Health

(WASHINGTON) — Starting in March, a new rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will go into effect for foods labeled organic.

The agency announced an update to the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations in an effort to crack down on fraud and further enforce the production, handling and sale of organic products to help boost consumer trust.

The rule comes in response to “industry requests for updates to the USDA organic regulations, and addresses National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recommendations,” the USDA said in an press release on Wednesday.

“Protecting and growing the organic sector and the trusted USDA organic seal is a key part of the USDA Food Systems Transformation initiative,” Jenny Lester Moffitt, USDA undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, said in a statement.

Moffit added that the “Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule is the biggest update to the organic regulations since the original Act in 1990, providing a significant increase in oversight and enforcement authority to reinforce the trust of consumers, farmers, and those transitioning to organic production.”

SOE helps protect “organic integrity,” the USDA explained, by supporting farmers and consumers through upholding “strong organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, increasing import oversight authority, and providing robust enforcement of the organic regulations.”

Below is a snapshot of the key updates, according to the USDA:

• Requiring certification of more of the businesses, like brokers and traders, at critical links in organic supply chains.
• Requiring NOP Import Certificates for all organic imports.
• Requiring organic identification on nonretail containers.
• Increasing authority for more rigorous on-site inspections of certified operations.
• Requiring uniform qualification and training standards for organic inspectors and certifying agent personnel
• Requires standardized certificates of organic operation.
• Requires additional and more frequent reporting of data on certified operations.
• Creates authority for more robust recordkeeping, traceability practices, and fraud prevention procedures.
• Specify certification requirements for producer groups.

This rule could impact USDA-accredited certifying agents, organic inspectors, certified organic operations, operations considering organic certification, businesses that import or trade organic products, and retailers that sell organic products, the agency said.

Companies will have a year to comply with the new requirements, which officially take effect March 20, 2023.

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(NEW YORK) — Fullei Fresh has issued a voluntary recall of alfalfa sprouts after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted an unannounced inspection that found a strain of E. coli in the fresh vegetables.

The recalled products’ lot number is 336, according to a company recall announcement on the FDA’s website. Affected products were shipped to distributors and retailers in Florida between Dec. 9-23, 2022.

The recall was made with the knowledge of the FDA and the Florida Department of Agriculture.

Consumers who may have purchased the sprouts can locate the lot numbers, which are printed on the 4-ounce retail packs and on 5-pound bulk cardboard boxes, in the barcode. If products are among those impacted by the recall, the last 3 digits will read “336.”

The FDA testing detected “Shiga toxin producing E.coli (STEC) — an organism that can cause foodborne illness in a person who eats a food item contaminated with it,” according to the recall announcement.

In the company statement, Fullei Fresh said that STEC “is a bacterial strain that is not part of our routine microbial testing conducted in compliance with the FDA’s Produce Safety Rule Subpart M on every lot we produce,” adding that it was “detected upon sampling of finished product by the FDA.”

The company said no known illnesses had been reported in connection with the product.

The company has urged people to discard the products if they are in their possession.

People can become sick one to 10 days after consumption of STEC bacteria. Symptoms can include severe stomach cramps, vomiting or diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people recover within a week, while some may develop a more severe infection.

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(JACKSON, Miss.) — Reports of children in Mississippi who found and ate marijuana-laced candies and chocolates at home resulting in emergency room visits increased sharply last year, the state’s poison control center said in a statement.

In 2019, the medical center received two calls concerning the ingestion of edible marijuana products. By 2022, the total number of calls had spiked to 36. Fourteen of those calls were in children ages 0 to 12 and three were in teenagers ages 13 to 19, according to Jenna Davis, the managing director of the Mississippi Poison Control Center which is part of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

“In the past 10 days, we’ve already had four calls for kids ages 0-6,” Davis said in a statement Tuesday. “And statewide, these cases are underreported.”

The medical center warned the calls will continue to rise with marijuana dispensaries slated to open across the state this year.

Davis also warned that products laced with THC such as candy, gummies and chocolates appeal to children and adults should store them like they would medication, in a secure place out of the sight and reach of children.

“It’s hard to overdose on marijuana, but some of these gummies contain very large doses and some kids are eating a whole lot of them,” Davis said.

In addition to central nervous system depression, overdoses can cause rapid heartbeat, vomiting, confusion, difficulty walking and drowsiness, and in extreme situations, respiratory distress and seizures, Davis said.

