- Melatonin industry asked to voluntarily tighten standards after dramatic rise in childhood ER visits
- Small gift cards can be a key tool to stop stimulant addiction, but stigma stands in the way
- Taylor Swift could actually become an even bigger deal after ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
- The UK just moved a step closer to banning smoking. Here’s the sticking point
- Smoking bans are coming: what does the evidence say?
- We must protect the global plastics treaty from corporate interference
KMU Weekly: News around the World
Issue 117 – 04 22, 2024
Melatonin industry asked to voluntarily tighten standards after dramatic rise in childhood ER visits
兒童急診人數急劇增加後，褪黑激素產業被要求收緊標準
Health
Demand for melatonin, which is a hormone produced by the brain in response to darkness, has skyrocketed over the last decade, according to experts. It regulates the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm. As a dietary supplement, melatonin is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for safety, effectiveness or labeling before it is sold to the public. The recent reports of a massive rise in accidental ingestions of melatonin by children and an April 2023 study that found 25 products labeled as melatonin gummies contained dangerous levels of the hormone. One over-the-counter product contained up to 347% more melatonin than listed on the label, while another contained no melatonin at all — it was entirely composed of cannabidiol or CBD. “What’s significant here is that the industry recognizes that melatonin supplements do pose serious risks — particularly to children— and that the industry needs to do a much better job at ensuring the products are safe and well-manufactured,” said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Somerville, Massachusetts, who authored the study on melatonin gummies.
---from CNN
據專家說，過去十年，人們對褪黑激素的需求激增，褪黑激素是大腦對黑暗做出反應而產生的一種荷爾蒙。它負責調節身體的自然睡眠週期或生理時鐘。作為一種膳食補充劑，褪黑激素在向公眾出售之前並未獲得美國食品和藥物管理局的安全性、有效性或食品標示批准。 最近有通報說，兒童意外攝食褪黑激素的情況大幅增加，而2023年4月的一項研究發現，25 種標有褪黑激素的軟糖產品含有危險的褪黑激素含量。一種非處方產品的褪黑激素含量比標籤上列出的含量高出347%，而另一種產品則根本不含褪黑激素-它完全由是大麻二酚(或稱CBD)組成。 「重要的是，業界認知到褪黑激素補充劑確實會帶來嚴重風險，尤其是對兒童而言，並且業界需要做得更好，以確保產品的安全性且生產的質量，」撰寫了有關褪黑激素軟糖的研究的麻州Somerville劍橋健康聯盟的醫學副教授Pieter Cohen 博士指出。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Small gift cards can be a key tool to stop stimulant addiction, but stigma stands in the way
小禮品卡可以做為阻止興奮劑成癮的關鍵工具，但汙名化是個阻礙
Health
Clyde Davis battled a methamphetamine and heroin addiction for over nine years. He tried various treatment programs, but none worked for him before he reached his insurance maximum and was forced to discharge. Then three years ago, he became one of the first participants in a new contingency management program at the Rimrock Foundation, Montana’s oldest nonprofit addiction treatment center. Contingency management uses positive reinforcement as a behavioral treatment for stimulant addiction. People are rewarded with small-value gift cards or vouchers for submitting urine drug tests negative for stimulants. Decades of research show that it is the most effective treatment for stimulant addiction, but it has not been widely implemented due to policy barriers and stigma. Davis graduated from the 12-week program successfully and has abstained from drugs ever since. He now works as a rehabilitation technologist at the Rimrock Foundation, alongside the people who he says helped save his life. “I am living a life that I never thought I would ever dream of living. It’s beautiful,” he said.
