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FTC Finalizes Changes to Children’s Privacy Rule Limiting Companies’ Ability to Monetize Kids’ Data
Federal Trade Commission reported:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule to set new requirements around the collection, use and disclosure of children’s personal information and give parents new tools and protections to help them control what data is provided to third parties about their children.
The final rule requires parents to opt in to third-party advertising and includes other changes to address the emerging ways that consumers’ data is collected and used by companies, and particularly how children’s data is being shared and monetized.
“The updated COPPA rule strengthens key protections for kids’ privacy online,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “By requiring parents to opt in to targeted advertising practices, this final rule prohibits platforms and service providers from sharing and monetizing children’s data without active permission. The FTC is using all its tools to keep kids safe online.”
Justice Department Says Alabama Institutionalizes Too Many Children With Disabilities
Alabama children with physical disabilities are being unnecessarily institutionalized in nursing homes, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday, warning it would file suit against the state unless changes are made to allow more of these children to live at home.
A DOJ investigation found Alabama is violating the requirement of the Americans with Disabilities Act to administer services to individuals with disabilities in the setting most appropriate to the person’s needs.
“Many children with physical disabilities in Alabama are unnecessarily institutionalized or are at serious risk of unnecessary institutionalization,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke wrote to state officials.
L.A. Fires May Have Brought Cancer-Causing Chemicals Into Drinking Water
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and parts of Los Angeles County have issued “do not drink” and “do not boil” notices to residents in the Palisades, Altadena and neighboring communities. Wildfires that encroach into cities risk introducing harmful chemicals otherwise known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the municipal water system.
Experts say it will take weeks for these utilities to determine the extent of any contamination and months before remediation takes place. Until then, drinking, bathing or using tap water in these areas could have untold health consequences.
Why are there ‘do not boil’ and ‘do not drink’ notices? In other natural disasters like floods or earthquakes, city officials may recommend boiling water before using. Breaking of pipes or inundation in those situations might introduce harmful bacteria or viruses, harming drinking water.
Boil notices are for killing bacteria. VOCs are chemicals. As Andrew Whelton, a professor of civil engineering and ecological engineering at Purdue University puts it, “Chemicals can’t be killed. You have to physically remove them from the water.” When there is a “do not boil” or “do not drink” warning, the utility suspects that VOCs may be present in the drinking water. In notices to communities, water utilities emphasize that “boiling, freezing, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants, or letting water stand will not make the water safe.”
Perdue Farms to Pay $4 Million for Letting Children Work Hazardous Jobs
Perdue Farms will pay $4 million in restitution after it employed children in hazardous occupations at a Virginia plant and let them work past 7 p.m. during the regular school week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday.
The hazardous work at the Accomac facility included deboning chicken using equipment such as electric knives, the department said in a news release. The conditions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. “Perdue Farms has substantial influence in the poultry processing industry,” Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said in a statement. “By entering into this agreement, Perdue Farms is taking meaningful action to root out child labor not only at its facilities but to recognize its corporate responsibility to combat child labor more broadly.”
Perdue Farms will pay restitution to the children, organizations advocating for child labor victims and to support prevention efforts, the department said. The company also will pay a $150,000 fine.
Children With IBD Showed Impaired Growth Before Diagnosis
Children who were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) showed a decline in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) in the years before diagnosis, particularly those with Crohn’s disease, a Danish population-based cohort study showed.
Compared with children without IBD, those with a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease had declining anthropometric measures three years before diagnosis in weight (mean -0.12 g, 95% CI -0.20 to -0.03) and BMI (mean -0.13, 95% CI -0.21 to -0.04) and 1 year before diagnosis in length or height (mean -0.20 cm, 95% CI -0.29 to -0.10), reported Maiara Brusco De Freitas, Ph.D., of Aalborg University in Copenhagen and colleagues.
For kids diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, this same pattern was observed one year prior to diagnosis for weight (mean -0.12 g, 95% CI -0.22 to -0.02) and BMI (mean -0.13, 95% CI -0.23 to -0.03), they wrote in JAMA Network Open.
“These results not only highlight the long preclinical phase of IBD, especially [Crohn’s disease], but also demonstrate the significance of frequent nutritional screening and monitoring once children are diagnosed with IBD to restore nutritional status and provide a healthy transition to adulthood,” Brusco De Freitas and team concluded.
Global Study Reveals High Rates of Sexual Violence Against Children
Lifetime sexual harassment has a pooled rate of 11.4% among children, while contact sexual violence has a rate of 8.7%, according to a review published online Jan. 13 in JAMA Pediatrics.
Antonio Piolanti, Ph.D., from the University of Klagenfurt in Austria, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to estimate the global prevalence of sexual violence among children. A total of 165 studies, with 958,182 children from 80 countries, were included; most data (58.2%) focused on girls.
The researchers found that the most prevalent outcome was lifetime sexual harassment, with a pooled rate of 11.4%, followed by any contact sexual violence, which had a rate of 8.7%.
Kids Exposed to Zika Virus in Utero Can Have Development Delays Later in Life — Even Without Congenital Zika Syndrome
Two recent studies, including one published today in Pediatrics, show that exposure to the Zika virus in utero can affect children’s development later in childhood, with today’s study showing the finding holds true even when the children are born without signs of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS).
The study in Pediatrics is based on outcomes seen in Brazil among mother-infant pairs from 2018 to 2022. The children were assessed for early (congenital anomalies) and long-term adverse outcomes (neurodevelopmental delay), and the study included children with and without CZS, which is a group of birth defects associated with the disease.
Researchers enrolled 148 mother-child pairs, including 79 Zika-exposed in pregnancy and 69 controls. Children were assessed at ages 2 through 5. Overall, 40 (27.4%) had at least one adverse outcome, including 30 of 77 (39.0%) in the exposed group and 10 of 69 (14.5%) in the control group.
Among the Zika-exposed children, 13 had congenital anomalies associated with CZS; notably, all had microcephaly, which means smaller-than-normal brains and heads. Three of the 13 also had hydrocephalus. The overall incidence of congenital anomalies in Zika-exposed children was 16.5 cases per 100 children.
