate again, so I’ll watch out for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. No big fleece, even if used\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Fleece sheets, blankets or pajamas would likely cause more fiber inhalation than holding a lovie or wearing a fleece jacket.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Wash on cold, line dry\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Laundering is the major route for fleece fabrics to shed, so I wash on cold — hot causes more shedding — and hang dry. I am also going to buy a filter that attaches to a washing machine to take out some of the microplastic particles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996373\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996373\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teddy’s fleece stuffed animal Bunny sits on a couch at the KQED offices in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>4. No kiddos around the dryer lint trap\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sanjay Mohanty, an associate professor at UCLA who studies microplastics, lets his kids wear fleece, but he doesn’t want them near the dryer when he opens the door. The lint trap collects a lot of plastic when the dryer is stuffed with synthetics. “I would not want my kid around, or at least I would want them to wear a mask when taking out clothes from the drying machine,” Mohanty said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. When we’re done with fleece garments, we’ll pass them on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I pondered simply throwing away fleece garments once we’re done with them, but Schwarzman encouraged me to think more carefully. Giving someone a used but well-maintained fleece sweater is a win-win. It eliminates the need to buy a new one, and it’s already gone through most of its shedding, reducing pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In going to a landfill, it’s going to break down and pollute the landfill with microplastics,” Schwarzman said. “We might think of that as a safer place for it to be kind of locked away in there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/land_disposal/swat.html#:~:text=392%20sites%20%5B72%25%5D%20were,above%20other%20%22regulatory%20levels%22\">data from the state water board\u003c/a> show that California landfills have a history of leaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no way where we can throw things away. They all come back to us,” Schwarzman said. “As long as we keep basing our material economy on hazardous substances, we can never get away from them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Each week, the average person is estimated to ingest up to the weight of a credit card in microplastics. What could I do for my family? ",
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"title": "Cuddly but Costly: The Unseen Dangers of Fleece in Kids Clothes and Toys | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s not just the fleece sweater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the fleece stuffed animals and lovies my kid sleeps with, cuddled up under his chin throughout the night. It’s also the blankets, hats and pants. I’m increasingly concerned about the ubiquity of fleece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why worry?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101891083/microplastics-corrupted-our-planet-heres-what-we-can-do\">Because it’s plastic\u003c/a>. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerreports.org/toxic-chemicals-substances/how-plastic-can-harm-your-health-a2854312421/\">plastic is a poison\u003c/a>. It can both cause harm due to its size and composition and act as a chemical Velcro, trapping and transporting toxic materials that shouldn’t be in a young, growing body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve wondered about this for years — ever since learning babies have significantly higher levels of \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/baby-poop-is-loaded-with-microplastics/\">plastic in their poop\u003c/a> than adults — and even more so since giving birth to my own child. To decide what to do for myself and my family, I spent weeks talking to toxicologists, chemistry experts and professionals in the textile industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The upshot: Many experts agree that microplastic shedding poses risks to children, particularly through exposure to food and air. However, reasonable households and parents may reach different conclusions about how they want to handle fleece toys and clothes. Examining this opened up a new way for me to think about consumer choices, regulation and whether we can ever be rid of what we throw away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-09-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Danielle Venton plays with her son Teddy and his fleece stuffed animals at the KQED offices in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For my family, I’m slowly reducing the fleece in our house without waging outright war.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I continue, first, let me tell you a little bit about my sweet and talkative three-year-old boy. He adores his stuffed animals like I adore him. The favorites are Bunny, a green, floppy rabbit, and Dancing Man, a sky-blue sea otter with a blanket-like tummy. In the morning, he wakes up and gathers all the lovies together in his arms to bring them into our bed. He tells us about dreams or disputes the animals had and gives each of us one or two to hold for ourselves. I feel lucky when I’m handed Dancing Man — but I also feel a twinge of concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stuffed animal crew is made from polyester fleece, a fabric created by combining two petroleum derivatives: terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. When these refined crude oils are blended at high temperatures, they form a new liquid chemical called polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. As it cools, the mixture grows thick and syrupy, and a machine pushes it through tiny holes in a disk, where it hardens into a string that can be knitted together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996399\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-800x544.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-1020x693.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-768x522.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/Recology_017-1536x1044.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plastic bottles, which are single-use plastics, are piled on the floor of one section of the Recology Center in Hunters Point in San Francisco on Sept. 6, 2019. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many fleece garments are formed from a combination of virgin polyester and recycled soda bottles, which can seem like a great thing. However, recycled plastic can retain chemicals from whatever it was recycled from. Washing fleece releases plastic fibers that flow away from our house and, whether passing through a water treatment facility or a septic system, end up in the natural world. It ultimately returns to us — to our kids — in the form of polluted \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169772224000640\">water\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722069340\">food\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://e360.yale.edu/features/plastic-waste-atmosphere-climate-weather\">air\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The average person globally is estimated to ingest up to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33130380/\">the weight of a credit card\u003c/a> in microplastics each week from a variety of sources. Ingested plastic is linked to a host of respiratory, digestive and reproductive problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, researchers found strong evidence that microplastics harm human fertility and could increase cancer risk in the digestive and respiratory tracts, according to a survey commissioned by the California Legislature that \u003ca href=\"https://prheucsf.blog/2023/02/13/microplastics-more-like-macro-problem/\">summarized\u003c/a> 2,000 studies. In an update last year, the researchers added an additional 1,000 studies and reached the same conclusions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Scientists have gotten used to saying, ‘We don’t know for sure if microplastics are harming us,’” said Tracey Woodruff, a researcher in reproductive health and the environment at UCSF and one of the report authors.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That became an excuse used by industry and policymakers for not enacting regulations. Plastic pollution comes from many sources, but fabric is a large contributor to the microplastic particles found in the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’re now at the point where we have enough evidence to act,” Woodruff said. “It is really mind-blowing how much comes from textiles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kids’ bodies are smaller, and they crawl around on floors and put hands, feet — heck, everything — in their mouths, making them especially at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is reason to be concerned,” Woodruff said, adding that reducing exposure to plastic is in everyone’s interest. “The production of plastic is expected to double to triple in the next 20, 30 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the half dozen experts I spoke to, none said I should take Bunny and Dancing Man away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I think] individual prized objects like a stuffy or a favorite sweater are not the things to try to eliminate,” said Megan Schwarzman, researcher and associate director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Green Chemistry, who has a young son herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996368\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996368 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250317_PLASTIC-PLAYGROUND_DB_00024-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Roberts Regional Recreation Area Barrier Free Playground in Oakland on March 17, 2025. Microplastics can trigger inflammation and oxidative stress in human cells, potentially damaging DNA, breaking cell membranes, and contributing to chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease, according to the National Library of Medicine. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Plastic is everywhere, and one stuffed animal is “such a tiny fraction of the real true exposure that the battle is not worth it in terms of real risk reduction to the kid,” Schwarzman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children wearing or holding fleece might inhale some particles, but probably aren’t absorbing a lot of plastic through their skin, she said. A likely larger source of microplastics would be from degraded tires and paint sloughing off our roads and buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, his fleece is exposing him to a little bit of extra plastic, but the best short-term strategy to keep it out of his body would be to eliminate plastic from the kitchen, Schwarzman said. Store food and beverages in glass or metal. Do not microwave food in plastic. Do not reuse takeout containers, as they tend to be made from low-quality plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is currently a matter of personal choice and responsibility, but ought it to be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996403 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/241204-Black-Plastic-Utensils-DMB-0147_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plastic utensils at the bottom of a trash bin in Oakland, California, on Dec. 4, 2024. Recent research has pointed to microplastics as potentially harmful to human digestion and a possible driver for the increase of colorectal cancer. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I started thinking about new kitchen items to buy to cut down on plastic, but Schwarzman pushed me to think bigger. A shift toward fewer plastics and more natural materials would reduce some personal exposure and could send signals to the marketplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do a disservice when we suggest that people can solve the problem by buying different things,” she said. “It’s really putting public pressure on policymakers, [large-scale] purchasers, brands and manufacturers is what creates change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greener products, she noted, come at a price premium, “and there’s no way for them to compete because plastic is really cheap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, the environment and our bodies bear the toxic cost of manufactured materials, but the producers do not. What’s needed, Schwarzman said, is public policy that makes manufacturers responsible for a product’s true cost. California is taking a stab with SB 54, a 2022 law designed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11747798/california-weighs-how-to-lighten-its-plastic-problem\">reduce plastic packaging and increase recycling\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1092837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1092837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/10/PlasticBags1%E2%80%94Bags-e1742579030377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plastics can contain or absorb endocrine-disrupting chemicals that interfere with hormones, potentially leading to reproductive and developmental issues, according to the National Library of Medicine. \u003ccite>(Thinkstock)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Industry groups acknowledge concerns about the potential for their products to harm human health and the environment but emphasize the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of plastic. They point to \u003ca href=\"https://corporate.dow.com/content/dam/corp/documents/about/066-00469-01-2023-progress-report.pdf#page=32\">innovating new products\u003c/a> and recycling as a solution for sustainability. Although only a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700782\">tiny fraction\u003c/a> of plastic produced is recycled, the process itself \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/23/recycling-can-release-huge-quantities-of-microplastics-study-finds\">releases a ton\u003c/a> of microplastic pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people within private industry are working to influence the marketplace to reduce the production of new garments altogether. Americans are buying four times as many apparel items as we did in the 1980s, according to Andy Ruben, who launched Walmart’s sustainability efforts in 2004, which set standards for product sourcing and reducing corporate emissions.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After Walmart, he founded \u003ca href=\"https://trove.com/\">Trove\u003c/a>, a company that helps businesses create a resale market so that less new stuff needs to be made for a brand to be profitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have enough clothing on the planet right this minute to dress the next six generations of humans,” Ruben said, quoting data touted by the British Fashion Council. “The best thing to do with an item you no longer need is to pass it down, sell it back, keep it in use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The microplastics that we’re talking about last 500 to 1,000 years. To address the root cause, we really need to talk about the amount of production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Changing consumption habits is a big challenge, he said. His views on the best approach to a more sustainable future have evolved over the past 20 years. He once believed that individual choices would put enough pressure on markets to drive change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I still believe market forces are a powerful driver for innovation and progress,” he said. “But ultimately, I think that [change] will require legislation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After spending an embarrassing amount of time thinking about this, I’ve identified my fleece policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. No new fleece, only hand-me-downs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Clothes shed a lot in their first few washes when they’re new,” said Lisa Erdle, a biologist and toxicologist at the 5 Gyres Institute, which researches plastic pollution. “Typically, hand-me-downs or things from the thrift store have already gone through the majority of microfiber shedding.” She noted that at the end of their lifespan, when they become threadbare, shedding can accelerate again, so I’ll watch out for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. No big fleece, even if used\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Fleece sheets, blankets or pajamas would likely cause more fiber inhalation than holding a lovie or wearing a fleece jacket.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Wash on cold, line dry\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Laundering is the major route for fleece fabrics to shed, so I wash on cold — hot causes more shedding — and hang dry. I am also going to buy a filter that attaches to a washing machine to take out some of the microplastic particles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996373\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996373\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250102-KidsFleece-16-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teddy’s fleece stuffed animal Bunny sits on a couch at the KQED offices in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>4. No kiddos around the dryer lint trap\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sanjay Mohanty, an associate professor at UCLA who studies microplastics, lets his kids wear fleece, but he doesn’t want them near the dryer when he opens the door. The lint trap collects a lot of plastic when the dryer is stuffed with synthetics. “I would not want my kid around, or at least I would want them to wear a mask when taking out clothes from the drying machine,” Mohanty said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. When we’re done with fleece garments, we’ll pass them on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I pondered simply throwing away fleece garments once we’re done with them, but Schwarzman encouraged me to think more carefully. Giving someone a used but well-maintained fleece sweater is a win-win. It eliminates the need to buy a new one, and it’s already gone through most of its shedding, reducing pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In going to a landfill, it’s going to break down and pollute the landfill with microplastics,” Schwarzman said. “We might think of that as a safer place for it to be kind of locked away in there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/land_disposal/swat.html#:~:text=392%20sites%20%5B72%25%5D%20were,above%20other%20%22regulatory%20levels%22\">data from the state water board\u003c/a> show that California landfills have a history of leaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no way where we can throw things away. They all come back to us,” Schwarzman said. “As long as we keep basing our material economy on hazardous substances, we can never get away from them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "do-i-need-measles-booster-mmr-vaccine-outbreak-cases",