Davis said there is a growing number of children who get their hands on the products containing Delta 8 THC which are available online and in convenience stores and are not regulated.

“It has very similar effects to the other components of marijuana that produce euphoria,” Davis said. “We receive tons of calls on this, and it’s increasing, for all ages.”

An study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics earlier this month found there was a surge in reported cases of children exposed to edible cannabis resulting in acute toxicity from 2017 to 2021.

In 2021 there were reported 3,054 cases, up from just 207 reported cases in 2017, representing a 1,375% increase in cases. Seventy percent caused central nervous system depression, according to the article.

MORE: Reports for child marijuana use rose 245% over past 20 years
Most exposures happened in a residential setting, according to the article.

Of all the reported cases, nearly 23% of patients were admitted to the hospital, according to the article.

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(NEW YORK) — Spice jars are among the top germ-ridden surfaces in the kitchen, according to a recent study.

The study, commissioned by the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, looked to determine the prevalence and degree of cross-contamination over a variety of kitchen surfaces during meal preparation.

Researchers observed 371 people, who were all instructed to season and cook with raw, ground turkey patties that contained a harmless tracer virus called MS2 in kitchen settings of various sizes.

Overall, 48% of spice containers that were sampled showed evidence of the bacteria from the turkey, indicating MS2 cross-contamination. According to the findings, spice containers had the highest MS2 concentrations across kitchen surfaces, making them a key vehicle for cross-contamination.

After the directed meal was prepared, 12 areas throughout the kitchen were swabbed for testing, including kitchen utensils, cleaning areas, kitchen surfaces and two discretionary samples, which were “taken based on researcher observation during meal preparation and represented possible cross-contamination hot spots.”

The swabs used to collect samples were put over ice and transported to the North Carolina State University food microbiology laboratory, where they were processed for MS2 detection.

In between each individual observation, each kitchen was sanitized with 10% bleach solution for one minute before wiping the surface with a clean, disposable paper towel.

The study found that in most of the meal prep, two or fewer swabs showed evidence of cross-contamination, but 81% of the time, one or more surfaces were positive for MS2. The authors said they believe people are mindful of wiping down surface areas, along with things like cutting boards, sinks, cabinet handles, but may not think about those spice jars.

To keep your spice containers clean and free of germs from cross-contamination, experts suggest washing hands often during food prep and making sure to wipe down any spice bottles used.

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(NEW YORK) — When researchers learned that a class of drugs initially used to treat type 2 diabetes could also bring weight loss, the drugs Victoza and Ozempic gained popularity as a treatment option for obesity.

Given as daily or weekly injections, these drugs called GLP-1 RAs, help people produce insulin and lower the amount of sugar in the blood. First approved for use in type 2 diabetes patients in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the medications were quickly noted to promote weight loss.

The FDA, in 2014, later approved a GLP-1 RA for chronic weight management. Additional drugs in the class have since been approved for weight loss.

Of the nearly 35 million Americans with type 2 diabetes, more than one in 10 were estimated to be taking these drugs in 2019, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“I prescribe these medications 10 times per day,” Dr. Amanda Velazquez, director of Obesity Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told ABC News.

“Obesity is a chronic relapsing disease,” Velazquez added and said that the weight loss effects of the medications wear off after drug discontinuation.

Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic, Victoza and another drug called Wegovy — which is specifically meant for weight loss — said last December, “While we recognize that some healthcare providers may be prescribing Ozempic for patients whose goal is to lose weight, it is up to the clinical discretion of each healthcare provider to choose the best treatment approach for their patients.”

Through the fall, there have been intermittent shortages of various dosages of Ozempic and Wegovy.

“There is high demand overall, more awareness of the medications because of their efficacy, and shortages in the supply chain with making the drug from manufacturers,” Velazquez said.

Off-label use of the drugs may be contributing to this shortage.

“It is very frustrating for everyone,” said Dr. Heather Sateia, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told ABC News. “Pharmacies are so short-staffed that they won’t let people know when it is back in stock so it is like a scavenger hunt- time-consuming and anxiety-provoking for patients.”

