EurekAlert! News by Subject: Policy & Ethics - News by Subject: Policy & Ethics

Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-Nov-2025 01:11 ET (17-Nov-2025 06:11 GMT/UTC)

6-Nov-2025

Plastic pollution threatens to worsen global carbon cycle, new perspective warns

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

A perspective article by international scientists underscores a critical new dimension to the global plastic crisis: Plastic pollution is not just harming wildlife and human health, but also disrupting the Earth’s carbon cycle in profound and lasting ways.

Journal: Carbon Research

6-Nov-2025

Shopping data reveals surprising urban food deserts

University of Adelaide
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new approach to identifying food deserts using grocery store purchase data suggests that store proximity is not the driver of nutritionally deficient diets – it is financial and social inequality.

6-Nov-2025

Study: Arrival of boll weevils in U.S. South in early 20th century brought long-term benefits for Black sons born after the agricultural shock

Carnegie Mellon University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study, researchers investigated the long-term impact of the boll weevil, an agricultural pest that destroys cotton crops, which invaded the South in the early 20th century and spurred significant economic changes. They found that this agricultural shock brought about long-term advantages for Black sons born after the boll weevil appeared.

Journal: The Economic Journal

6-Nov-2025

Researchers unite to frame deportations as a national health crisis

University of California - Merced
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Several longtime public health researchers warn that current U.S. immigration enforcement and deportation policies are producing widespread harm to physical and mental health, with family separation and the specters of fear and intimidation affecting the well-being of immigrant and non-immigrant communities.

Journal: Health Affairs

6-Nov-2025

More women sought permanent contraception after Supreme Court Dobbs decision

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The number of women undergoing tubal ligations — a surgical procedure that permanently prevents pregnancy — increased 51% across four academic medical centers in four states in the year after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, according to a new study from researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, Albany Medical Center, University of South Florida and University of Tennessee Medical Center. Almost half of those seeking the procedure reported that their decision was somewhat or very related to the current political climate, even in states considered to be protective of abortion access.

Journal: Contraception

6-Nov-2025

Mifepristone access through community pharmacies when regulated as a routine prescription medication

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: The results of this study of pharmacies in British Columbia, Canada, suggest that when medication abortion is available as a routine health service and mifepristone is regulated as a routine prescription, pharmacists play a key role in providing geographically distributed access to medication abortion. These findings may inform policy and initiatives to enhance pharmacist referral networks and improve mifepristone access, as well as service planning for international jurisdictions considering a similar medication abortion framework.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

6-Nov-2025

Hollings researcher co-leads AACR subcommittee calling for nicotine limits

Medical University of South Carolina
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., co-led a new American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) policy statement supporting a proposed FDA rule to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes. The proposed policy, still in the public comment stage, would reduce nicotine content by about 95%. By making cigarettes minimally or non-addictive, the policy could help millions of Americans quit smoking and prevent countless new addictions. Toll and his colleagues say the policy could save lives, reduce health care costs and transform cancer prevention, but emphasize the need to pair the policy with strong cessation support services and public education initiatives.

Journal: Clinical Cancer Research