FDA approves Ozempic to treat kidney disease, creating a trifecta of uses
The weight loss and diabetes drug making headlines has now expanded its coverage, the Food and Drug Administration has given Ozempic the green light to treat chronic kidney disease. Ozempic has gained the reputation of being a weight loss booster, but it’s expanding its health benefits once again.
FDA grants approval for Ozempic to treat kidney disease
Novo Nordisk, the company behind the injection, announced the decision on Tuesday, Jan. 28, which makes the drug one of the most versatile semaglutide medications available.
Ozempic was initially approved in 2017 to help glucose levels for those living with Type 2 diabetes. The FDA later expanded Ozempic’s benefits to aid in helping to combat heart disease.
“This approval for Ozempic allows us to more broadly address conditions within cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, which affects millions of adults and could have serious consequences if left untreated.”
Anna Windle, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Novo Nordisk.
In a press release, Novo Nordisk said 37 million adults in the United States are losing the ability to properly use their kidneys, and 40% of them are also considered diabetic.
Decision based on 2019 study
The FDA made its decision based on data from a study started in 2019 involving 3,500 patients with diabetes and kidney disease. Over the course of the study, patients were given a shot of 1 mg of semaglutide.
Results showed a 24% drop in major kidney and heart-related incidents when compared to the placebo.
The risk of a heart attack also dropped another 18%, and death risks went down another 20%. Experts said cardiovascular deaths were cut by 29%.
The European Union issued a similar approval to Ozempic for 27 of its countries in October of 2024.
Judge temporarily blocks Trump federal funding freeze
A showdown possible of reaching the Supreme Court looms between the Trump administration and state attorneys general over the administration’s move to freeze federal aid and certain programs. And President Donald Trump gives federal employees an ultimatum, with a deadline to decide whether they’ll return to full-time in-person work. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
Judge temporarily blocks Trump federal funding freeze
President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans has set the stage for a potential Supreme Court showdown. A federal judge temporarily blocked the move on Tuesday, Jan. 28, after nonprofit groups and more than 20 Democratic state attorneys general filed lawsuits over it.
A memo sent by the Office of Management and Budget on Monday, Jan. 27, immediately sparked questions about its implications for federal assistance programs such as Medicare, nonprofits and Americans enrolled in government aid programs.
The federal government will no longer “fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.” That includes surgical interventions and the use of puberty blockers or sex hormones.
The order said the Department of Health and Human Services must review the terms of insurance coverage under Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to end some gender-affirming procedures for Americans younger than 19.
It also gave the department 90 days to release a new set of best practices, meant to revise guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which the order called “junk science.”
The order also directed the Department of Justice to investigate states that protect access to sex change procedures.
Trump administration offers federal employees buyout option
In a move to downsize the government, Trump offered federal workers a choice to decide by next week whether to resign or return to the office.
On his first day in office, the president signed an executive order mandating that all federal employees return to in-person work instead of working from home. A new memo released Tuesday by the Office of Personnel Management said those workers must decide whether to opt in by Feb. 6.
They’re being offered the option of “deferred resignation,” which means that while they must make their decision by next week, they won’t be out of a job until Sept. 30. Those who do decide to resign will still get full pay and benefits and are exempt from in-person work until then.
“We’re five years past COVID and just 6% of federal employees work full-time in the office. That is unacceptable,” the White House said in a statement.
A senior White House official told CBS News up to 10% of federal employees are expected to take the deal — about 200,000 people.
The memo also cautioned those who decide not to accept the buyout could still lose their job if their position ends up being eliminated under the Trump administration.
Several feared dead after stampede at India’s Kumbh Mela religious festival
Several people are feared dead after a ritual in India took a tragic turn Wednesday, Jan. 29. A massive crowd of pilgrims rushed to take ritual baths in sacred rivers at a festival in northern India, leading to a stampede.
Hindus believe that a swim or dip in the confluence of three rivers there will cleanse them of their sins and end their process of reincarnation.
Some local websites reported at least ten people have died.
In a televised statement, a top elected official said there were some serious injuries but did not elaborate.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident “very sad” and sent his condolences to the victims.
Police tried to manage the crowds as people’s belongings such as clothes, blankets and backpacks were strewn about. Officials said about 30 million people had taken the holy bath by early Wednesday morning.