"title": "Do I Need a Measles Booster? And How Can I Check I'm Actually Vaccinated?",
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"headTitle": "Do I Need a Measles Booster? And How Can I Check I’m Actually Vaccinated? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>On Friday, health officials in Alameda and Santa Clara counties alerted the public to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042174/bay-area-measles-case-spurs-warnings-of-possible-exposures-at-3-locations\">a confirmed case of measles\u003c/a>, saying the resident tested positive after returning from international travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very highly vaccinated population, which is why we expect to contain the spread of this disease if everyone pays attention to their own vaccination status, stays up to date with their vaccinations and seeks the care we recommend today,” Dr. Sarah Rudman, the acting public health officer and director at Santa Clara County’s Department of Public Health, said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This makes at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/measles.aspx\">12 confirmed cases\u003c/a> in California in 2025. The United States has now seen\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html\"> more measles cases in the first five months\u003c/a> of this year than in all of 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#do-i-need-measles-booster\">Jump straight to: Who needs a measles booster?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Measles is a highly contagious virus spread through direct contact with infectious droplets and through the air when a person with measles breathes, coughs or sneezes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the most recent available data\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Friday, 67% of the 1,088 cases in the U.S. are in children and young people age 19 and younger; 96% of total cases involved individuals who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were 285 total measles cases nationwide in 2024 and only 59 in 2023. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yearly measles cases in the United States since 2000\n\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-E25vZ\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/E25vZ/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The spike comes after measles was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html#cdc_data_surveillance_section_6-history-of-measles-cases\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">officially eliminated\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the U.S. in 2000, which the CDC defines as new cases stemming only from international travel when someone is infected abroad and then reenters the U.S. In the 1990s, cases were as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">high as 27,808\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what if you were vaccinated against measles as a child — or think you were? Do you need a booster dose? Keep reading for what to know about the measles vaccine and which groups should speak to their health care provider about finding another shot.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What is the state of measles in California right now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On March 20, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-20/tuolumne-county-confirms-two-measles-cases-warns-of-exposure-at-high-school-and-emergency-room\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two cases were reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Tuolumne County, where the public health department has warned of\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/updates/measles-exposure-possible-at-tuolumne-county-high-school#:~:text=Two%20measles%20cases%20have%20been,School%20on%20March%2010%2D11\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> potential exposures at locations including a high school\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The California Department of Public Health said the cases involved an adult and a child under 18 who lived together and who had traveled internationally. CDPH defines an “outbreak” as three or more related cases.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world, but it is preventable with the MMR vaccine, San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said in a statement. “If children in your family are not fully vaccinated, or if you did not have measles as a child, please get the vaccine for the best protection.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The last major measles surge in California was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/measles.aspx\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in 2019\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, when 41 cases were associated with six separate outbreaks, bringing the state’s yearly total to 73. The largest outbreak that year resulted in 21 individual measles cases. Before that, an outbreak associated with Disneyland visits resulted in at least 131 Californians being infected with measles between Dec. 2014 and April 2015.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What is the measles vaccine, and when would I have gotten it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Measles is preventable with the combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, and vaccination against measles has been part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html\">routine childhood immunization\u003c/a> for decades. There’s also a combined Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella, or MMRV, vaccine, but it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html\">only licensed\u003c/a> for use in children under 12 years of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC recommends that everyone over 12 months of age be vaccinated against measles, with children receiving \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html\">two doses of the MMR vaccine \u003c/a>starting at 12-15 months of age. The second dose is recommended at 4-6 years of age. This vaccine provides lifetime protection against measles, so if you got your MMR vaccine as a child, you’re considered up-to-date on your vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>\u003ca id=\"do-i-need-measles-booster\">\u003c/a>If I’m up-to-date on my measles vaccines, do I need a measles booster?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>No, the CDC said. If you got two doses of measles vaccine as a child according to the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html\">vaccination schedule\u003c/a>, the CDC considers you “protected for life” and that you “do not ever need a booster dose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are, however, two groups of older adults who received childhood measles vaccinations but who should still talk to their health care provider about possibly getting another vaccination:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>People born between 1957 and 1969\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you are in this age group, which would make you between 56 and 68 years old today, the Bay Area health officers say it’s likely you only received one dose of the MMR vaccine and “should consider getting a second dose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What if you were born before 1957? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the CDC, everyone born before this year is presumed to have\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/hcp/recommendations.html#immunity\"> immunity from measles \u003c/a>from a previous infection, given how widespread the virus was during that period — although \u003ca href=\"https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/should-you-get-a-measles-vaccine-booster\">people \u003c/a>in this age group who work in health care and who don’t have any written evidence of this immunity should get the MMR vaccine anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>People who received the ‘killed’ measles vaccine between 1963 and 1967\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “killed,” or inactivated, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html#cdc_generic_section_1-protection-against-measles\">measles vaccine \u003c/a>was an earlier formulation of the measles vaccine that was only used for this brief period in the 1960s, for fewer than one million people, the CDC said. Because it was found \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lBIT7pOtFXC7RGnsk-l8cp_Wdk4O8Olc_a8u6X3WpQ4/edit?tab=t.0\">to be ineffective\u003c/a> and replaced with the current live vaccine, people who know they received this particular version of the vaccine “should talk to their health care provider about\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html#cdc_generic_section_1-protection-against-measles\"> getting revaccinated\u003c/a>” with the MMR vaccine, according to the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no harm in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html\">getting another dose \u003c/a>of MMR vaccine if you may already be immune to measles (or mumps or rubella),” the CDC said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1949px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1949\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed.jpg 1949w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-768x525.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-1920x1313.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1949px) 100vw, 1949px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The CDC recommends that everyone over 12 months of age be vaccinated against measles, with children receiving two doses of the MMR vaccine starting at 12-15 months of age. The second dose is recommended at 4-6 years of age. \u003ccite>(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>I don’t know if I’m vaccinated against measles. How can I check?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s no national organization that maintains Americans’\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-adults/recommended-vaccines/keeping-vaccine-records-up-to-date.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html\"> vaccination records\u003c/a>. Ways that the CDC suggests to track down your own records include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Ask your parents or caregivers for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-children/records/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/records/keeping-track.html\">records \u003c/a>of your childhood immunizations (or look in saved documents from your childhood, like baby books).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consult a state immunization registry like the California Department of Public Health’s \u003ca href=\"https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov/\">Digital Vaccine Record \u003c/a>portal.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Ask your doctor or public health clinic, but remember that these records may only be stored for a limited time.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The CDC\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-adults/recommended-vaccines/keeping-vaccine-records-up-to-date.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html\"> has a guide \u003c/a>to tracking down your vaccination records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the Bay Area coalition of public health officers, “your medical provider can order a simple blood test to check whether or not you are immune” to measles, either from vaccination or from a childhood infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason to check your vaccination status if you’re unsure: Possessing documentation of your vaccination status “can help you avoid being quarantined if you are exposed,” the health officers said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you can’t find any sign that you or your family have received a measles vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teenagers and adults with no evidence of immunity should be vaccinated right away,” they added — something the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-adults/recommended-vaccines/keeping-vaccine-records-up-to-date.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html\">CDC echoed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>If I’m vaccinated, am I still at risk of getting measles?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Five years of living with COVID-19 have taught us that being vaccinated against a virus doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get infected with that virus. The COVID-19 vaccine, for example, does somewhat reduce your chances of being infected — although the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/ncird/whats-new/5-things-you-should-know.html\"> CDC said \u003c/a>that “protection against infection tends to be modest and sometimes short-lived” — but it also means you’re much less likely to get severely ill if you do get infected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the measles vaccine is incredibly effective at protecting against infections, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html\"> CDC said\u003c/a>, and two doses of measles vaccine are “about 97% effective” at preventing measles if you’re exposed. (One dose is “about 93% effective.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for why “about three out of 100” people vaccinated against measles will still get measles after exposure — also known as breakthrough cases — \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html\">the CDC said \u003c/a>that experts “aren’t sure why” and that this could be due to the responsiveness of an individual’s immune system to the vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But the good news is, fully vaccinated people who get measles seem more likely to have a milder illness,” the CDC said — and fully vaccinated people “seem also less likely to spread the disease to other people.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What are the symptoms of measles?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996385\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2121px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996385\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024.jpg 2121w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Measles symptoms can occur between 1 and 3 weeks after exposure and could include fever, cough, runny nose and pink eye, followed a few days later by a rash. \u003ccite>(Natalya Maisheva/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, and pink eye, followed a few days later by a rash. These symptoms can emerge between\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/signs-symptoms/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/symptoms/signs-symptoms.html\"> seven and 21 days \u003c/a>after exposure. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people who become infected with measles — a highly contagious virus that spreads through direct contact with infectious droplets — will \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/signs-symptoms/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/symptoms/signs-symptoms.html\">require hospitalization\u003c/a>, according to the CDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some people, the disease can be fatal. In others, the impacts of an infection can linger — or appear —\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5328765/measles-outbreak-health-risk\"> years afterward.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the U.S. measles vaccination program started in 1963, an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html#cdc_generic_section_4-u-s-measles-cases-statistics\">3 to 4 million people \u003c/a>nationwide were infected with measles annually, the CDC said — with only 500,000 being reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Among reported cases, 400 to 500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 developed encephalitis (brain swelling) from measles,” the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Where can I find a measles vaccine in the Bay Area?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you have health insurance, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccines/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fvaccines%2Fvpd%2Fmmr%2Fpublic%2Findex.html\"> CDC’s recommendation of\u003c/a> these shots means that your insurer should cover the costs. You can find appointments for an MMR vaccine at:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Your regular health care provider.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A local pharmacy like \u003ca href=\"https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/services/mmr-measles-mumps-rubella\">CVS \u003c/a>or \u003ca href=\"https://www.walgreens.com/topic/pharmacy/scheduler/measles-mumps-rubella-mmr-vaccine_38.jsp\">Walgreens.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vaccines.gov/en/\">vaccines.gov\u003c/a>, the federal government’s vaccine locator.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://myturn.ca.gov/vaccinelocator.html\">myturn.ca.gov\u003c/a>, the state’s vaccine locator.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>For those without insurance: Uninsured children ages 18 and under can get free DTaP vaccines — and other no-cost immunizations — as part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/index.html\">Vaccines for Children Program\u003c/a>. People without insurance can get the MMR vaccine at a lower cost — or even free\u003ca href=\"https://eziz.org/assets/docs/IMM-1247.pdf\"> if they qualify \u003c/a>for the Vaccines for Adults Program — from several providers and community clinics around the Bay Area, including:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>San Francisco Department of Public Health’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/information/aitc-services-and-prices\">AITC clinic.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Contra Costa Public Health \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/immunization/clinics.php#Uninsured\">Immunization Clinics.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://acphd.org/clinics/\">Immunization Clinics.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s Samantha Kennedy and Nisa Khan contributed to this report. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "With growing measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico, who might need an MMR booster? And if you're unsure, how can you find your measles vaccination records?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Friday, health officials in Alameda and Santa Clara counties alerted the public to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042174/bay-area-measles-case-spurs-warnings-of-possible-exposures-at-3-locations\">a confirmed case of measles\u003c/a>, saying the resident tested positive after returning from international travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very highly vaccinated population, which is why we expect to contain the spread of this disease if everyone pays attention to their own vaccination status, stays up to date with their vaccinations and seeks the care we recommend today,” Dr. Sarah Rudman, the acting public health officer and director at Santa Clara County’s Department of Public Health, said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This makes at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/measles.aspx\">12 confirmed cases\u003c/a> in California in 2025. The United States has now seen\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html\"> more measles cases in the first five months\u003c/a> of this year than in all of 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#do-i-need-measles-booster\">Jump straight to: Who needs a measles booster?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Measles is a highly contagious virus spread through direct contact with infectious droplets and through the air when a person with measles breathes, coughs or sneezes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the most recent available data\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Friday, 67% of the 1,088 cases in the U.S. are in children and young people age 19 and younger; 96% of total cases involved individuals who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were 285 total measles cases nationwide in 2024 and only 59 in 2023. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yearly measles cases in the United States since 2000\n\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-E25vZ\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/E25vZ/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The spike comes after measles was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html#cdc_data_surveillance_section_6-history-of-measles-cases\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">officially eliminated\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the U.S. in 2000, which the CDC defines as new cases stemming only from international travel when someone is infected abroad and then reenters the U.S. In the 1990s, cases were as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">high as 27,808\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what if you were vaccinated against measles as a child — or think you were? Do you need a booster dose? Keep reading for what to know about the measles vaccine and which groups should speak to their health care provider about finding another shot.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What is the state of measles in California right now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On March 20, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-20/tuolumne-county-confirms-two-measles-cases-warns-of-exposure-at-high-school-and-emergency-room\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two cases were reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Tuolumne County, where the public health department has warned of\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/updates/measles-exposure-possible-at-tuolumne-county-high-school#:~:text=Two%20measles%20cases%20have%20been,School%20on%20March%2010%2D11\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> potential exposures at locations including a high school\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The California Department of Public Health said the cases involved an adult and a child under 18 who lived together and who had traveled internationally. CDPH defines an “outbreak” as three or more related cases.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world, but it is preventable with the MMR vaccine, San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said in a statement. “If children in your family are not fully vaccinated, or if you did not have measles as a child, please get the vaccine for the best protection.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The last major measles surge in California was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/measles.aspx\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in 2019\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, when 41 cases were associated with six separate outbreaks, bringing the state’s yearly total to 73. The largest outbreak that year resulted in 21 individual measles cases. Before that, an outbreak associated with Disneyland visits resulted in at least 131 Californians being infected with measles between Dec. 2014 and April 2015.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What is the measles vaccine, and when would I have gotten it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Measles is preventable with the combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, and vaccination against measles has been part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html\">routine childhood immunization\u003c/a> for decades. There’s also a combined Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella, or MMRV, vaccine, but it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html\">only licensed\u003c/a> for use in children under 12 years of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC recommends that everyone over 12 months of age be vaccinated against measles, with children receiving \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html\">two doses of the MMR vaccine \u003c/a>starting at 12-15 months of age. The second dose is recommended at 4-6 years of age. This vaccine provides lifetime protection against measles, so if you got your MMR vaccine as a child, you’re considered up-to-date on your vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>\u003ca id=\"do-i-need-measles-booster\">\u003c/a>If I’m up-to-date on my measles vaccines, do I need a measles booster?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>No, the CDC said. If you got two doses of measles vaccine as a child according to the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html\">vaccination schedule\u003c/a>, the CDC considers you “protected for life” and that you “do not ever need a booster dose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are, however, two groups of older adults who received childhood measles vaccinations but who should still talk to their health care provider about possibly getting another vaccination:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>People born between 1957 and 1969\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you are in this age group, which would make you between 56 and 68 years old today, the Bay Area health officers say it’s likely you only received one dose of the MMR vaccine and “should consider getting a second dose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What if you were born before 1957? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the CDC, everyone born before this year is presumed to have\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/hcp/recommendations.html#immunity\"> immunity from measles \u003c/a>from a previous infection, given how widespread the virus was during that period — although \u003ca href=\"https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/should-you-get-a-measles-vaccine-booster\">people \u003c/a>in this age group who work in health care and who don’t have any written evidence of this immunity should get the MMR vaccine anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>People who received the ‘killed’ measles vaccine between 1963 and 1967\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “killed,” or inactivated, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html#cdc_generic_section_1-protection-against-measles\">measles vaccine \u003c/a>was an earlier formulation of the measles vaccine that was only used for this brief period in the 1960s, for fewer than one million people, the CDC said. Because it was found \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lBIT7pOtFXC7RGnsk-l8cp_Wdk4O8Olc_a8u6X3WpQ4/edit?tab=t.0\">to be ineffective\u003c/a> and replaced with the current live vaccine, people who know they received this particular version of the vaccine “should talk to their health care provider about\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html#cdc_generic_section_1-protection-against-measles\"> getting revaccinated\u003c/a>” with the MMR vaccine, according to the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no harm in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html\">getting another dose \u003c/a>of MMR vaccine if you may already be immune to measles (or mumps or rubella),” the CDC said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1949px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1949\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed.jpg 1949w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-768x525.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/491404051_qed-1920x1313.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1949px) 100vw, 1949px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The CDC recommends that everyone over 12 months of age be vaccinated against measles, with children receiving two doses of the MMR vaccine starting at 12-15 months of age. The second dose is recommended at 4-6 years of age. \u003ccite>(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>I don’t know if I’m vaccinated against measles. How can I check?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s no national organization that maintains Americans’\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-adults/recommended-vaccines/keeping-vaccine-records-up-to-date.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html\"> vaccination records\u003c/a>. Ways that the CDC suggests to track down your own records include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Ask your parents or caregivers for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-children/records/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/records/keeping-track.html\">records \u003c/a>of your childhood immunizations (or look in saved documents from your childhood, like baby books).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consult a state immunization registry like the California Department of Public Health’s \u003ca href=\"https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov/\">Digital Vaccine Record \u003c/a>portal.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Ask your doctor or public health clinic, but remember that these records may only be stored for a limited time.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The CDC\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-adults/recommended-vaccines/keeping-vaccine-records-up-to-date.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html\"> has a guide \u003c/a>to tracking down your vaccination records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the Bay Area coalition of public health officers, “your medical provider can order a simple blood test to check whether or not you are immune” to measles, either from vaccination or from a childhood infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason to check your vaccination status if you’re unsure: Possessing documentation of your vaccination status “can help you avoid being quarantined if you are exposed,” the health officers said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you can’t find any sign that you or your family have received a measles vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teenagers and adults with no evidence of immunity should be vaccinated right away,” they added — something the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-adults/recommended-vaccines/keeping-vaccine-records-up-to-date.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html\">CDC echoed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>If I’m vaccinated, am I still at risk of getting measles?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Five years of living with COVID-19 have taught us that being vaccinated against a virus doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get infected with that virus. The COVID-19 vaccine, for example, does somewhat reduce your chances of being infected — although the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/ncird/whats-new/5-things-you-should-know.html\"> CDC said \u003c/a>that “protection against infection tends to be modest and sometimes short-lived” — but it also means you’re much less likely to get severely ill if you do get infected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the measles vaccine is incredibly effective at protecting against infections, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html\"> CDC said\u003c/a>, and two doses of measles vaccine are “about 97% effective” at preventing measles if you’re exposed. (One dose is “about 93% effective.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for why “about three out of 100” people vaccinated against measles will still get measles after exposure — also known as breakthrough cases — \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html\">the CDC said \u003c/a>that experts “aren’t sure why” and that this could be due to the responsiveness of an individual’s immune system to the vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But the good news is, fully vaccinated people who get measles seem more likely to have a milder illness,” the CDC said — and fully vaccinated people “seem also less likely to spread the disease to other people.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What are the symptoms of measles?