Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and affecting the health of smokers in general. Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits for you and your loved ones.
Information on diseases caused by tobacco use, such as cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases.
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Science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of the nation.
FDA scientists are working on an unprecedented project. They’re studying adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)—cells that could eventually be used to repair, replace, restore or regenerate cells in the body, including those needed for heart and bone repair.
Seven labs at FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research are working in a consortium to fill in gaps in knowledge about how stem cells function. This research could ultimately be key to the advancement of personalized medicine, in which medical treatment is tailored to the needs of an individual patient.
The two million farmworkers who labor to put food on our tables are about to get new protections against pesticides. By taking action now, you can help ensure that these protections are strong enough to do the job.
The protections are proposed by the EPA in improvements to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard, which hasn’t been upgraded since it was passed in 1992. However, the standard can be improved.
The proposed rule is in response to a 2011 petition from Earthjustice and our partners on behalf of several farmworker and public advocacy organizations requesting improved protections from pesticide exposure. Exposure to pesticides and their residues causes farmworkers to suffer more chemical-related injuries and illnesses than any other workforce nationwide.
Help improve these proposed standards by expressing your concerns—today—to the EPA.
Sincerely,
Andrea Delgado
Legislative Representative, Earthjustice
A school I used to work for uses painful electric shocks that the UN considers torture on people with disabilities. I’m calling on the FDA to ban the use of these machines. |
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I used to work at a school for children and adults with severe disabilities, a school where painful electric shocks are considered treatment. That experience haunts me every day of my life. Now I’m taking action to make sure the FDA bans the use of electric shock on people with disabilities.
In 2002, an autistic student named Andre McCollins at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), the school where I worked, was strapped down and given electric shocks for hours, leaving him with burns and permanent brain damage. All because Andre refused to take off his jacket.
When I first started working at the JRC, I thought I was helping these severely disabled people, but it quickly became clear that we were torturing them. I was told that the machines, which deliver shocks stronger than a stun gun, were FDA approved. I was lied to. Now I’m doing something about it.
The devices used at the JRC are not electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). These are machines that students wear at all times and deliver shocks administered by JRC whenever they feel a student has done something wrong. I had to shock students for behaviors like closing their eyes or tearing a paper cup. It made me sick.
The JRC has a long documented history of abuse. The United Nations has investigated the school and called their practices “torture.” The founder of the JRC, Dr. Matthew Israel, resigned after being charged with misleading a grand jury by destroying video footage of students being shocked.
It’s hard to believe this could be happening in the United States. Treating animals like this would be illegal, but we don’t have the same protections for the most vulnerable people in our society.
The FDA is holding a hearing next week where I plan to bring your signatures to show the massive amount of support for banning the JRC’s use of these machines. The FDA has taken action in response to Change.org petitions before. I know we can convince them to protect people with disabilities from electric shocks that amount to torture.
Thank you,
Gregory Miller
Berry Creek, CA
P.S. Video of Andre McCollins’ horrific ordeal is on my petition. It took 10 years to get it released to the public. It’s hard to watch, but it shows just how painful these machines are.
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