Gun-related deaths higher in formerly redlined communities
City neighborhoods that were redlined almost 100 years ago, locking residents into a cycle of poverty, have higher rates of gun violence today, new research finds.
Although redlining was banned in the U.S. in 1968, its harms are still felt, according to the study, which was published April 22 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Redlining prevented Black Americans and other people of color from receiving housing loans and insurance, as their neighborhoods were labeled “high-risk” by financial institutions. The policies, which began in the 1930s, kept minorities from building home equity and perpetuated poverty.
In the new study, researchers examined data on gun violence deaths from more than 200 U.S. cities, excluding suicides. They found that formerly redlined areas averaged almost six times the rate of gun violence deaths from 2014 to -2022 — at more than 19 deaths per 100,000 residents — than neighborhoods that were not redlined.
The highest rate of gun violence deaths in formerly redlined neighborhoods wasere in Jackson, Mississippi, with at more than 103 gun violence deaths per 100,000 people. In the same city, areas that were never redlined had 33 gun deaths per 100,000 people.
Other formerly redlined neighborhoods with high rates of gun-related deaths included those in Little Rock, Arkansas, at about 77 per 100,000 residents; St. Louis, 73 per 100,000; Lexington, Kentucky, 65 per 100,000; and Memphis, 67 per 100,000.
Formerly redlined areas tended to have higher rates of people living below the federal poverty level and higher proportions of residents who were Black, the study found.
Report: Workers at threat from climate change, but companies unprepared
Climate change is increasingly threatening the health of U.S. workers, yet few companies have strategies to protect their employees — which could cut into their profits, a new report warns.
Released April 22 by the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health, the report found that about half the U.S. workforce — 65 million people — face health risks on the job from climate change. But only 17% of CEOs surveyed for the report said their companies have plans to guard employees from those risks, which include high heat, poor air quality and extreme weather events.
While the leaders acknowledge extreme weather will be one of the most critical threats to their businesses in the next year, 20% of the CEOs said they did not feel fully prepared to address them.
The U.S. is already spending $800 billion a year on climate-related health conditions, including heat stroke, asthma, eye and skin irritation, physical injuries, cardiovascular problems and diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes. As temperatures continue to warm with climate change, health effects will worsen, raising costs for treatment, prevention and health insurance coverage.
Extreme heat alone costs 295 billion work hours in productivity worldwide each year, the report said. Hispanic workers, who are tend to be overrepresented in outdoor jobs in the agricultural and construction industries, are particularly at risk from climate-related health impacts.
Companies that take action to prevent health risks of climate change have a competitive advantage, according to the commission, which is made up of business and public health leaders. For every dollar saved in health care costs, employers can expect to gain $2.30 in improved performance and productivity, the report said.
Plastic from major food, beverage companies polluting the environment
The amount of plastic that pollutes the environment is directly linked to the amount that is produced, with just 56 companies accounting for half the world’s branded plastic pollution, new research released April 22 finds.
An international team of scientists from nine countries found that every 1% increase in plastic production was associated with a 1% increase in environmental plastic pollution. Published April 24 in Science Advances, the study examined data on nearly 2 million plastic items catalogued in 84 countries over five years.
Products from large food, beverage and tobacco companies accounted for 24% of the plastic waste that was collected by volunteers in more than 1,500 environmental audits. About 11% of the items came from the Coca-Cola Company, 5% from PepsiCo, 3% from Nestlé, 3% from Danone and 2% from and Altria-Philip Morris International. In total, the branded plastic items were traced to nearly 19,600 companies.
Household items that are packaged in plastic, such as for laundry detergent and personal care products, were found less often in environmental pollution, most likely because they are used at home and are less likely to be disposed of on-the-go or to to come loose during refuse collection, researchers said.
About 52% of the plastic items that were examined lacked distinguishable branding and could not be traced to producers. To hold companies accountable, researchers called for voluntary or mandatory labeling of all plastic consumer products.
Ending the use of single-use plastic products from the largest polluters would significantly reduce global plastic pollution, study researchers said. Some major cities, including Toronto and New York City, have already begun targeting single-use products by outlawing plastic utensils with takeout food. A new ban in Hong Kong that took effect April 22 goes further, banning plastic straws, stirrers, plates and more for both takeout and dine-in restaurant use.
Global plastic production doubled to more than 400 million tons from 2000 to 2019, with related increases in plastic waste. Prior research found that less than 10% of the world’s plastic waste is recycled; 14% is incinerated and 76% ends up in landfills and the natural environment.
Proposed changes to Medicare, Medicaid would kill thousands annually
Potential changes to Medicare and Medicaid that would raise age eligibility, mandate work requirements and more could cause 18,000 more people to die each year, a new study finds.
Published April 22 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research examined three changes to Medicaid and Medicare that have been put forth recently by the U.S. government
Under the age proposal, authored by a U.S. House of Representatives committee, the year at which people would be eligible to receive health insurance coverage under Medicare would be raised from 65 to 67.
Assuming that people would become uninsured during that two-year period — therefore skipping, delaying or otherwise experiencing problems accessing care — an additional 9,650 people would die annually, according to the Yale University-led research team. If Medicare eligibility age is phased in by a few months each year, deaths could reach as high as 26,000 during the transition period alone.
Instituting work requirement for Medicaid recipients would lead to an additional 630 deaths each year, the study found. While some states have already put work requirements in place, recurring proposals in Congress would make them universal. The policies are unnecessary because most Medicaid recipients already work and dangerous because burdensome reporting requirements kick people out of the program, leaving them uninsured.
Researchers also looked at a third policy that is already taking effect. During the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, Congress required states to automatically re-enroll people participating in the Medicaid program, partially in hopes of preventing spread of the disease. Since that provision expired, more than 20 million people have lost health insurance coverage through disenrollment, according to tracking by KFF.
The new study estimates the Medicaid disenrollment change could lead to an additional 7,900 deaths each year in the U.S., particularly among low-income people.
Medicaid and Medicare provide health insurance coverage for 160 million people, including older adults, people with low incomes and those with disabilities.
Other public health news of note this week includes:
• Rates of emergency department visits for heat-related illness jumped significantly in parts of the U.S. last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
• Racial and ethnic health disparities, perpetuated by lower health insurance coverage rates and unequal access to high-quality care, are common across all U.S. states, a report from the Commonwealth Fund finds.
• The Environmental Protection Agency classified two widely used “forever chemicals” as hazardous substances, and will require cleanup by polluters under the Superfund law.
• Air pollutants — including particulate matter, pollen and greenhouse gases — can contribute to the development and worsening of allergic diseases such as asthma, hay fever and food allergies, says a new study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
• Firearms account for a third of all deaths among Black rural youth, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds. The rate was four times that of white rural youth in 2022 and equaled or exceeded the firearm-related death rate among Black youth in urban areas.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.