Doomsday Clock now closest it’s ever been to midnight
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand on their clock to 89 seconds to midnight Tuesday.
“The world has not made sufficient progress on existential risks, threatening all of humanity,” said chair Daniel Holz.
The clock sat at 90 seconds to midnight for the past two years. This is the closest it’s ever been to midnight since the advocacy group started using the clock in 1947.
The decision was based on countries with nuclear weapons “investing hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons that can destroy civilization many times over.”
The group also cited progress in developing “disruptive technologies,” such as artificial intelligence.
Mysterious drones were authorized by the FAA: White House
The White House said the drones spotted in the skies above New Jersey last month were not so mysterious.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the FAA authorized the drones to fly for “research purposes and various other reasons.”
The drones sparked concerns in December when people along the East Coast spotted drones hovering in the sky nightly. Many people captured videos, including lawmakers, and demanded answers.
The FAA implemented drone bans over critical infrastructure in response to public concern. Those bans have since expired.
The Trump administration’s explanation aligned with what Biden administration officials said previously.
US woman now longest living person with pig organ in medical breakthrough
A watershed moment in medical history occurred on Saturday, Jan. 25, as an Alabama woman became the longest-living pig organ recipient ever. Towana Looney is reportedly healthy and living a normal life with her new pig kidney at more than 60 days and counting after her transplant.
Groundbreaking milestone
“We’re hitting a really important milestone,” Dr. Robert Montgomery said. “Towana will be the first human to receive a pig organ and have it function past two months.”
Looney’s recovery is offering hope to those on transplant waiting lists and scientists who are working to make animal-to-human transplants successful.
Montgomery said, “If you saw her on the street, you would have no idea that she’s the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ inside them that’s functioning.”
Looney said she feels healthy and that she’s able to keep a brisk walking pace. Before the surgery, she said she was the one struggling to keep up, but now much has changed.
Why it matters
Only four other Americans have ever received transplants from gene-edited pig organs, two hearts and two kidneys, and none have lived more than two months.
Montgomery said, “We’re going past that two-month mark. Her kidney function is absolutely normal, and the biopsies that we’ve done from the kidney look great. We’re quite optimistic that this is going to continue to work and work well for a significant period of time.”
Doctors expect Looney will be able to leave New York, where she is undergoing checkups, for her home in Alabama in about a month.
As Looney’s recovery continues, scientists are continuing to genetically alter pig organs so that they are more humanlike, in order to address a dire shortage of transplantable human organs.
More than 100,000 Americans are reportedly on the U.S. transplant list, most of them in need of a kidney, and thousands die waiting.
Only special cases so far
Patients who have been given pig organs to this point are special cases, which are allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people with no other options.
Colombia accepts deported migrants after tariff showdown with Trump
The showdown between the Trump administration and Colombia over deported migrants is over, but what happens to the tariffs the president threatened to impose? And much-needed rain in Southern California brings new concerns to the region. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Monday, Jan. 27, 2025.
Colombia accepts deported migrants after tariff showdown with Trump
The Trump administration claimed a quick and decisive victory after Colombia agreed to allow the U.S. to transport repatriated migrants back to the South American country.
Early Sunday, Jan. 26, Colombia blocked two U.S. military planes carrying deportees from landing. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the U.S. “can’t treat Colombian migrants like criminals.”
President Donald Trump responded to the move on Truth Social, announcing “emergency 25% tariffs” on all imports from Colombia — which would be raised to 50% in a week, a travel ban for Colombian citizens and a revocation of visas for Colombian officials in the U.S.
Within hours, Petro threatened a 25% retaliatory tariff increase on the U.S. in a series of social media posts objecting to the use of military planes and the treatment of migrants.
However, by late Sunday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Colombia’s government agreed to the “unrestricted acceptance” of migrants from Colombia “without limitation or delay.”
Leavitt added tariffs and financial sanctions will be held in reserve but not signed. Still, the visa sanctions against Colombian officials and stricter customs inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo ships, ordered by Trump earlier Sunday, will remain in effect “until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”
Leavitt’s statement said other countries should take notice and fully cooperate in accepting its deportees who were in the U.S. illegally.
Israel-Hamas ceasefire moves forward after weekend issues
Early Monday, Jan. 27, Qatar announced an agreement was reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the hostage release, which is set for Thursday, Jan. 30, will include civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud and female soldier Agam Berger.
