My Preparedness: Staying Healthy and Resilient Youth Video Challenge: Youth between ages 14 and 23 can send a video up to 60 seconds long that answers the question,” How are you helping family, friends and community protect their health during disasters and every day? Submission deadline is March 28. Click
here for more.
Electronic Cigarette Ads Reaching More Middle and High School Students: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 7 in 10 middle and high school students (more than 18 million young people) are seeing print, internet and media advertisements. Read more
here.
NYS PTA has a position about electronic cigarette ads. This can be viewed in
Where We Stand.
Combat Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Campaign: As part of the
NYS Combat Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse campaign, Governor Cuomo has recently announced the launch of a new “Kitchen Table Toolkit”. The toolkit features two new videos that parents, teachers and community members can use to help begin conversations with youth about the dangerous consequences of heroin and prescription painkiller use plus the health risks associated with them. Find the videos
here.
Kratom: The
New York Times reports that yet another drug has appeared in head shops and convenience stores. Kratom is categorized as a botanic dietary supplement and therefore beyond regulatory reach of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) considers it a “drug of concern” since there is anecdotal evidence that it may be addictive. The FDA issued an alert about Kratom; read it
here. To learn more about Kratom, click
here.
The DEA also has a resource guide for drug abuse
here.
Indoor Tanning Risks: The FDA proposes new safety measures for indoor tanning devices. Due to the risks of indoor tanning devices such as exposure to ultraviolet radiation, increasing risk of eye injury, skin damage and skin cancer, the FDA wants to restrict the use of these devices to adults age 18 and older. There are opportunities to comment on the proposed rules until March 21, 2016. Please read the article in its entirety
here.
In Defense of Food: Are you confused about diet? Does it seem that nutritional guidelines frequently switch course and self-contradict? Are we thinking about food more and enjoying it less? Are we still too fat? If you are feeling this way, you are not alone. Shedding some light on the subject is food journalist Michael Pollan, in a new public television show
In Defense of Food. Find out more
here.