A recent study from from the University of Montpellier published in Diabetes Care looked at type 2 diabetes patients who were treated with GLP-1 RAs from 2006-2018 and identified a link between the long-term use of these drugs and a higher likelihood of thyroid cancer. Specifically, the study found that people who took the drugs for one to three years were 58% more likely to develop thyroid cancer. Medullary thyroid cancer, a rare form of the disease, carried an even higher risk, according to the study.

“The newer findings provide interesting additional data to this clinical discussion, though are not independently enough to set a new standard for screening,” Dr. Erik K. Alexander, chief of the Thyroid Section in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told ABC News. “[These drugs] should only be used when the benefit of treatment outweighs known or suspected risk, and this assessment should be continually reconsidered by each patient with their physician on a regular basis.”

Forty-five thousand Americans are diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but it is notably not a death sentence according to the American Cancer Society. With surgery and therapy, five-year survival is 98% but this largely depends on the type of thyroid cancer and the stage of the disease. Medullary thyroid cancer has a relatively poor prognosis compared to the other types, according to the American Cancer Society.

In a statement, Novo Nordisk says extensive data from randomized trials, long-term studies, and real-world evidence “have not shown a causal relationship between use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and risk of thyroid tumors.”

The company “remains confident in the benefit risk profile of its products and remains committed to ensuring patient safety,” the statement said.

The drugs can sometimes cause nausea, injection site pain, and inflammation of the pancreas. Some patients taking concurrent diabetes medications can also experience low blood sugar levels.

Patients are currently monitored every three to four months with liver, diabetes, kidney, cholesterol, and electrolyte testing. Thyroid testing is currently not recommended.

“The data on thyroid cancer certainly gives me pause,” said Sateia. “There is not currently a recommendation for thyroid ultrasound or serum calcitonin monitoring, but we are keeping an eye out for changes in those recommendations. I suspect we’ll see a shift in this soon.”

“This probably wouldn’t change the way one prescribes but it is something to be aware of,” Dr. Yufei Chen, assistant professor of general surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told ABC News.

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(NEW YORK) — Gender-affirming hormone therapy improves the mental health of transgender adolescents and teenagers, a new study released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine showed.

The study tracked over 300 trans and nonbinary youth across the country for two years as they took testosterone or estradiol to help their physical appearance align more closely with their gender. The participants were in various stages of puberty.

The report found that depression and anxiety symptoms decreased for trans adolescents and teenagers, and life satisfaction increased after starting and continuing gender-affirming hormone therapy.

Many studies over the past few years have reached similar conclusions, but this is one of the larger studies to date.

The findings highlight what activists say are the dangers of denying trans adolescents and teens gender-affirming medical care, which has been under attack in states across the country.

At least 11 states have introduced bills for the 2023 legislative sessions that would ban or restrict the use of hormone therapy for trans people. States like Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Arizona, Florida and Texas have implemented policies or laws that restrict gender-affirming care broadly for trans youth.

Some introduced bills no longer affect just minors — some states like Oklahoma introduced prospective bans into adulthood, restricting access to this care until the age of 26.

Top national medical associations such as the American Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and American Academy of Pediatrics support gender-affirming care as safe, effective and proven to save young people’s lives.

The team behind this study is also researching the effects of puberty blockers, which have also come under scrutiny by legislators.

Puberty blockers suppress puberty for transgender children so they don’t have to experience the effects of puberty that do not align with their gender, as defined by Planned Parenthood.

That data has not yet been released. However, puberty blockers are considered to be a safe treatment for children, and have also been used for non-transgender related care.

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(NEW YORK) — Pharmacies have announced they are dropping their restrictions on how much over-the-counter cold medication for children that customers can buy.

Due to a respiratory virus season that began earlier than usual — followed by an earlier and unprecedented demand of certain medications — national pharmacy chains limited purchases of Children’s Tylenol, Motrin and ibuprofen in some locations.

However, now that cases of the flu and RSV have been declining steadily and supply challenges are improving, Walgreens and Rite Aid told ABC News they are lifting their caps on pediatric fever-reducing medications.

As of last month, Walgreens was limiting online purchases to six per customer while Rite Aid was limiting to five per customer, although there was no limit in store.

“Walgreens has worked diligently with our suppliers to ensure we have enough supply to meet customer demand nationwide,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Due to the improved in-stock conditions of over-the-counter pediatric fever-reducing products, we have removed the online-only purchase limit. This was originally put in place to prevent excess purchasing behavior.”

Meanwhile, Rite Aid said it will lift the limit it had for online purchases “by the end of the week.”

Not everybody’s ready to lift their caps yet, with CVS telling ABC News there are currently no plans to lift their purchase limit of two boxes of medication both online and in store.

Kroger placed a cap of two pediatric pain medications and four cold and flu items per customer but has not yet announced a change in plans. Kroger did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

The Consumer Health Products Association, which represents the makers of over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements, said manufacturers will continue to produce the drugs and get them on shelves as quickly as possible.

“Manufacturers are still producing 24/7 and shipping children’s pain and fever reducers to retailers, with no intention of letting up,” Anita Brikman, senior vice president of communications & public affairs at the CHPA, told ABC. News.

“We were heartened to see Walgreens lifting the purchasing limits due to ‘improved in-stock conditions.'”

According to Brikman, sales of over-the-counter pain relievers and fever reducers were up 30% in December 2022 compared to December 2021.

She noted this is “less of an increase in unit sales” than in November 2022, when sales were up 65% compared to November 2021.

Brikman added that demand “may also be lessened thanks to the continued decline in reported flu cases since the numbers peaked the first week of December.”

Experts previously told ABC News that if customers cannot find brand-name medication to look for generic options.

Additionally, if parents cannot find children’s medication, they should not give them adult medication because medicine for children is dosed based on weight and age. Giving them adult doses can have serious consequences.

“Parents should be cautious and don’t give your child a full adult dose because that could be harmful to them,” Dr. Stephen Schondelmeyer, a professor of pharmaceutical care and health systems at the University of Minnesota, told ABC News in December. “Do not use aspirin. If you find that the shelves are empty at the pharmacy, ask your pharmacist what alternatives are there or consider looking at other pharmacies as well, and the pharmacist can advise you on what the appropriate dose is for a child.”

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(NEW YORK) — Calorie restriction may be more effective at promoting weight loss than intermittent fasting, based on findings from a multi-site study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers at three major health care systems — Johns Hopkins Health System, Geisinger Health System and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center — studied weight trends, daily food intake and sleeping/eating time intervals charted in a mobile app over the course of six months for 547 adult men and women with a range of medical conditions and Body Mass Index (BMI) categories.

These weight trends were compared to weights and heights recorded during previous clinic visits, up to 10 years before the study enrollment. Meal sizes were categorized as either large (more than 1,000 calories), medium (500 to 1,000 calories) or small (less than 500 calories).

The average daily number of large- and medium-sized meals led to weight increases, the study showed, suggesting that overall caloric intake remains a key contributor to weight gain. In comparison, the total number of small meals was predictive of weight loss over time.

Additionally, the time interval between the first to last meal was not associated with weight change, according to the study. On average, this time interval was approximately 11 hours for adults enrolled in the study.

For the purposes of this study, intermittent fasting was defined by time-restricted feeding schedules. This allowed researchers to compare weight trends during sleep and feeding times, dividing up a 24-hour period into time spent sleeping, waking up to first meal, time spent between first to last meal, and time spent between last meal and sleeping.

“Our study does not support the use of time-restricted eating as [a] strategy for long-term weight loss. [Limiting] the frequency of large meals could be more effective in losing weight, but clinical trials are needed to confirm our findings,” said the study’s first author, Dr. Di Zhao, a researcher in the department of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

However, it should be noted that healthy, sustainable weight loss should be part of an individualized plan, and that these study findings are not universally applicable.

“The decision to lower calories or try intermittent fasting should really be individualized to the person. [Some] people find intermittent fasting easier to lower their calories and others find they just get too hungry when they fast and then they eat too much during their non-fasting time,” according to Liz Weinandy, a registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Medical Center and instructor of practice at OSU in Columbus, Ohio.

Instead, efforts should be focused on consuming a balanced diet, refraining from “excluding a specific food group or macronutrient. These diets do not work long-term and if they do work, they are generally not healthy,” Weinandy said.

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(NEW YORK) — Moderna’s respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, vaccine for older adults was about 84% effective at preventing serious illness, according to data from a late-stage trial published Tuesday.

Adult patients in the clinical trial appeared to tolerate the vaccine well and there were no safety concerns identified, the data showed.

The company said it will ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval in the first half of 2023.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GSK have also announced promising results for their respective RSV vaccines in older adults. The FDA is expected to decide whether or not to approve both vaccines in May 2023.