As of Monday morning, Palestinians are now allowed to return to northern Gaza on foot. They were set to start returning on Saturday, Jan. 26, but Israel put that on hold because of Yehoud, whom Israel said should have been released on Saturday.
However, Israel did release 200 Palestinian prisoners Saturday as part of the second phase of an exchange in the ceasefire deal that saw Hamas release four female Israeli soldiers.
Trump weighed in on the issue over the weekend, suggesting most of Gaza’s population be temporarily resettled in other countries, such as Egypt and Jordan, to “just clean out” the war-ravaged enclave. Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority rejected his idea.
Bird feathers found in engines of crashed South Korean plane: Report
Authorities investigating last month’s deadly passenger jet crash at South Korea’s Muan airport said they found evidence a bird may have caused the plane to go down.
A preliminary report, released Monday, said duck feathers and blood stains were found in both engines of the jet that crashed into a concrete structure that houses a “localizer,” killing 179 of the 181 people on board. The localizer aids in the navigation of an aircraft approaching the runway.
The report said investigators will examine the jet engines and concrete structure further to determine the role each played in the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil.
Rain brings relief to wildfire-devastated Los Angeles area
Thousands of South California residents displaced by deadly wildfires hope to return to their homes, or what remains of them, Monday, as the area sees its first significant rainfall in months.
A slow-moving rainstorm settled over Southern California on Sunday, bringing much-needed relief as three major wildfires, now mostly contained, scorch the already devastated area.
However, this morning, major concerns about mudslides, flash flooding, and toxic ash emerged. Experts said rain that falls on recently burned areas picks up contaminants from ash, charred vehicles, and other debris and can carry pollutants into the ecosystem and water supply.
Forecasters said rain showers will continue into Monday afternoon.
New CIA analysis says COVID-19 outbreak ‘more likely’ came from lab leak
The CIA now says the COVID-19 pandemic “more likely” started with a lab leak rather than originating from animals. However, the agency said it would continue evaluating any new intelligence reporting.
On Saturday, a CIA spokesperson said the pandemic’s “research-related origin” is “more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting.”
However, analysts said they have “low confidence” in that assessment, despite former CIA Director Bill Burns telling the agency it needed to look at the existing evidence again and come down on one side or the other.
The decision to release that assessment marks one of the first made under the CIA’s new Trump-appointed director, John Ratcliffe, who took over the agency on Thursday, Jan. 23.
The country has argued over the origin of COVID-19, with other agencies like the FBI and the Energy Department believing the coronavirus most likely came from a leak in a lab in Wuhan, China, and not the theory of an infected animal at an outdoor market, which other intelligence agencies have favored.
Chiefs to meet Eagles in Super Bowl rematch
Super Bowl LIX is now set for Sunday, Feb. 9, in New Orleans. The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will play for the title in a rematch from two years ago.
The Chiefs will attempt to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
The defending champs knocked off the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in a thriller at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes ran for two touchdowns while its defense held off Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills led going into the fourth quarter 22-21, but Mahomes led his team down the field twice, including a game-winning field goal by Harrison Butker with just over three minutes left.
In the first game of the day, the Philadelphia Eagles put up 55 points — the most ever in a conference championship game — and routed the upstart Washington Commanders 55-23.
Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley ran for three touchdowns, including a 60-yarder on the team’s first play from scrimmage. Quarterback Jalen Hurts also showed up to play, running for three touchdowns, as well.
Your face might be revealing secrets about your diet. From pesky pimples to sudden swelling, experts say your skin can tell a lot about your eating habits.
There are treatments and medicines to help acne, but understanding your skin’s unique triggers could lead to lasting results. For example, that midnight snack or daily latte could be the hidden culprit behind your breakouts.
Jill Therese, CEO of The Clear Code, works with clients to heal their acne naturally through nutrition. She explains that certain types of acne are often tied to diet and digestion.
“If you have red or inflamed acne [from the mouth down], it might be linked to sugar or sensitivity to foods like coffee, wine or nightshade vegetables,” she says.
Therese also notes that breakouts can indicate internal health issues. For example, acne in specific areas might suggest digestion challenges, such as constipation.