---from CNN
Clyde Davis與甲基安非他命和海洛因成癮對抗了九年多。他嘗試了各種治療方案，但在達到保險最高額度並被迫出院之前，沒有任何一種方法對他有效。 三年前，他成為蒙大拿州歷史最悠久的非營利成癮治療中心Rimrock基金會一項新的應變計畫的首批參與者之一。 此應變計劃使用正向增強作為興奮劑成癮的行為治療方法。提交尿液藥物檢測結果呈現興奮劑陰性的人，可以獲得小額禮品卡或代金券。 幾十年的研究顯示，它是治療興奮劑成癮最有效的方法，但由於政策障礙和污名化，此方法尚未廣泛實施。 Davis成功地完成這個為期12週的計畫，並從此戒毒。他現在在Rimrock 基金會擔任復健技術專家，與他所說的那些幫助挽救他生命的人一起工作。 「我現在過著我從未夢想過的完美生活。」他說。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Taylor Swift could actually become an even bigger deal after ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
在全新專輯《The Tortured Poets Department》之後，泰勒絲可能會成為一個更大的大人物
Culture
“This is probably the most anticipated album ever that I’ve seen in my career,” Tom Poleman, the chief programming officer & president for iHeartRadio, told CNN in a recent interview. “It’s not just a music event, it’s a pop culture event that I think that everybody in America will be talking about and celebrating together.” “Tortured Poets” is Swift’s latest album following the 2022 release of “Midnights” and the 2023 release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” Both of those albums broke so many streaming, sales and chart records that listing them all would not only read rote, but in the larger scheme of her success, the stats and the term “record-breaking” almost begin to lose meaning. Imagine that: Being so successful that your success is sort of boring. It’s hard to imagine how Swift’s achievements can even be measured at this juncture. One major record label executive with nearly two decades of experience, who asked not to be named so he could speak candidly, said for an artist like Swift, achieving “huge commercial milestones” is as important as the conversation with and involvement of fans.
---from CNN
「這可能是我職業生涯中見過的最受期待的專輯，」iHeartRadio首席節目官兼總裁Tom Poleman在最近的一次採訪中告訴 CNN。「這不僅僅是一場音樂活動，也是一場流行文化活動，我認為每一個美國人都會談論和慶祝它。」 《Torured Poets》是泰勒絲繼2022年發行《Midnights》和2023年發行《1989（泰勒絲版）》之後的最新專輯。這兩張專輯都打破了許多串流媒體、銷量和排行榜記錄，以至於將它們全部列出，也只能算是死硬的紀錄而已，從更大的視角來看她的成功，統計數據和「破紀錄」一詞幾乎開始失去意義。想像一下：你是如此成功，以至於你的成功有點無聊。 很難想像在這個時刻如何衡量的成就。一位不想具名而擁有近二十年經驗的大型唱片公司的高層人士表示，對於像泰勒絲這樣的藝術家來說，完成「巨大的商業里程碑」和與粉絲的對話和參與同樣重要。
---摘錄翻譯自 CNN
The UK just moved a step closer to banning smoking. Here’s the sticking point
英國距離禁菸又更近了一步。這是關鍵所在
Culture
Last week, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson treated a Canadian crowd to a helping of his signature bombast. “The party of Winston Churchill wants to ban [cigars]?” he moaned. “Donnez-moi un break, as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.” The source of his ire was the proposed UK smoking ban, which was spearheaded by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at last October’s Conservative Party Conference and underwent its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening. In a free vote, the House leaned in favor of the plan by 383 to 67, meaning the bill cleared its first parliamentary hurdle. Under the proposed bill, no one born on or after January 1, 2009, would ever be allowed to buy tobacco, effectively raising the legal smoking age every year. This would mean today’s 15-year-olds will never legally be able to buy cigarettes.
---from CNN
上週，英國前首相Boris Johnson於接待一群加拿大民眾時，以他鮮明的浮誇方式說「Winston Churchill的政黨想要禁止(雪茄)？」 他嘟噥道。「就像魁北克人說，Donnez-moi unbreak。這簡直是瘋了。」 他的憤怒源於去年10月在保守黨會議上由首相Rishi Sunak率先提出的英國禁菸法案，該法案於週二晚上在國會的下議院進行了二讀。 在自由投票中，以383票對67票贊成該計劃，這意味著該法案清除了在國會的第一個障礙。 根據所擬議的法案，所有在2009年1月1日或之後出生的人都不允許購買香菸，它有效地每年都提高了法定吸菸年齡。這意味著現在15歲的青少年永遠都不能合法地購買香菸。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Smoking bans are coming: what does the evidence say?
禁菸令即將到來？證據怎麼說呢
Sciences
The UK plan would probably “be the most impactful public-health policy ever introduced”, says health-policy researcher Duncan Gillespie at the University of Sheffield, UK. The proposal, initiated by the Conservative government’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is a step closer to becoming law. The government hopes that smoking restrictions, alongside offering health benefits for individuals, will reduce toxic chemicals leaching from used vapes into the environment. The health harms of smoking tobacco have been established for decades — it substantially raises the risk of diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Increased awareness of these health risks has led to a global decline in the deadly habit in the past few decades. Nations are also targeting vaping, a trend that began around 2010 and has surged among younger people. Many people have perceived it as a potentially healthier alternative to smoking — for which there is substantial evidence. But whether vaping itself harms health has long been controversial, and the evidence is uncertain. “The results are not super clear, but certainly hint towards vaping causing damage to the lungs and other organs,” says Carolyn Baglole, who studies lung disease at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada.
---from Nature
英國Sheffield大學衛生政策研究員Duncan Gillespie表示，英國的計畫可能是「有史以來推出的最具影響力的公共衛生政策」。該提案由保守黨政府首相Rishi Sunak 發起，距離成為法律又靠近了一步。政府希望在為個人健康帶來好處的同時，限制吸菸也能減少二手菸中的有毒化學物質進入環境。 幾十年來，人們已經確定吸菸對健康的危害—它大大增加了罹患癌症、心臟病和糖尿病等疾病的風險。過去幾十年來，人們對這些健康風險的認識不斷提高，這個致命習慣在全球也逐漸減少。 各國也在留意電子菸，電子菸的趨勢始於2010年左右，並在年輕人中激增。許多人認為它可能是一種比吸菸健康的替代品—這是有充分證據的。但電子菸本身是否危害健康，長期以來一直存在著爭議，證據也不明確。 在加拿大Montreal McGill大學健康中心研究肺部疾病的Carolyn Baglole說：「結果不是很清楚，但肯定暗示了電子菸會對肺部和其他器官造成損害。」
---摘錄翻譯自Nature
We must protect the global plastics treaty from corporate interference
我們必須保護全球塑膠公約免受企業干擾
Sciences
The global plastics treaty being negotiated this month in Ottawa epitomizes how people’s relationship with these valuable yet problematic materials is changing for the better. If it can be agreed on this year — as I hope it will — this treaty could end plastic pollution and lead to healthier societies. It could reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and short-lived products. And it could lower people’s and nature’s exposures to hazardous chemicals and nano- and microplastics released by the 460 million tones of plastic produced globally each year. These negotiations also mark a shift in public attitudes towards plastics — from enabling modernity to being a hallmark of the Anthropocene. These materials contribute to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. And research — including my own — shows that plastics damage the health of both ecosystems and humans, by disrupting hormones, for example. The widespread support for the treaty is also striking. It comes from not only researchers, but also the public, civil society and businesses. Swayed by scientists’ warnings and emboldened by public opinion, policymakers are willing to embark on this journey to end plastic pollution. In reality, just as in global climate negotiations, countries and companies with vested interests are putting the treaty’s success at risk. The many nations striving for an ambitious treaty are being held hostage by those few that are locked politically and economically in a harmful plastics past. Reining in these vested interests is the key to unlocking a brighter plastics future.
---from Nature
本月在渥太華召開的全球塑膠公約談判是人們與這些有價值但有問題的材料的關係如何變得更好的縮影。如果今年能夠達成共識—正如我希望的那樣—這項公約可以結束塑膠污染並帶來更健康的社會。它可以減少世界對化石燃料和短生命週期產品的依賴。它還可以減少人類和自然對有害化學品及全球每年生產的 4.6 億噸塑膠所釋放的微粒塑膠的接觸。 這些談判也顯示著民眾對塑膠的態度轉變—從實現現代化到以標記人類作為影響地球環境變異的主要因子觀點。這些材料造成了氣候變遷、生物多樣性喪失和污染的三重地球危機。研究（包括我自己的研究）顯示，塑膠破壞了生態系統和人類的健康，例如透過干擾荷爾蒙。 該公約得到的廣泛支持也引人注目。它不僅來自研究人員，還來自民眾、民間社團和企業。在科學家警告的影響和公眾輿論的鼓舞下，政策制定者願意踏上終結塑膠污染之路。 然而事實上，正如在全球氣候談判中一樣，擁有既得利益的國家和公司正在將該公約的成功置於危險之中。許多國家正在努力完成這項有抱負的公約，但這些國家卻被那些在政治和經濟上少數幾個過去受困於有害塑膠的國家所綁架。使這些既得利益受到控制是開啟塑料更光明未來的關鍵。
---摘錄翻譯自Nature