There is currently no approved RSV vaccine for any age group, but pharmaceutical companies — including Moderna, Pfizer and GSK — have seen promising results in late-stage trials.

Cases of RSV began appearing earlier than usual this year across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, peaking in early November before turning down.

Symptoms can include fever, coughing, runny nose, sneezing, wheezing and a decrease in appetite, per the CDC.

RSV leads to mild illness in most people but can cause severe illness in some young children and older adults.

The CDC says older adults aged 65 and above are at high risk for severe infection from RSV, particularly those with chronic lung or heart conditions and weakened immune systems.

Each year, between 60,000 and 120,000 older adults are hospitalized and between 6,000 to 10,000 die due to RSV infection, according to data from the CDC.

“Today’s results represent an important step forward in preventing lower respiratory disease due to RSV in adults 60 years of age and older,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in a statement. “These data are encouraging and represent the second demonstration of positive phase 3 trial results from our mRNA infectious disease vaccine platform after Spikevax, our COVID-19 vaccine.”

Bancel said full results will be published at an upcoming infectious disease medical conference but did not specify which one.

This is not the first time researchers have attempted to develop an RSV vaccine.

In the late 1960s, a vaccine was produced in which the virus was inactivated with formalin, a chemical that kills viruses. The shot was given to children in Washington, D.C., but 80% of those immunized became sick and two children died, according to a journal article published in Nature.

Studies found that the vaccine did not generate enough antibodies to fight off the virus and instead triggered an overactive immune system response.

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(NEW YORK) — A California woman is speaking out after a routine manicure resulted in her developing an infection that turned into a form of cancer that can be cured, especially when caught early..

Grace Garcia shared her experience on social media last month.

“It all started w/Mani/Pedi that went wrong! Nail tech cut me with unsterilized tools! 💅🏻🩸 which within 6 months turned in to CANCER!!” she captioned her TikTok post.

Garcia told Good Morning America her ordeal first started in November 2021, when she went to get a manicure ahead of Thanksgiving. It was supposed to be like any other manicure appointment she’d been getting for the last two decades but it turned out different this time.

“It seemed harmless until it wasn’t,” Garcia said.

“As the technician was cutting my cuticle, she cut me,” she recalled. “It was a deep cut and I remember being very upset about it.”

A few days afterward, Garcia said she thought the cut on her ring finger had started to heal but it still felt unusual.

“It felt as if I couldn’t bump my finger into anything,” the mom of three said. “I couldn’t use it. I couldn’t type well. It felt tender to the touch.”

For months, Garcia said she dealt with the pain and followed up with her doctor. Then, in April 2022, about five months after she first received the cut, Garcia was referred to UCLA Health dermatologist Dr. Teo Soleymani for a biopsy.

“It came back as a squamous cell carcinoma, which is a very common form of skin cancer,” Soleymani told GMA of the biopsy test result. “But interestingly … she didn’t have any of the traditional signs … hers was HPV-driven. And it’s an interesting thing to see.”

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a common virus, one that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say “nearly everyone” will get “at some point in their lives.” The CDC estimates over 42 million Americans currently live with some form of HPV infection and approximately 13 million will get infected with HPV each year.

Some strains of HPV can also lead to cancer, such as genital, head or neck cancers, while others can cause warts on various parts of the body. Most HPV infections will not lead to cancer.

The virus is spread through skin-to-skin contact or skin-to-mucosa contact. In very rare cases, contaminated equipment has been thought as a possible means of transmission for the virus.

“Grace had a very obvious injury that allowed a portal of entry for the higher risk strain to kind of get in there,” Soleymani said. “The reason we don’t see it in places like our hands or our face or anywhere where we have thick skin is generally, our skin has a top layer that’s pretty protective.”

HPV vaccines can prevent more than 90% of the cancers caused by HPV but Garcia had not been vaccinated prior to her diagnosis. The CDC recommends that children as young as 9 and some adults up to age 45 get the vaccine.

Soleymani said, “I think everybody should be vaccinated because it’s one of the few simple ways that we can reduce cancer.”

Today, Garcia is cancer-free after receiving treatment, including Mohs surgery, the same type of procedure first lady Jill Biden received last week to remove a cancerous lesion from near her eye.

People can also avoid infections by making sure tools used at a nail salon are cleaned and sanitized before sitting down for a manicure.

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