Pinpointing acne triggers
Figuring out exactly what’s causing your acne isn’t always straightforward. Many people take food sensitivity tests, but Therese believes they aren’t always reliable.
“Food sensitivity tests might tell you to avoid 85 foods when, in reality, the issue is often a gut microbiome imbalance,” Therese explains. Instead, she recommends focusing on repairing the gut by incorporating probiotic and prebiotic foods.
Examples of these include sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, bananas, garlic and honey. Therese believes these foods can be more beneficial than cutting out large portions of your diet or relying solely on food sensitivity tests.
Skincare routines that help
Of course, it’s not just about what you eat. According to Therese, acne healing is 75% diet and 25% skincare. She emphasizes simplifying your routine, especially if you’re dealing with acne.
“Don’t use oil cleansers or anything oil-based,” she says. “Fungal acne thrives on lipids.”
She also recommends skipping a cleanser in the morning and opting for a simple water wash instead. Overloading your skin with products can sometimes do more harm than good.
Do detoxes and diets work?
Social media makes it tempting to try trendy detoxes or diets that promise clear skin. While these might work in the short term, Therese warns they aren’t sustainable for long-term results.
“What happens the second you come off a detox?” she asks. “I don’t love them for longer-term issues, but if you need a quick fix for an event in two weeks, I can see the value.”
Therese also dispels the myth that acne is purely genetic. While genetics can play a role, she believes environment and habits are the determining factors in how skin issues manifest.
“You can be predisposed to acne, but how you manage your diet, lifestyle and skincare routine makes all the difference,” she says.
Hydration’s role in skin health
Therese also highlights the importance of hydration. Drinking water — paired with electrolytes like lemon or Himalayan sea salt — can help your body function better inside and out. She adds that proper hydration is key to resolving common issues like constipation, which can contribute to breakouts.
Adults with ADHD have shorter lifespans, study finds
More than 15 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, and a new study suggested that means more than 15 million people are also at risk of living shorter lives. A U.K. study published this week found a link between ADHD and shorter life expectancy.
For the study, researchers looked at more than 30,000 people diagnosed with the disorder. They found men with ADHD lived an average of seven years less than those who didn’t have it. Women with ADHD had a lifespan of about nine years shorter.
That’s not all researchers found
The study also found a link between ADHD and a higher risk of mental health issues like anxiety, depression and suicide. It also showed those with ADHD had a higher association with “harmful habits” like smoking or drinking heavily.
Autism, intellectual disabilities and physical health problems like diabetes or high cholesterol were more prevalent among those with ADHD, as well.
Previous studies agree
This is not the first study to find a correlation between ADHD and a shorter life expectancy. A 2022 study examining people in the United States and Europe came to the same conclusion.
A similar study in 2019 also found children with ADHD who were followed into adulthood had a shorter life expectancy of about eight years, as well as more years of unhealthy living.
Commanders’ Gonzalez is among athletes managing OCD on grand stage
When Washington Commanders placekicker Zane Gonzalez kicked a 37-yard field goal Sunday, Jan. 12, to give his team its first playoff win since the 2005 season, it wasn’t just the “doink” off the uprights NBC cameras captured. As Gonzalez readied to send his team into the divisional round, a national audience was brought into his preparation, with many not fully understanding what they were watching.
From adjusting his socks to touching his hair repeatedly, the Sunday Night Football commentators and viewers at home saw what the 29-year-old Texas native has been dealing with most of his life — a condition known as obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD.
For Zane Gonzalez, it doesn't matter how you get ready…just as long as you're ready. 😂 pic.twitter.com/oTkxuFQvSj
Though Gonzalez has been shown on camera before when going through his pre-kick routine, with him playing in an NFL postseason game, more eyes were on him than ever before. This gave a big platform for the condition that affects millions of people across the country.
Zane Gonzalez has long struggled in his battle with OCD. Since he was a freshman at Arizona State, he has been public about coping with it.
Tonight, the world was introduced to his tick of him constantly fixing his hair… all that matters is the doink that sends the Commanders… pic.twitter.com/sdO7r890zi
The Mayo Clinic describes OCD as a disorder that “features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions. These obsessions lead you to do repetitive behaviors, also called compulsions. These obsessions and compulsions get in the way of daily activities and cause a lot of distress.”