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996385\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2121px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996385\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024.jpg 2121w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/GettyImages-2152300024-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Measles symptoms can occur between 1 and 3 weeks after exposure and could include fever, cough, runny nose and pink eye, followed a few days later by a rash. \u003ccite>(Natalya Maisheva/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, and pink eye, followed a few days later by a rash. These symptoms can emerge between\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/signs-symptoms/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/symptoms/signs-symptoms.html\"> seven and 21 days \u003c/a>after exposure. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people who become infected with measles — a highly contagious virus that spreads through direct contact with infectious droplets — will \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/signs-symptoms/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/symptoms/signs-symptoms.html\">require hospitalization\u003c/a>, according to the CDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some people, the disease can be fatal. In others, the impacts of an infection can linger — or appear —\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5328765/measles-outbreak-health-risk\"> years afterward.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the U.S. measles vaccination program started in 1963, an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/questions.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html#cdc_generic_section_4-u-s-measles-cases-statistics\">3 to 4 million people \u003c/a>nationwide were infected with measles annually, the CDC said — with only 500,000 being reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Among reported cases, 400 to 500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 developed encephalitis (brain swelling) from measles,” the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Where can I find a measles vaccine in the Bay Area?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you have health insurance, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccines/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fvaccines%2Fvpd%2Fmmr%2Fpublic%2Findex.html\"> CDC’s recommendation of\u003c/a> these shots means that your insurer should cover the costs. You can find appointments for an MMR vaccine at:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Your regular health care provider.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A local pharmacy like \u003ca href=\"https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/services/mmr-measles-mumps-rubella\">CVS \u003c/a>or \u003ca href=\"https://www.walgreens.com/topic/pharmacy/scheduler/measles-mumps-rubella-mmr-vaccine_38.jsp\">Walgreens.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vaccines.gov/en/\">vaccines.gov\u003c/a>, the federal government’s vaccine locator.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://myturn.ca.gov/vaccinelocator.html\">myturn.ca.gov\u003c/a>, the state’s vaccine locator.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>For those without insurance: Uninsured children ages 18 and under can get free DTaP vaccines — and other no-cost immunizations — as part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/index.html\">Vaccines for Children Program\u003c/a>. People without insurance can get the MMR vaccine at a lower cost — or even free\u003ca href=\"https://eziz.org/assets/docs/IMM-1247.pdf\"> if they qualify \u003c/a>for the Vaccines for Adults Program — from several providers and community clinics around the Bay Area, including:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>San Francisco Department of Public Health’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/information/aitc-services-and-prices\">AITC clinic.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Contra Costa Public Health \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/immunization/clinics.php#Uninsured\">Immunization Clinics.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://acphd.org/clinics/\">Immunization Clinics.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s Samantha Kennedy and Nisa Khan contributed to this report. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "9-unexpected-things-we-learned-about-mental-health-and-our-brains-in-2024",
"title": "9 Unexpected Things We Learned About Mental Health and Our Brains in 2024",
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"content": "\u003cp>“Brain rot” is the Oxford \u003ca href=\"https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/\">word of the year\u003c/a> for 2024, and it’s pretty much what it sounds like: a perceived mental decline from consuming too much online media. If just reading that definition has you worried about your gray matter, never fear! Researchers are finding promising — and surprising — ways to boost our brain health and de-stress our minds. Here are nine stories on the topic that engaged our readers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Writing by hand beats typing for learning and memory\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes, typing is usually much faster than writing by hand. But increasingly, studies are \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain\">finding deep brain benefits\u003c/a> when we write out letters and words by hand. For kids, it can improve letter recognition and learning; and when adults take notes by hand it can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brain imaging studies suggest it has to do with the fine-tuned coordination required between motor and visual systems, which deeply engages the brain. Some artists even say writing by hand stokes their creativity. So, if you’re feeling stuck — \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain\">\u003cem>try jotting down your idea with pen and paper. \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Your gut microbes can affect your mood\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Can what you eat make you more resilient to stress? Maybe! A recent analysis found that the guts of people who handled stress better shared two patterns: Their microbiomes had more anti-inflammatory microbes, and they had a strong “gut barrier,” which keeps toxins and pathogens out of the bloodstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists already know that our gut and brain talk to each other. (In fact, the gut produces about 90% of serotonin and about 50% of dopamine.) So, will eating fermented foods like kimchi or yogurt or taking probiotic supplements help you stay chill?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that simple, scientists say, because the gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem. Still, researchers are working on identifying biomarkers in gut bacteria that someday could help tailor decisions on how to use existing therapies — or develop new treatments. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/24/nx-s1-5018044/gut-microbiome-microbes-mental-health-stress\">\u003cem>Learn more about microbes and mental health.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995395\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995395\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of biomes of the human digestive tract. \u003ccite>(Mehau Kulyk/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>3. Working late in young adulthood may lead to depression and poor health in middle age\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Your body already knows this: When you sacrifice sleep for work, it can take a toll on your mental health. Now, research is finding that specifically working nights and rotating shift schedules can leave people \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/16/1244136216/burnout-late-shift-overwork-depression\">susceptible to depression and poor health.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work is supposed to bring in income to support us, says researcher Wen-Jui Han, but many people are working themselves sick and becoming “more and more miserable over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 16% of American workers worked outside daytime hours in 2019; Black men and women with limited education disproportionately carry the burden of these shifts. Han says she hopes the study prompts more conversations about how to better support people to live happy and healthy lives. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/16/1244136216/burnout-late-shift-overwork-depression\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>Here’s more on the link between shift work and depression.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>4. About 40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by improving daily habits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When it comes to a healthy lifestyles, little changes can go a long way. Research is increasingly finding we may be able to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5050956/health-brain-dementia-sleep-diet-alzheimers\">reduce our risk for dementia.\u003c/a> Tweaks to our sleep, diet, social lives and exercise habits all add up. Even people who have genetic risk factors can benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, scientists have created an online tool — the Brain Care Score — to help people gauge and track risks to their brain health. (\u003ca href=\"https://redcap.partners.org/redcap/surveys/?s=JN7CJ4LKW8LEADWR\">You can check your score here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent study found that each 5-point increase in a brain care score was associated with a 27% lower composite risk of dementia, stroke and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What was surprising to us was just how powerful it was,” says Dr. Kevin Sheth, director of Yale University’s Center for Brain and Mind Health and a co-author of the study. Sheth says the findings have led him to tweak some of his own habits — he’s swapped sugary desserts for fruit at some meals and added more leafy greens to his diet. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5050956/health-brain-dementia-sleep-diet-alzheimers\">\u003cem>Get started boosting your brain health.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Talking to your ‘parts’ can help you deal with stress and maybe change your life\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1995396\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever felt paralyzed by stress? Worn down by that inner voice critiquing your choices? A therapeutic approach called Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is growing in popularity. It’s based on the idea that each of us has multiple parts or perspectives inside us — for example, people may have an inner critic, a worrier, a protector. The method involves learning to embrace all your parts, treat them with compassion and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5055753/parts-work-therapy-internal-family-systems-anxiety\">figure out what they may be telling you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some patients have called it “life-changing.” While some therapists say the evidence isn’t there yet, some small studies show IFS can benefit people with specific issues, including PTSD, stress and depression. And more research is underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An increasing number of therapists are trained in IFS, but you can try getting to know your “internal family” on your own. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5055753/parts-work-therapy-internal-family-systems-anxiety\">\u003cem>Start here.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Weight training can help with anxiety and depression (among other things)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Strength training is good for your bones, joints, heart — and now it turns out, it benefits your mood, too. An analysis of more than 30 clinical trials found people who did strength training at least two to three times a week had a reduction of symptoms of depression. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201703/how-strength-training-helps-keep-anxiety-bay#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIn%20our%20study%2C%20a%20single,and%20other%20negative%20mood%20states.%E2%80%9D\">other research\u003c/a> found it can reduce anxiety, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a little goes a long way. While it’s increasingly common to see female weightlifters on social media, women don’t have to become bodybuilders to see the benefits. A recent study found that women need to do less exercise than men to change their baseline of aerobic and muscular strength. If lifting weights at the gym isn’t your thing, try exercises using resistance bands or your own body weight, such as squats or push-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Find out more about the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/11/1236791784/strength-resistance-weight-training-longevity-aging-heart-disease\">\u003cem>many benefits of resistance training\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1995397\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1056\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-800x528.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-1020x673.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-768x507.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-1536x1014.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>7. Ultra-processed foods are linked to poor mental health, too\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Americans consume more than half their daily calories from ultra-processed foods — think fast food, sugary drinks, packaged snacks. Researchers say there’s consistent evidence that eating more of these foods is correlated with sickness, including mental health struggles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, an extensive new analysis found roughly a 20-to-50% increased risk of depressive symptoms in people who eat diets high in ultra-processed foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear how much is too much. Researchers say it may vary based on people’s lifestyles. The FDA is considering a label that would flag foods that contain high amounts of sodium, sugar and saturated fat. But in the meantime, if a food contains many ingredients you wouldn’t find in your own kitchen, that’s a telltale sign it’s ultra-processed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Here’s the skinny on the effects of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/18/1238939706/ultra-processed-food-junk-food-disease-cancer-anxiety-depression-diet\">\u003cem>ultra-processed foods on our brains and bodies\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>8. Scientists are learning how the brain removes waste and what that means for Alzheimer’s, headaches, depression and more\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Experts have identified another miracle of sleep. To stay healthy, our brains need to wash away the debris created by the billions of cells that keep them running. New research is finding that during deep sleep, slow electrical waves serve to synchronize our neurons, effectively turning them into tiny pumps that push fluid from deep in the brain to its surface. From there, the waste is transported to the liver and kidneys to be removed from the body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Problems with brain waste removal might be a factor in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, headache and even depression.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>So, finding ways to help an impaired brain clean itself \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/26/g-s1-6177/brain-waste-removal-system-amyloid-alzheimer-toxins\">\u003cem>could help develop treatments for a wide array of disorders\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995398\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995398\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New insights into the brain’s waste-removal system could one day help researchers better understand and prevent many different brain disorders. \u003ccite>(Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>9. A high-fat, low-carb diet could help some people with mental illness\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, some patients started experimenting with the \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01821.x\">ketogenic diet\u003c/a>, which is high fat and very low carb, to manage mental health symptoms. Researchers took note, and now, around a \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?cond=Psychiatric%20Disorder&intr=ketogenic%20diet\">dozen clinical trials\u003c/a> are in the works, testing the diet’s effect on mental illness, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a few working theories as to why it might help. For one, the diet brings blood sugar and insulin sensitivity under control, both of which are linked with mental health problems. It also may provide a workaround for dysfunction in mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, which could lead to a healthier brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early results from studies are promising. The only downside? Some clinicians worry the diet — which involves giving up common comfort foods like bread and sweets — may be too hard for some patients to follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/g-s1-27240/kathleen-masterson\">Kathleen Masterson\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/g-s1-35940/andrea-muraskin\">Andrea Muraskin\u003c/a>, NPR",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“Brain rot” is the Oxford \u003ca href=\"https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/\">word of the year\u003c/a> for 2024, and it’s pretty much what it sounds like: a perceived mental decline from consuming too much online media. If just reading that definition has you worried about your gray matter, never fear! Researchers are finding promising — and surprising — ways to boost our brain health and de-stress our minds. Here are nine stories on the topic that engaged our readers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Writing by hand beats typing for learning and memory\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes, typing is usually much faster than writing by hand. But increasingly, studies are \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain\">finding deep brain benefits\u003c/a> when we write out letters and words by hand. For kids, it can improve letter recognition and learning; and when adults take notes by hand it can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brain imaging studies suggest it has to do with the fine-tuned coordination required between motor and visual systems, which deeply engages the brain. Some artists even say writing by hand stokes their creativity. So, if you’re feeling stuck — \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain\">\u003cem>try jotting down your idea with pen and paper. \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Your gut microbes can affect your mood\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Can what you eat make you more resilient to stress? Maybe! A recent analysis found that the guts of people who handled stress better shared two patterns: Their microbiomes had more anti-inflammatory microbes, and they had a strong “gut barrier,” which keeps toxins and pathogens out of the bloodstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists already know that our gut and brain talk to each other. (In fact, the gut produces about 90% of serotonin and about 50% of dopamine.) So, will eating fermented foods like kimchi or yogurt or taking probiotic supplements help you stay chill?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that simple, scientists say, because the gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem. Still, researchers are working on identifying biomarkers in gut bacteria that someday could help tailor decisions on how to use existing therapies — or develop new treatments. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/24/nx-s1-5018044/gut-microbiome-microbes-mental-health-stress\">\u003cem>Learn more about microbes and mental health.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995395\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995395\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-1-copy-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of biomes of the human digestive tract. \u003ccite>(Mehau Kulyk/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>3. Working late in young adulthood may lead to depression and poor health in middle age\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Your body already knows this: When you sacrifice sleep for work, it can take a toll on your mental health. Now, research is finding that specifically working nights and rotating shift schedules can leave people \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/16/1244136216/burnout-late-shift-overwork-depression\">susceptible to depression and poor health.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work is supposed to bring in income to support us, says researcher Wen-Jui Han, but many people are working themselves sick and becoming “more and more miserable over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 16% of American workers worked outside daytime hours in 2019; Black men and women with limited education disproportionately carry the burden of these shifts. Han says she hopes the study prompts more conversations about how to better support people to live happy and healthy lives. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/16/1244136216/burnout-late-shift-overwork-depression\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>Here’s more on the link between shift work and depression.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>4. About 40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by improving daily habits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When it comes to a healthy lifestyles, little changes can go a long way. Research is increasingly finding we may be able to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5050956/health-brain-dementia-sleep-diet-alzheimers\">reduce our risk for dementia.\u003c/a> Tweaks to our sleep, diet, social lives and exercise habits all add up. Even people who have genetic risk factors can benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, scientists have created an online tool — the Brain Care Score — to help people gauge and track risks to their brain health. (\u003ca href=\"https://redcap.partners.org/redcap/surveys/?s=JN7CJ4LKW8LEADWR\">You can check your score here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent study found that each 5-point increase in a brain care score was associated with a 27% lower composite risk of dementia, stroke and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What was surprising to us was just how powerful it was,” says Dr. Kevin Sheth, director of Yale University’s Center for Brain and Mind Health and a co-author of the study. Sheth says the findings have led him to tweak some of his own habits — he’s swapped sugary desserts for fruit at some meals and added more leafy greens to his diet. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5050956/health-brain-dementia-sleep-diet-alzheimers\">\u003cem>Get started boosting your brain health.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Talking to your ‘parts’ can help you deal with stress and maybe change your life\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1995396\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever felt paralyzed by stress? Worn down by that inner voice critiquing your choices? A therapeutic approach called Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is growing in popularity. It’s based on the idea that each of us has multiple parts or perspectives inside us — for example, people may have an inner critic, a worrier, a protector. The method involves learning to embrace all your parts, treat them with compassion and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5055753/parts-work-therapy-internal-family-systems-anxiety\">figure out what they may be telling you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some patients have called it “life-changing.” While some therapists say the evidence isn’t there yet, some small studies show IFS can benefit people with specific issues, including PTSD, stress and depression. And more research is underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An increasing number of therapists are trained in IFS, but you can try getting to know your “internal family” on your own. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5055753/parts-work-therapy-internal-family-systems-anxiety\">\u003cem>Start here.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Weight training can help with anxiety and depression (among other things)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Strength training is good for your bones, joints, heart — and now it turns out, it benefits your mood, too. An analysis of more than 30 clinical trials found people who did strength training at least two to three times a week had a reduction of symptoms of depression. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201703/how-strength-training-helps-keep-anxiety-bay#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIn%20our%20study%2C%20a%20single,and%20other%20negative%20mood%20states.%E2%80%9D\">other research\u003c/a> found it can reduce anxiety, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a little goes a long way. While it’s increasingly common to see female weightlifters on social media, women don’t have to become bodybuilders to see the benefits. A recent study found that women need to do less exercise than men to change their baseline of aerobic and muscular strength. If lifting weights at the gym isn’t your thing, try exercises using resistance bands or your own body weight, such as squats or push-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Find out more about the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/11/1236791784/strength-resistance-weight-training-longevity-aging-heart-disease\">\u003cem>many benefits of resistance training\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1995397\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1056\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-800x528.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-1020x673.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-768x507.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/gettyimages-1217857383_custom-b4ef53f04732b36c77c3655ca8bd52470c74a8ab-copy-1536x1014.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>7. Ultra-processed foods are linked to poor mental health, too\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Americans consume more than half their daily calories from ultra-processed foods — think fast food, sugary drinks, packaged snacks. Researchers say there’s consistent evidence that eating more of these foods is correlated with sickness, including mental health struggles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, an extensive new analysis found roughly a 20-to-50% increased risk of depressive symptoms in people who eat diets high in ultra-processed foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear how much is too much. Researchers say it may vary based on people’s lifestyles. The FDA is considering a label that would flag foods that contain high amounts of sodium, sugar and saturated fat. But in the meantime, if a food contains many ingredients you wouldn’t find in your own kitchen, that’s a telltale sign it’s ultra-processed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Here’s the skinny on the effects of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/18/1238939706/ultra-processed-food-junk-food-disease-cancer-anxiety-depression-diet\">\u003cem>ultra-processed foods on our brains and bodies\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>8. Scientists are learning how the brain removes waste and what that means for Alzheimer’s, headaches, depression and more\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Experts have identified another miracle of sleep. To stay healthy, our brains need to wash away the debris created by the billions of cells that keep them running. New research is finding that during deep sleep, slow electrical waves serve to synchronize our neurons, effectively turning them into tiny pumps that push fluid from deep in the brain to its surface. From there, the waste is transported to the liver and kidneys to be removed from the body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Problems with brain waste removal might be a factor in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, headache and even depression.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>So, finding ways to help an impaired brain clean itself \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/26/g-s1-6177/brain-waste-removal-system-amyloid-alzheimer-toxins\">\u003cem>could help develop treatments for a wide array of disorders\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995398\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995398\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New insights into the brain’s waste-removal system could one day help researchers better understand and prevent many different brain disorders. \u003ccite>(Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>9. A high-fat, low-carb diet could help some people with mental illness\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, some patients started experimenting with the \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01821.x\">ketogenic diet\u003c/a>, which is high fat and very low carb, to manage mental health symptoms. Researchers took note, and now, around a \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?cond=Psychiatric%20Disorder&intr=ketogenic%20diet\">dozen clinical trials\u003c/a> are in the works, testing the diet’s effect on mental illness, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a few working theories as to why it might help. For one, the diet brings blood sugar and insulin sensitivity under control, both of which are linked with mental health problems. It also may provide a workaround for dysfunction in mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, which could lead to a healthier brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early results from studies are promising. The only downside? Some clinicians worry the diet — which involves giving up common comfort foods like bread and sweets — may be too hard for some patients to follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gas stoves emit a host of pollution that is unhealthy for you, from gases that irritate your lungs to carcinogens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a climate reporter who covers indoor air quality, I’ve read \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935117300750\">study\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9819315/\">study\u003c/a> about the negative health impacts of cooking with gas. Not to mention their impact on the \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2022/01/rethinking-cooking-gas\">planet\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a majority of Californians, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/data/2020/state/pdf/State%20Appliances.pdf\">roughly 70% (PDF)\u003c/a>, use gas stoves. They’re one of the only gas appliances we use that vent inside our homes. National and state codes dictate that gas furnaces, water heaters and dryers all vent their exhaust outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a lot of noise around the health of gas stoves last year after \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/75\">research\u003c/a> came out, attributing roughly 13% of current childhood asthma cases in the U.S. to the appliances. Reports circled that a member of the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission said a \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears?utm_source=website&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=twitter&sref=wINQCNXe\">ban\u003c/a> on gas stoves was on the table. Conservatives falsely claimed the Biden administration was out for the appliances, and a Republican Congressman \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/RonnyJacksonTX/status/1612839703018934274\">wrote on social media platform X\u003c/a> that his stove would need to be pried “from my cold dead hands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I wanted to see what really happened in my own home, a place I share with my husband and two kids, one of whom has asthma. Just how bad was our own gas stove?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I invited over two scientists from research nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.psehealthyenergy.org/\">PSE Healthy Energy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PmfHsWEAAAAJ&hl=en\">Eric Lebel\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J6lURzMAAAAJ&hl=en\">Yannai Kashtan\u003c/a>, who’ve also published extensive \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PmfHsWEAAAAJ&hl=en\">research\u003c/a> on the topic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They suggested we run our own experiments: to test the air in my home when cooking with a plug-in induction cooktop versus a gas stove, to cook with the hood on versus off, and to simulate preparing a bountiful holiday meal with multiple burners ablaze and the oven on high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While I had some guesses about what would happen, the results still surprised me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995342\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995342\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a machine near a gas stove.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PSE researchers Nicole Lucha (left) and Jackson Goldman collect a sample of unburned gas from a stove for analysis. \u003ccite>(Courtesy: Alessandro Citterio/PSE Healthy Energy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A mobile lab\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lebel and Kashtan rolled up on a rainy and cold November morning with what was essentially a mobile air testing lab in the back of a car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They unlooped three long, clear tubes and wove them from the car, through our front doorway, and into three separate rooms: the kitchen, living room and kids’ room. The open ends of the tubes pulled air from inside the house to analyzers in the back of the car outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To eliminate any false readings from other gas sources, we made sure to turn off the furnace and water heater. The car with the analyzers, while parked and off, was electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas stoves can emit a whole bunch of pollutants, including carbon monoxide and methane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we measured those gases, we largely focused on nitrogen dioxide, which irritates your respiratory system, and benzene, a carcinogen. These are the two pollutants with demonstrative health effects that scientists at PSE Healthy Energy find most frequently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The World Health Organization sets guidelines for safe exposure to nitrogen dioxide and benzene:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Nitrogen dioxide, exposure for a short time of an hour: 100 parts per billion\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Nitrogen dioxide, chronic exposure: 5.3 parts per billion\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Benzene: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/chemical-safety-and-health/health-impacts/chemicals/benzene#:~:text=Interventions%20to%20reduce%20both%20work,containing%20products%2C%20promoting%20building%20codes\">No safe level\u003c/a> can be recommended”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>That means if I’m baking cookies and frying potato pancakes and spike the level of nitrogen dioxide in the air up past 100 ppb, WHO recommends I only breathe that in for an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if I’m always breathing in more than 5.3 ppb, I need to figure out some better form of ventilation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nitrogen dioxide “is one of the clearest things that negatively impacts our respiratory health,” said Carlos Gould, assistant professor at UC San Diego School of Public Health. “It makes your respiratory system, your throat, your lungs really angry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies dating back \u003ca href=\"https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202306-533VP\">to the 1970s\u003c/a> have found an association between nitrogen dioxide and respiratory issues like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we move through the world, we’ll inevitably be exposed to all kinds of pollutants. These guidelines can help us try to minimize our risks of exposure. You’re not doomed if you breathe in a high amount of nitrogen dioxide for over an hour, but it would be better if you didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #1: Induction cooktop, hood off\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of induction burner. Text saying: Induction burner, no hood. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? It didn't.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">We filled up a large pot with six cups of water. We turned a portable, plug-in induction cooktop on high and waited. No windows were open, and the hood was off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The charts tracking emissions were all flat: nitrogen dioxide, benzene and other pollutants remained the same. The only thing to nudge up slightly was carbon dioxide, and that was from us, three people and one dog, exhaling in the kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): did not exceed\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): did not exceed\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: 0\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #2: One gas burner, hood off\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995355\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870.jpg\" alt=\"Hood off. One gas burner. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? 9 minutes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">We set up the same pot with six cups of water, setting one burner on the gas stove on high to boil the liquid. No windows were open, and the hood was off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nitrogen dioxide levels shot up fast, surpassing chronic WHO guidelines for chronic exposure in minutes. Benzene remained low compared to numbers scientists have measured \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c09289\">from other stoves\u003c/a> but still increased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gases quickly spread throughout the house, including our kids’ bedroom. “What we find pretty consistently is that the pollution spreads pretty evenly, pretty quickly,” said scientist Kashtan, who’s led several studies about the pollution created by gas stoves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): 9 minutes\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): 33 minutes\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: +0.15 ppb\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #3: One gas burner, hood on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995356\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869.jpg\" alt=\"Hood on. One gas burner. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? 9 minutes. But hood kept higher levels of pollution down. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">We aired out the house and set up the same experiment again but with the hood on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initially, nitrogen dioxide increased quickly but then slowed significantly. The hood seemed to hold the higher concentrations of nitrogen dioxide down by at least a half, and in some cases more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): 9 minutes\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): did not exceed\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: +0.05 ppb\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #4: Holiday cooking with oven and two gas burners, hood on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995357\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871.jpg\" alt=\"Hood on. Two gas burners. Oven on 425. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? 4 minutes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">With the oven on at 425 degrees Fahrenheit and two burners alight, the pollution levels bounced up within minutes despite the hood venting air outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levels of nitrogen dioxide ballooned above what is healthy, even temporarily. In our particular home, the pollution continued to accumulate in our living room, where presumably people would be gathering before a holiday meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): 4 minutes\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): did not exceed but hovered up in the 90s\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: +0.06 ppb\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The takeaways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Overall, indoor air pollution was nearly zero when cooking with induction. The next best option was using just one burner with the hood on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single burner without the hood on and two burners plus the oven with the hood on both spiked pollution quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our experiments showed me the value of limiting how often I use our gas stove and that I could reduce the risk of exposure to harmful gases by using a plug-in single burner cooktop or other electric appliances like a slow cooker more frequently than the gas range. It reiterated the importance of turning on the hood (though it is noisy) and ventilating the house, even when it’s cold.[aside tag=\"gas, electricity\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the large increases in nitrogen dioxide and small increases in benzene did not surprise me, I was completely shocked at how quickly and evenly the pollution spread from the kitchen to other rooms in our home. One tube was taking readings from the side of my toddler’s crib, and seeing numbers of pollutants there move skyward was unsettling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While my house is just one example, measured over just one morning, it lines up with research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is just one data point among a wide published body of literature that shares the scientific findings that we’ve come to,” senior scientist Eric Lebel said upon reviewing the results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gas stoves emit a host of pollution that is unhealthy for you, from gases that irritate your lungs to carcinogens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a climate reporter who covers indoor air quality, I’ve read \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935117300750\">study\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9819315/\">study\u003c/a> about the negative health impacts of cooking with gas. Not to mention their impact on the \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2022/01/rethinking-cooking-gas\">planet\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a majority of Californians, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/data/2020/state/pdf/State%20Appliances.pdf\">roughly 70% (PDF)\u003c/a>, use gas stoves. They’re one of the only gas appliances we use that vent inside our homes. National and state codes dictate that gas furnaces, water heaters and dryers all vent their exhaust outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a lot of noise around the health of gas stoves last year after \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/75\">research\u003c/a> came out, attributing roughly 13% of current childhood asthma cases in the U.S. to the appliances. Reports circled that a member of the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission said a \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears?utm_source=website&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=twitter&sref=wINQCNXe\">ban\u003c/a> on gas stoves was on the table. Conservatives falsely claimed the Biden administration was out for the appliances, and a Republican Congressman \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/RonnyJacksonTX/status/1612839703018934274\">wrote on social media platform X\u003c/a> that his stove would need to be pried “from my cold dead hands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I wanted to see what really happened in my own home, a place I share with my husband and two kids, one of whom has asthma. Just how bad was our own gas stove?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I invited over two scientists from research nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.psehealthyenergy.org/\">PSE Healthy Energy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PmfHsWEAAAAJ&hl=en\">Eric Lebel\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J6lURzMAAAAJ&hl=en\">Yannai Kashtan\u003c/a>, who’ve also published extensive \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PmfHsWEAAAAJ&hl=en\">research\u003c/a> on the topic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They suggested we run our own experiments: to test the air in my home when cooking with a plug-in induction cooktop versus a gas stove, to cook with the hood on versus off, and to simulate preparing a bountiful holiday meal with multiple burners ablaze and the oven on high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While I had some guesses about what would happen, the results still surprised me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995342\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995342\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a machine near a gas stove.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/AlessandroCitterio_PSE_064-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PSE researchers Nicole Lucha (left) and Jackson Goldman collect a sample of unburned gas from a stove for analysis. \u003ccite>(Courtesy: Alessandro Citterio/PSE Healthy Energy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A mobile lab\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lebel and Kashtan rolled up on a rainy and cold November morning with what was essentially a mobile air testing lab in the back of a car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They unlooped three long, clear tubes and wove them from the car, through our front doorway, and into three separate rooms: the kitchen, living room and kids’ room. The open ends of the tubes pulled air from inside the house to analyzers in the back of the car outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To eliminate any false readings from other gas sources, we made sure to turn off the furnace and water heater. The car with the analyzers, while parked and off, was electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas stoves can emit a whole bunch of pollutants, including carbon monoxide and methane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we measured those gases, we largely focused on nitrogen dioxide, which irritates your respiratory system, and benzene, a carcinogen. These are the two pollutants with demonstrative health effects that scientists at PSE Healthy Energy find most frequently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The World Health Organization sets guidelines for safe exposure to nitrogen dioxide and benzene:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Nitrogen dioxide, exposure for a short time of an hour: 100 parts per billion\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Nitrogen dioxide, chronic exposure: 5.3 parts per billion\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Benzene: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/chemical-safety-and-health/health-impacts/chemicals/benzene#:~:text=Interventions%20to%20reduce%20both%20work,containing%20products%2C%20promoting%20building%20codes\">No safe level\u003c/a> can be recommended”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>That means if I’m baking cookies and frying potato pancakes and spike the level of nitrogen dioxide in the air up past 100 ppb, WHO recommends I only breathe that in for an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if I’m always breathing in more than 5.3 ppb, I need to figure out some better form of ventilation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nitrogen dioxide “is one of the clearest things that negatively impacts our respiratory health,” said Carlos Gould, assistant professor at UC San Diego School of Public Health. “It makes your respiratory system, your throat, your lungs really angry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies dating back \u003ca href=\"https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202306-533VP\">to the 1970s\u003c/a> have found an association between nitrogen dioxide and respiratory issues like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we move through the world, we’ll inevitably be exposed to all kinds of pollutants. These guidelines can help us try to minimize our risks of exposure. You’re not doomed if you breathe in a high amount of nitrogen dioxide for over an hour, but it would be better if you didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #1: Induction cooktop, hood off\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of induction burner. Text saying: Induction burner, no hood. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? It didn't.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0872-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">We filled up a large pot with six cups of water. We turned a portable, plug-in induction cooktop on high and waited. No windows were open, and the hood was off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The charts tracking emissions were all flat: nitrogen dioxide, benzene and other pollutants remained the same. The only thing to nudge up slightly was carbon dioxide, and that was from us, three people and one dog, exhaling in the kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): did not exceed\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): did not exceed\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: 0\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #2: One gas burner, hood off\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995355\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870.jpg\" alt=\"Hood off. One gas burner. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? 9 minutes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0870-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">We set up the same pot with six cups of water, setting one burner on the gas stove on high to boil the liquid. No windows were open, and the hood was off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nitrogen dioxide levels shot up fast, surpassing chronic WHO guidelines for chronic exposure in minutes. Benzene remained low compared to numbers scientists have measured \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c09289\">from other stoves\u003c/a> but still increased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gases quickly spread throughout the house, including our kids’ bedroom. “What we find pretty consistently is that the pollution spreads pretty evenly, pretty quickly,” said scientist Kashtan, who’s led several studies about the pollution created by gas stoves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): 9 minutes\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): 33 minutes\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: +0.15 ppb\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #3: One gas burner, hood on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995356\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869.jpg\" alt=\"Hood on. One gas burner. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? 9 minutes. But hood kept higher levels of pollution down. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0869-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">We aired out the house and set up the same experiment again but with the hood on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initially, nitrogen dioxide increased quickly but then slowed significantly. The hood seemed to hold the higher concentrations of nitrogen dioxide down by at least a half, and in some cases more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): 9 minutes\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): did not exceed\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: +0.05 ppb\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Experiment #4: Holiday cooking with oven and two gas burners, hood on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1995357\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871.jpg\" alt=\"Hood on. Two gas burners. Oven on 425. How long did it take to reach unhealthy levels? 4 minutes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/IMG_0871-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">With the oven on at 425 degrees Fahrenheit and two burners alight, the pollution levels bounced up within minutes despite the hood venting air outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levels of nitrogen dioxide ballooned above what is healthy, even temporarily. In our particular home, the pollution continued to accumulate in our living room, where presumably people would be gathering before a holiday meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exceeds WHO’s chronic nitrogen dioxide guideline (5.3 ppb): 4 minutes\u003cbr>\nExceeds WHO’s short-term nitrogen dioxide guideline (100 ppb): did not exceed but hovered up in the 90s\u003cbr>\nChanges in benzene level at 15 minutes: +0.06 ppb\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The takeaways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Overall, indoor air pollution was nearly zero when cooking with induction. The next best option was using just one burner with the hood on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single burner without the hood on and two burners plus the oven with the hood on both spiked pollution quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our experiments showed me the value of limiting how often I use our gas stove and that I could reduce the risk of exposure to harmful gases by using a plug-in single burner cooktop or other electric appliances like a slow cooker more frequently than the gas range. It reiterated the importance of turning on the hood (though it is noisy) and ventilating the house, even when it’s cold.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the large increases in nitrogen dioxide and small increases in benzene did not surprise me, I was completely shocked at how quickly and evenly the pollution spread from the kitchen to other rooms in our home. One tube was taking readings from the side of my toddler’s crib, and seeing numbers of pollutants there move skyward was unsettling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While my house is just one example, measured over just one morning, it lines up with research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is just one data point among a wide published body of literature that shares the scientific findings that we’ve come to,” senior scientist Eric Lebel said upon reviewing the results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "what-is-fluoride-and-why-is-it-in-tap-water-fact-checking-rfk-jr-s-claims",
"title": "What Is Fluoride and Why Is It in Tap Water? Fact-Checking RFK Jr.’s Claims",
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"headTitle": "What Is Fluoride and Why Is It in Tap Water? Fact-Checking RFK Jr.’s Claims | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration could try to remove fluoride from drinking water, according to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy, who was tapped last week by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, called fluoride an “industrial waste” and linked it to cancer and other diseases and disorders while campaigning for Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” Kennedy \u003ca href=\"https://archive.is/qQKgT\">wrote on Nov. 2 on the social media platform X.\u003c/a> Kennedy linked to a video from an attorney who recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-fluoride-drinking-water-federal-court-ruling/\">successfully sued\u003c/a> the Environmental Protection Agency to take additional measures to regulate fluoride in drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.biospace.com/the-children-s-health-defense-team-fluoridation-must-end\">has long advocated\u003c/a> ending water fluoridation, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NPRinskeep/status/1854190865763405861\">persisted with his pledge\u003c/a> following Trump’s election win. When asked before the election whether his administration would remove fluoride from drinking water, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/DashaBurns/status/1853102116899860590\">Trump said\u003c/a>, “Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy is an influential vaccine skeptic whose campaign of conspiracy theories earned PolitiFact’s 2023 “\u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/dec/21/robert-f-kennedy-jrs-campaign-of-conspiracy-theori/\">Lie of the Year\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime research has found that adding fluoride to U.S. drinking water is a safe way to boost children’s oral health. Since 2015, the recommended level in the U.S. has been 0.7 milligrams per liter. Public health organizations, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water\">American Dental Association\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/oral-health/fluoridation/\">American Academy of Pediatrics\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>, support the practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent studies, however, have shown possible links between fluoride and bone problems and children’s IQs, particularly when fluoride is above the U.S. recommended levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is evidence that fluoride exposure has been associated with the diseases [and] disorders that RFK listed but with caveats,” said Ashley Malin, who is an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Epidemiology Department and has studied fluoride’s effects in pregnant women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malin referred to studies showing that higher fluoride exposure, particularly during pregnancy, is associated with reduced child IQ and that prenatal exposure is also linked to decreased intellectual functioning and executive function. For high exposure in pregnancy, the studies showed symptoms associated with other neurobehavioral issues, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, many of these studies took place in countries other than the U.S. and looked at fluoride in drinking water at sometimes twice the United States’ recommended level. Also, some of the other ailments that Kennedy listed, such as an association with bone cancer, have less robust evidence and need more study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Aside from fluoride’s impacts on neurodevelopment, I think that there is more that we don’t know about health effects of low-level fluoride exposure than what we do know, particularly for adult health outcomes,” Malin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Bellinger, a Harvard Medical School neurology professor and professor in Harvard School of Public Health’s Environmental Health Department, said the risk-benefit calculation of added fluoride differs depending on whether typical fluoride exposure levels cause health problems or if problems occur only when recommended levels are exceeded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In toxicology, ‘the dose makes the poison’ is a long-standing principle,” he said. “So a general statement that fluoride is associated with diseases X, Y and Z is not very helpful unless the dose that might be responsible is specified.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PolitiFact contacted Kennedy through his Children’s Health Defense organization but received no reply. The organization sued PolitiFact and Meta related to a 2020 fact check. \u003cspan style=\"margin: 0px;padding: 0px\">A federal court \u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/aug/13/federal-appeals-court-rules-in-favor-of-politifact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dismissed that lawsuit\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. The dismissal was upheld on appeal, and the case is pending a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What is fluoride, and what are its benefits?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/11195-fluoride\">Fluoride\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/faq/index.html\">is a mineral\u003c/a> naturally occurring in soil, water and some foods that helps prevent tooth decay and cavities. It strengthens tooth enamel that acid from bacteria, plaque and sugar can wear away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water fluoridation has been happening in the U.S. since 1945.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Public Health Service first recommended fluoridation of tap water in 1962, but the decision still lies with states and municipalities. Around 72% of the U.S. population \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/about/statement-on-the-evidence-supporting-the-safety-and-effectiveness-of-community-water-fluoridation.html#:~:text=1%20In%202022%2C%20more%20than,25%25%20in%20children%20and%20adults.\">or about 209 million people\u003c/a>, had access to fluoridated water in 2022, the CDC reported. Fluoride also has been added to oral care products such as toothpaste and mouth rinse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, U.S. health officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/04/27/u-s-updates-water-fluoridation-guideline-for-the-first-time-in-53-years/?itid=lk_inline_manual_24\">lowered the recommended amount\u003c/a> of fluoride in drinking water to 0.7 milligrams per liter, saying a higher level was less necessary given other sources of fluoride and that the lowered amount would still help protect teeth without \u003ca href=\"https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2020/february/fluorosis.html#:~:text=reducing%20tooth%20decay.-,While%20low%20levels%20of%20fluoride%20help%20strengthen%20and%20protect%20tooth,mottled%20enamel%20and%20poor%20mineralization.\">staining them\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pediatric \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fluoride-safe-drinking-water-cities-ban-rcna143605\">dentists note\u003c/a> that applying fluoride with toothpaste and rinses is beneficial, but small amounts circulating in the body via water consumption help younger children who still have their baby teeth because it can benefit the development of permanent teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water\">American Dental Association\u003c/a> said studies have shown that fluoride in community water systems prevents at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults and that “for more than 75 years, the best scientific evidence has consistently shown that fluoridation is safe and effective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The association said \u003ca href=\"https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water\">on its website\u003c/a>: “It’s similar to fortifying other foods and beverages — for example, fortifying salt with iodine, milk with vitamin D, orange juice with calcium, and bread with folic acid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/about/statement-on-the-evidence-supporting-the-safety-and-effectiveness-of-community-water-fluoridation.html#:~:text=Expert%20panels%20consisting%20of%20scientists,in%20fluoride%20from%20any%20source\">According to the CDC\u003c/a>, health experts and scientists from the U.S. and other countries have so far “not found convincing scientific evidence linking community water fluoridation with any potential adverse health effect or systemic disorder such as an increased risk for cancer, Down syndrome, heart disease, osteoporosis and bone fracture, immune disorders, low intelligence, renal disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, or allergic reactions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency said risks of water fluoridation are limited to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/about/about-dental-fluorosis.html\">dental fluorosis\u003c/a>, which can alter dental enamel and cause white flecks, spots, lines or brown stains on the teeth when too much fluoride is consumed.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Do Studies Show Fluoride Posing Any Other Risks?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some studies have said that excess fluoride exposure, often at higher levels than the recommended U.S. limit, can harm infants and young children’s developing brains and that \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/19/health/fluoride-neurotoxin-canada-study/index.html\">higher levels of fluoride exposure\u003c/a> during pregnancy were associated with declines in children’s IQs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2818858\">study published in May\u003c/a> that Malin led with the University of Southern California and Indiana University researchers suggested that fluoride exposure during pregnancy was linked to an increased risk of childhood neurobehavioral problems and \u003ca href=\"https://keck.usc.edu/news/fluoride-exposure-during-pregnancy-linked-to-increased-risk-of-childhood-neurobehavioral-problems-study-finds/\">said more studies\u003c/a> were “urgently needed to understand and mitigate the impacts in the entire U.S. population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts noted prenatal fluoride exposure is most strongly linked to children’s IQ loss and said the timing of fluoride consumption might need to be considered when making recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/assessments/noncancer/completed/fluoride\">federal review\u003c/a> of dozens of studies published in August by the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program concluded that higher levels of fluoride exposure were linked to lower IQs in children. However, the report was based primarily on studies in countries such as Canada, China, India, Iran, Mexico and Pakistan and involved fluoride levels at or above 1.5 milligrams per liter, twice the recommended U.S. limit. The authors said more research is needed to understand whether lower exposure has any adverse effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the report, researchers said they found no evidence that fluoride exposure adversely affected adult cognition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bellinger, of Harvard, pointed to the review as an example of how the amount of fluoride matters. He noted how researchers concluded that a very small percentage of people in the U.S. are exposed to levels that correlate with IQ loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Second, the fact that there are now multiple pathways of exposure to fluoride besides fluoridated water (toothpaste and other dental products, etc.) makes it really difficult to attribute a particular adverse effect to the fluoride added to the water,” he wrote via email. “It is the cumulative exposure from all sources that contribute to any adverse health effects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, a federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because of the potential risk that higher levels could affect children’s intellectual development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge Edward Chen wrote that the court’s finding didn’t “conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health,” saying it’s unclear whether the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing children’s IQs to drop. However, he wrote that there was enough risk to warrant investigation and that the EPA must act to further regulate it. The ruling did not specify what actions the agency should take, and the EPA is reviewing the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the ruling, the American Association of Pediatrics \u003ca href=\"https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/30299/AAP-ADA-stand-by-fluoride-recommendations?autologincheck=redirected\">issued a statement\u003c/a> that fluoride in drinking water is safe for children and said the policy is based on a robust foundation of evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides dental fluorosis, experts say that fluoride exposure over many years above the U.S. recommended amount can cause \u003ca href=\"https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Fluoride-HealthProfessional/#en57\">skeletal fluorosis\u003c/a>, a rare condition that causes weaker bones, stiffness and joint pain. Although the Public Health Service recommends a fluoride concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter for community water systems, the EPA, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, sets enforceable standards for drinking water quality. Currently, to prevent skeletal fluorosis, the EPA requires that water systems not exceed 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malin said she and her research team are investigating a potential link between fluoride and bone fractures. She said that although several studies have found high fluoride exposure associated with increased risk of bone fractures, and some have linked fluoride with thyroid disease, rigorous, U.S.-based studies haven’t been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=211&toxid=38#:~:text=damage%20the%20heart.-,How%20likely%20are%20fluoride%2C%20hydrogen%20fluoride%2C%20and%20fluorine%20to%20cause,to%20humans%20is%20not%20classifiable.\">CDC concluded\u003c/a> that recent research found no link between cancer risk and high levels of fluoride in drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Cancer Society \u003ca href=\"https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/water-fluoridation-and-cancer-risk.html\">reviewed a possible link\u003c/a> between water fluoridation and cancer risk. An organization spokesperson pointed PolitiFact to its review and said it has no data showing a definitive answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003ca href=\"http://khn.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>, an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kff.org/\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Research has generally shown that drinking fluoridated water at the recommended levels is safe and beneficial for oral health, especially in children. However, many people feel that more research is needed to better understand whether and when health risks kick in.",
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"title": "What Is Fluoride and Why Is It in Tap Water? Fact-Checking RFK Jr.’s Claims | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration could try to remove fluoride from drinking water, according to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy, who was tapped last week by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, called fluoride an “industrial waste” and linked it to cancer and other diseases and disorders while campaigning for Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” Kennedy \u003ca href=\"https://archive.is/qQKgT\">wrote on Nov. 2 on the social media platform X.\u003c/a> Kennedy linked to a video from an attorney who recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-fluoride-drinking-water-federal-court-ruling/\">successfully sued\u003c/a> the Environmental Protection Agency to take additional measures to regulate fluoride in drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.biospace.com/the-children-s-health-defense-team-fluoridation-must-end\">has long advocated\u003c/a> ending water fluoridation, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NPRinskeep/status/1854190865763405861\">persisted with his pledge\u003c/a> following Trump’s election win. When asked before the election whether his administration would remove fluoride from drinking water, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/DashaBurns/status/1853102116899860590\">Trump said\u003c/a>, “Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy is an influential vaccine skeptic whose campaign of conspiracy theories earned PolitiFact’s 2023 “\u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/dec/21/robert-f-kennedy-jrs-campaign-of-conspiracy-theori/\">Lie of the Year\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime research has found that adding fluoride to U.S. drinking water is a safe way to boost children’s oral health. Since 2015, the recommended level in the U.S. has been 0.7 milligrams per liter. Public health organizations, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water\">American Dental Association\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/oral-health/fluoridation/\">American Academy of Pediatrics\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>, support the practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent studies, however, have shown possible links between fluoride and bone problems and children’s IQs, particularly when fluoride is above the U.S. recommended levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is evidence that fluoride exposure has been associated with the diseases [and] disorders that RFK listed but with caveats,” said Ashley Malin, who is an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Epidemiology Department and has studied fluoride’s effects in pregnant women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malin referred to studies showing that higher fluoride exposure, particularly during pregnancy, is associated with reduced child IQ and that prenatal exposure is also linked to decreased intellectual functioning and executive function. For high exposure in pregnancy, the studies showed symptoms associated with other neurobehavioral issues, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, many of these studies took place in countries other than the U.S. and looked at fluoride in drinking water at sometimes twice the United States’ recommended level. Also, some of the other ailments that Kennedy listed, such as an association with bone cancer, have less robust evidence and need more study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Aside from fluoride’s impacts on neurodevelopment, I think that there is more that we don’t know about health effects of low-level fluoride exposure than what we do know, particularly for adult health outcomes,” Malin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Bellinger, a Harvard Medical School neurology professor and professor in Harvard School of Public Health’s Environmental Health Department, said the risk-benefit calculation of added fluoride differs depending on whether typical fluoride exposure levels cause health problems or if problems occur only when recommended levels are exceeded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In toxicology, ‘the dose makes the poison’ is a long-standing principle,” he said. “So a general statement that fluoride is associated with diseases X, Y and Z is not very helpful unless the dose that might be responsible is specified.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PolitiFact contacted Kennedy through his Children’s Health Defense organization but received no reply. The organization sued PolitiFact and Meta related to a 2020 fact check. \u003cspan style=\"margin: 0px;padding: 0px\">A federal court \u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/aug/13/federal-appeals-court-rules-in-favor-of-politifact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dismissed that lawsuit\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. The dismissal was upheld on appeal, and the case is pending a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What is fluoride, and what are its benefits?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/11195-fluoride\">Fluoride\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/faq/index.html\">is a mineral\u003c/a> naturally occurring in soil, water and some foods that helps prevent tooth decay and cavities. It strengthens tooth enamel that acid from bacteria, plaque and sugar can wear away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water fluoridation has been happening in the U.S. since 1945.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Public Health Service first recommended fluoridation of tap water in 1962, but the decision still lies with states and municipalities. Around 72% of the U.S. population \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/about/statement-on-the-evidence-supporting-the-safety-and-effectiveness-of-community-water-fluoridation.html#:~:text=1%20In%202022%2C%20more%20than,25%25%20in%20children%20and%20adults.\">or about 209 million people\u003c/a>, had access to fluoridated water in 2022, the CDC reported. Fluoride also has been added to oral care products such as toothpaste and mouth rinse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, U.S. health officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/04/27/u-s-updates-water-fluoridation-guideline-for-the-first-time-in-53-years/?itid=lk_inline_manual_24\">lowered the recommended amount\u003c/a> of fluoride in drinking water to 0.7 milligrams per liter, saying a higher level was less necessary given other sources of fluoride and that the lowered amount would still help protect teeth without \u003ca href=\"https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2020/february/fluorosis.html#:~:text=reducing%20tooth%20decay.-,While%20low%20levels%20of%20fluoride%20help%20strengthen%20and%20protect%20tooth,mottled%20enamel%20and%20poor%20mineralization.\">staining them\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pediatric \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fluoride-safe-drinking-water-cities-ban-rcna143605\">dentists note\u003c/a> that applying fluoride with toothpaste and rinses is beneficial, but small amounts circulating in the body via water consumption help younger children who still have their baby teeth because it can benefit the development of permanent teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water\">American Dental Association\u003c/a> said studies have shown that fluoride in community water systems prevents at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults and that “for more than 75 years, the best scientific evidence has consistently shown that fluoridation is safe and effective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The association said \u003ca href=\"https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water\">on its website\u003c/a>: “It’s similar to fortifying other foods and beverages — for example, fortifying salt with iodine, milk with vitamin D, orange juice with calcium, and bread with folic acid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/about/statement-on-the-evidence-supporting-the-safety-and-effectiveness-of-community-water-fluoridation.html#:~:text=Expert%20panels%20consisting%20of%20scientists,in%20fluoride%20from%20any%20source\">According to the CDC\u003c/a>, health experts and scientists from the U.S. and other countries have so far “not found convincing scientific evidence linking community water fluoridation with any potential adverse health effect or systemic disorder such as an increased risk for cancer, Down syndrome, heart disease, osteoporosis and bone fracture, immune disorders, low intelligence, renal disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, or allergic reactions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency said risks of water fluoridation are limited to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/about/about-dental-fluorosis.html\">dental fluorosis\u003c/a>, which can alter dental enamel and cause white flecks, spots, lines or brown stains on the teeth when too much fluoride is consumed.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Do Studies Show Fluoride Posing Any Other Risks?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some studies have said that excess fluoride exposure, often at higher levels than the recommended U.S. limit, can harm infants and young children’s developing brains and that \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/19/health/fluoride-neurotoxin-canada-study/index.html\">higher levels of fluoride exposure\u003c/a> during pregnancy were associated with declines in children’s IQs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2818858\">study published in May\u003c/a> that Malin led with the University of Southern California and Indiana University researchers suggested that fluoride exposure during pregnancy was linked to an increased risk of childhood neurobehavioral problems and \u003ca href=\"https://keck.usc.edu/news/fluoride-exposure-during-pregnancy-linked-to-increased-risk-of-childhood-neurobehavioral-problems-study-finds/\">said more studies\u003c/a> were “urgently needed to understand and mitigate the impacts in the entire U.S. population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts noted prenatal fluoride exposure is most strongly linked to children’s IQ loss and said the timing of fluoride consumption might need to be considered when making recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/assessments/noncancer/completed/fluoride\">federal review\u003c/a> of dozens of studies published in August by the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program concluded that higher levels of fluoride exposure were linked to lower IQs in children. However, the report was based primarily on studies in countries such as Canada, China, India, Iran, Mexico and Pakistan and involved fluoride levels at or above 1.5 milligrams per liter, twice the recommended U.S. limit. The authors said more research is needed to understand whether lower exposure has any adverse effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the report, researchers said they found no evidence that fluoride exposure adversely affected adult cognition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bellinger, of Harvard, pointed to the review as an example of how the amount of fluoride matters. He noted how researchers concluded that a very small percentage of people in the U.S. are exposed to levels that correlate with IQ loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Second, the fact that there are now multiple pathways of exposure to fluoride besides fluoridated water (toothpaste and other dental products, etc.) makes it really difficult to attribute a particular adverse effect to the fluoride added to the water,” he wrote via email. “It is the cumulative exposure from all sources that contribute to any adverse health effects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, a federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because of the potential risk that higher levels could affect children’s intellectual development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge Edward Chen wrote that the court’s finding didn’t “conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health,” saying it’s unclear whether the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing children’s IQs to drop. However, he wrote that there was enough risk to warrant investigation and that the EPA must act to further regulate it. The ruling did not specify what actions the agency should take, and the EPA is reviewing the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the ruling, the American Association of Pediatrics \u003ca href=\"https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/30299/AAP-ADA-stand-by-fluoride-recommendations?autologincheck=redirected\">issued a statement\u003c/a> that fluoride in drinking water is safe for children and said the policy is based on a robust foundation of evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides dental fluorosis, experts say that fluoride exposure over many years above the U.S. recommended amount can cause \u003ca href=\"https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Fluoride-HealthProfessional/#en57\">skeletal fluorosis\u003c/a>, a rare condition that causes weaker bones, stiffness and joint pain. Although the Public Health Service recommends a fluoride concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter for community water systems, the EPA, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, sets enforceable standards for drinking water quality. Currently, to prevent skeletal fluorosis, the EPA requires that water systems not exceed 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malin said she and her research team are investigating a potential link between fluoride and bone fractures. She said that although several studies have found high fluoride exposure associated with increased risk of bone fractures, and some have linked fluoride with thyroid disease, rigorous, U.S.-based studies haven’t been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=211&toxid=38#:~:text=damage%20the%20heart.-,How%20likely%20are%20fluoride%2C%20hydrogen%20fluoride%2C%20and%20fluorine%20to%20cause,to%20humans%20is%20not%20classifiable.\">CDC concluded\u003c/a> that recent research found no link between cancer risk and high levels of fluoride in drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Cancer Society \u003ca href=\"https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/water-fluoridation-and-cancer-risk.html\">reviewed a possible link\u003c/a> between water fluoridation and cancer risk. An organization spokesperson pointed PolitiFact to its review and said it has no data showing a definitive answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003ca href=\"http://khn.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>, an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kff.org/\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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