‘There’s a better way to talk about fluoride, vaccines and raw milk’
Emily Oster at The New York Times
Water fluoridation has “benefits and is safe at the levels we use in the United States,” but “there is no good evidence of any health benefits associated with raw milk,” says Emily Oster. But medical experts should “provide this level of detail.” Just “saying that vaccines are good and raw milk is bad misses specifics that people find important.” The “reaction from public-health officials often seems to be to yell the same thing, only more loudly. This isn’t working.”
‘As climate change worsens, so too will natural disasters. Here’s how to pay for them.’
Erin Coughlan de Perez at the Los Angeles Times
A “growing question as these disasters worsen in a warming world is how to pay for recoveries,” but the “usual sources of aid funding haven’t come close to meeting the need,” says Erin Coughlan de Perez. There are “anticipatory action systems designed to make funding available to countries when an extreme event is forecast but before the disaster hits.” This “should be coupled with investments in adaptation and resilience so that extreme weather events cause less damage.”
‘Trump’s win terrifies my Latino students. I’m struggling to reassure them.’
Larry Strauss at USA Today
The “mass deportations Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised and which many of his followers celebrated were a pledge to take away the parents and grandparents and other family of many of my students,” says Larry Strauss. We “do not know what will happen to their parents. Or to them. I am trying to help prepare them for a future that is haunted by peril.” But “this probably won’t be the last time I’ll be trying to reassure them.”
‘Israel’s UNRWA ban is another declaration of genocidal intent’
James Smith at Al Jazeera
Any “further obstruction” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees programs will have “immediate and catastrophic implications for millions of Palestinians,” says James Smith. No other “organization can match UNRWA’s program coverage, logistical capacity, or collective expertise.” Israel “knowing that no agency can replace UNRWA but attempting to incapacitate its life-sustaining work regardless is a clear declaration of genocidal intent.” Israel “has a basic legal obligation as an occupying power to ensure the adequate supply of humanitarian aid” in Gaza.