According to the International OCD Foundation, about 1 in 40 U.S. adults has OCD or will develop it at some point in their lives. That’s approximately 8.2 million people.
The foundation says, on average, 1 in 100 children have OCD. Gonzalez has been dealing with OCD since he was a child. The football star began to open up about managing the condition when he was a freshman at Arizona State.
After breaking an NCAA record for field goals in a career (he was nicknamed “Legatron” by ASU fans after all), the Sun Devils kicker became an NFL player when he was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 2017 draft.
He had to wait for that moment though, it was the seventh round and Gonzalez was the 224th pick. ESPN reported that year, “It’s possible Gonzalez slipped down the draft board due to his honesty about his obsessive-compulsive disorder.”
A few months after the draft, Gonzalez told the network, as a football player with OCD, “It makes you a perfectionist and more detail-oriented. Off the field, it’s a pain in the butt.”
No matter the round he was drafted, Gonzalez was in the NFL and he pressed on as his career took him to Arizona, Detroit, Charlotte, San Francisco and, just this past November, to Washington, mere weeks before his game-winning kick.
In 2021, he spoke to the Charlotte Observer about coping with OCD, saying, “It affected me a lot more as a young kid … It’s just little thoughts, little funny habits that I do … specifically, sometimes I rinse my hands before kicks … And I was kind of curious about that.”
He continued, “But that’s one of the most common things that people with OCD do. It instantly makes you just feel relieved. I don’t know why, if it’s just a placebo effect.”
“It’s not something I love having. But it just is what it is, and I’ve learned to deal with it,” he said.
The NFL kicker joins several other pro athletes speaking publicly about their OCD experiences.
As a young adult, New Zealand Olympian track cyclist Sam Dakin first began noticing OCD symptoms in 2018, just a few years before competing in his first Olympic games in Tokyo.
“I was 22 years old … and then woke up one day and just … Boom. There’s just one thought on repeat,” Dakin said. “It started for an hour a day and then eventually just got worse and worse. And then it was 16 hours a day and I could only escape it when I slept, which was just horrific.”
On Jan. 5, Dakin sat down with The Good Day Matrix podcast about how an online community helped him in dealing with the condition.
“I started just scrolling the internet and Googling this thing that was going on in my head, and eventually one day I was on Reddit and I found this, like, feed of pure OCD, and these people just described exactly what I was feeling,” Dakin said.
“It was just like this relief. I was like I’m not alone, other people have gone through this. It’s actually relatively normal but not many people have talked about it.”
Like Gonzalez, Dakin said he’s not shy about speaking about OCD, and hopes his words can help someone else going through what he did.
“I was just like, man, this can help so many people, and I feel comfortable to talk about it,” Dakin said. “And if I can talk about it more then it’ll help others, and it’s just kind of grown from there really. I have tried to do it in a way that’s really me and really organic and not shoving it down people’s faces.”
Millie Farrow, a United Kingdom pro soccer player, currently playing with Sydney FC, also knows what it’s like to battle OCD while living out your childhood dreams.
She told The New York Times in 2023, “It is a very strange place to be — being controlled by a thought in your head.”
Farrow told The Times she would see someone she described as “contaminated” touching a certain surface and would “be assessing it, analyzing it.”
Farrow said with a diagnosis and therapy starting at age 14, she has been able to get a handle on her OCD, saying, “It is something I will have for the length of my life, but it can be dealt with, and can be under control. That’s the place I’m in now.”
Now, as a professional soccer player, she said, “I’m so glad I didn’t give up.”
David Beckham, one of the most famous soccer stars to play the game, opened up in a 2023 Netflix documentary series about how OCD affects his life in retirement. He used humor to discuss his symptoms during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to promote the series.
“[My wife] Victoria always jokes because when we have our friends around for dinner or drinks, you know, I start turning like lights off and cleaning the candles,” Beckham said.
For the millions dealing with OCD, it may not be humor that gets them through, but finding someone to rely on.
Dakin told the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, that his advice to those struggling with OCD is to “find someone that you trust and you feel you can lean on, and in turn they’ll understand and they’ll want to be there to help you.”
For others, it was that game-winning kick that made them feel a sense of connection — as PGA Tour and SiriusXM host Jeff Eisenband wrote on X, “As someone who has dealt with OCD most of my life, I have such immense respect for Zane Gonzalez being able to perform in the clutch like this. Hate seeing people try to drag him for it.”
