EPA to crack down on toxic emissions from more than 200 chemical plants The Biden administration will require more than 200 chemical plants to cut their emissions of toxic chemicals as part of a broader effort to reduce cancer cases. The Environmental Protection Agency… rfrazin The Hill

The Biden administration will require more than 200 chemical plants to cut their emissions of toxic chemicals as part of a broader effort to reduce cancer cases.

Pfizer’s RSV vaccine shows potential to protect high-risk adults ages 18-59, widening possible use

A vaccine from Pfizer showed the potential to protect adults ages 18 to 59 who are at increased risk of getting severely sick from respiratory syncytial virus in a late stage clinical trial, the company said Tuesday.

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€500B remains unspent from EU’s Covid recovery fund Capitals urge European Commission to slash red tape fearing that huge amounts of money won’t ever be used. POLITICO

BRUSSELS — Governments have received less than a third of the EU's original €723 billion pot to help boost post-Covid economic recovery and are now heaping pressure on the European Commission to speed up payments.

Climate-warming gases being smuggled into Europe, investigation says Large amounts of climate-warming refrigerant gases from China and Turkey are being smuggled illegally into Europe, undermining a global pact to phase them out, a report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said on Monday. David Stanway Reuters

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FDA Authorizes COVID Drug Pemgarda for High-Risk Patients A Yale Medicine expert explains the significance of a new preventive medication to protect certain immunocompromised people against COVID-19. Yale Medicine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to a medicine meant to protect certain immunocompromised people against COVID-19.

Tens of millions facing hunger and water shortages as extreme drought and floods sweep southern Africa | CNN More than 24 million people face hunger, malnutrition and water scarcity as experts warn the crisis could become an “unimaginable humanitarian situation” Sarah Dean CNN

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The warning from Oxfam on Wednesday came as Zimbabwe joined other southern African nations in declaring its drought a national disaster, following earlier declarations by Zambia and Malawi....

CDC issues health alert for bird flu infection in US The U.S. CDC on Friday issued a health alert to inform clinicians, state health departments and the public of a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus. Reuters Reuters

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Among fully vaccinated, study shows Paxlovid does not shorten symptoms A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that, for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but having at least one risk factor for severe COVID, the antiviral drug Paxlovid did little to reduce symptom duration, but experts caution the findings might not apply to older patients. CIDRAP

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Bird flu dairy cow outbreak widens in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico Bird flu has infected a dairy herd in Ohio for the first time and was detected in additional herds in Kansas and New Mexico, according to the U.S. government, expanding an outbreak in cows that has raised concerns about possible risks to humans. Tom Polansek Reuters

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