Last year was a year of celebration for Zane Gonzalez. He got married last April and the couple then welcomed their first child in December. Now, Gonzalez is looking for the good times to continue in 2025.
Next up, Washington meets Detroit in the NFL’s divisional round, and after the headlines his wild card kick made, he’ll probably have a few new fans rooting for him in the games to come.
Proposed new criteria could reduce classified obesity population by 20%
A group of global experts is proposing a new way to diagnose obesity. Under new recommendations released Tuesday, Jan. 14, obesity would no longer be determined solely by body mass index (BMI).
A person’s BMI is determined using a person’s height and weight. Under the new recommendations, other factors would also be taken into account, including waist circumference and evidence of health problems linked to being overweight.
A new report published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Journal also introduced two new diagnostic categories: clinical obesity and pre-clinical obesity. People diagnosed with clinical obesity would meet BMI and other markers of obesity, and have evidence of organ, tissue or other problems caused by excess weight, like heart disease, high blood pressure, liver or kidney disease or chronic severe knee or hip pain.
Those with clinical obesity would be eligible for treatments, including diet and exercise interventions, and obesity medications. People with pre-clinical obesity are at risk for those conditions but have no ongoing illness yet.
The 58 experts behind the recommendations said under the new criteria, about 20% of people who used to be classified as obese would no longer meet the definition and about 20% of people with serious health effects but lower BMI would now be considered clinically obese.
The new definitions have been endorsed by more than 75 medical organizations around the world, but it’s not clear how widely or quickly they could be adopted.
1 alcoholic drink per day increases chance of premature death: Study
A federal study likely to impact U.S. dietary guidelines found that drinking alcohol even at “low levels” drastically increases a person’s risk of premature death. The research comes from the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and it is one of two reports guiding the 2025 revision to dietary guidelines.
Researchers found people that drank more than seven alcoholic beverages per week had a 1-in-1,000 chance of premature death, while those who drank nine or more alcoholic beverages per week raised that risk even higher to a 1-in-100 chance of premature death.
The report also said one drink a day increases the risk of liver disease, as well as certain cancers and injuries, but reduces the risk of a stroke.
The report comes after a recent advisory from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who called for a warning to be added to alcoholic beverages about increased cancer risk associated with consuming alcohol.
The ICCPUD’s study, however, is in conflict with a report in December by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which found that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of death than nondrinkers. U.S. lawmakers and the alcohol industry are criticizing the ICCPUD’s findings.
Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson of California voiced concerns on Wednesday, Jan. 15, on what he considers a lack of transparency in the agency’s review process.
While Science over Bias, a coalition of the nation’s agricultural, beverage and hospitality industries, argued the study is “rife with bias and conflicts of interest” while lacking “scientific evidence.”
The alcohol industry also questions the ICCPUD panel’s motivations and qualifications, noting all six of the panelists in charge of the study are experts in substance abuse disorders, but not experts on other health effects associated with alcohol.
Two of the panelists also reportedly said no level of alcohol is safe to consume, and another panelist received funds from a religious group whose mission is to promote alcohol abstinence.
However, the U.S. Alcohol Alliance applauded the findings. A spokesperson for the organization said, “The fact that any amount of alcohol is harmful to your health can no longer be ignored.”
How the study will impact U.S. dietary guidelines remains to be seen. There is reportedly speculation that the guidelines could be in concert with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2022 declaration, stating that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
They said even though the law is meant to keep kids from accessing sexually explicit content online, it’s vague and “imposes significant burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally protected expression.” Opponents also said it also presents privacy and security concerns because adults are forced to share personally identifying information to access the sites.
The law, signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023, requires porn sites to verify official documentation like government-issued IDs or face large fines. The law says any website that contains “one-third” sexual material is considered a site that requires age verification, though social media sites are exempt.
The Texas law also requires sites to display health notices on their landing page that says viewing pornography is potentially addictive, weakens brain function and is associated with low self-esteem and body image, among other issues.
A U.S. district judge temporarily blocked the law in September 2024, but then the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals undid that, saying requiring age verification does not violate the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will impact more than just Texas. Multiple other states have passed laws mandating age-verification for porn sites including Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee.