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More Oklahoma Children Are Entering Kindergarten With Vaccine Exemptions, CDC Reports
New CDC data from last school year shows Oklahoma kindergartens are seeing more students with vaccine exemptions. Most were non-medical, representing 7.2% of Oklahoma kindergartners.
That’s about a 33% increase from the previous year.
Oklahoma is one of 16 states that allow exemptions for either religious or personal reasons. Only 0.2% of Oklahoma kindergartners received a medical exemption.
Oklahoma’s total exemption rate of 7.4% of kindergartners is significantly higher than the national rate of 4.2%, which also grew by 17% from the previous year.
“The increase has occurred across the country,” said Dr. Steven Crawford, chair of the board of the Oklahoma Alliance for Healthy Families. “But, unfortunately, Oklahoma seems to be one of the leaders.”
Parents Warned Over ‘Cute’ Squishy Toys as Amazon Removes Counterfeits Containing Lead and Phthalates
Parents are being urged to take a closer look at popular squishy toys after Amazon began removing some counterfeit products amid concerns they could contain hazardous substances including lead and phthalates.
The warning comes from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which says fake and non-compliant squishy toys can pose a range of risks to children. The agency has identified dozens of shipments containing unsafe products and stopped hundreds of thousands of individual toys from entering the U.S. market.
Squishy toys have become hugely popular, with soft animal, food and character-shaped designs widely sold through online marketplaces, social media shops and discount retailers.
But the CPSC has warned that counterfeit versions may not have undergone the safety testing required for children’s products. Some may contain excessive levels of lead, prohibited phthalates, small parts or water beads, while others may be filled with gels, liquids, powders or sand.
London’s Clean Air Zone Reverses Pollution Damage to Children’s Lungs
The lung capacity of thousands of children stunted by traffic fumes on London’s streets recovered fully in the five years after the city imposed limits on its most polluting vehicles, a landmark study has found.
The research, published Tuesday in The Lancet Public Health, tracked more than 3,400 children in London and Luton, a commuter town north of the capital, from before the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) took effect in 2019, providing what its authors describe as the most definitive evidence to date that a clean air zone can improve lung growth in children.
No previous study had addressed the question, researchers said, calling their results “the first evidence that air quality improvements following introduction of a clean air zone are associated with improved lung growth trajectories in children” across a literature review spanning back to the year after the dust settled from World War II in 1946.
“Traffic pollution in cities damages children’s health and development,” said Chris Griffiths, professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and Queen Mary University of London and joint senior author. “We provide the strongest evidence yet on how these harms can be prevented. Ambitious clean air zones should be considered a priority for cities globally with traffic-related air pollution.”
Fever-Like Body Heat Reduces Cognitive Differences in Preclinical Autism Model
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in communication, social interactions, learning and sensory processing. Past studies have found that when some autistic children have a fever (i.e., when their body temperature rises above 38°C or 100.4°F), their communication, hyperactivity, repetitive behaviors and some of their mental functions can temporarily improve.
This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as the “fever effect,” is now well documented. Yet the reasons why some autistic children experience these changes remain poorly understood.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health recently tried to better understand the processes driving this effect by studying a mouse model of autism.
The results of their study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that the heat associated with a fever, as opposed to the immune activation causing it, might alter the firing of neurons and prompt the observed mental changes.
Quarter of Branded Baby Foods in UK Still Have Too Much Sugar, Analysis Finds
Almost a quarter of popular branded baby foods sold in UK supermarkets still contain excessive amounts of sugar, analysis suggests, a year after the government introduced voluntary industry guidelines.
In August 2025 the government gave baby food manufacturers 18 months to reduce the sugar and salt content of their products, stop marketing snacks to infants under 12 months and address misleading and inaccurate labelling that makes some infant foods appear healthier than they actually are.
An analysis of 224 branded infant foods and snacks has found that a year on, more than half (58%) breached at least one of the nine guidelines and that a quarter of all products breached two or more.
Nora Cavani, the chief executive and co-founder of Alba Health, a gut health company that conducted the analysis, said: “Parents are not failing their children – they are being misled. Products that contain more sugar than a child should consume in a day are sold under the banner of health and nature. A year on from the guidelines’ introduction, the data shows voluntary standards haven’t worked.”
Could Childhood Obesity Risk Begin Before Birth?
In the pediatrician’s office, the same scene often plays out: An 8- or 10-year-old child comes in with the family because of being overweight or obese. Conversations typically focus on diet, sedentary behavior, school schedules, and family environment. However, research suggests that it may be necessary to look back further. Obesity does not always develop when excess body weight is present. In some cases, risk may begin before birth, during pregnancy, through interactions among fetal metabolism, epigenetics, the microbiome, and the prenatal environment.
This shift in perspective is changing how researchers understand one of the major public health challenges of the 21st century. For years, obesity has been largely attributed to lifestyle habits. Current research suggests that some of the risks for childhood obesity may begin during pregnancy and the earliest years of life.
This approach is part of the developmental origins of health and disease framework, which examines how environmental conditions during pregnancy and early life, including nutrition, stress, and exposure to toxins, can influence the risk for chronic diseases later in life, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. During critical periods of development, the body responds to environmental signals that can shape metabolic functions and increase or reduce vulnerability to conditions, such as obesity.
Maternal Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases Tied to Higher Risk for Mental Disorders in Kids
Children born to mothers with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) had a 30% higher risk for mental disorders compared with children of mothers without these conditions, a study showed.
Maternal systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary Sjögren’s syndrome (PSS), idiopathic inflammatory myositis (IIM), and systemic sclerosis (SSc) were each associated with increased risks for various childhood mental disorders, particularly anxiety disorders.
A nationwide population-based cohort study conducted in Taiwan analyzed data from the National Health Insurance Research Database and Taiwan Maternal and Child Health Database, including 3907 offspring born to mothers with SARDs and 1,946,061 offspring born to mothers without autoimmune rheumatic diseases between 2004 and 2015.
Teen Drops Social Media Addiction Claims Against Meta, Google, & Snap, Ahead Of October Trial
A 15-year-old New Jersey girl whose lawsuit served as a test case in litigation accusing social media companies of designing platforms to addict young users dropped her remaining claims Thursday against Meta Platforms, Google, and Snap Inc.
The plaintiff, identified in California court records only as P. M-Y., had alleged the owners of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat contributed to her social media addiction, depression, and self-harm.
She dismissed the case without any payment from the three companies, according to a court filing and statements from the defendants. TikTok, also named in the suit, had settled earlier. Emily Jeffcott, an attorney for P. M-Y., said her client chose to end the remaining claims so she could try to resume her life.
She “initiated this process with the goal of holding social media companies accountable and to push for changes to protect young people like herself,” Jeffcott said.
More than 3,300 personal injury cases filed by individuals have been consolidated in California state court in Los Angeles.
TikTok Shaping Teens’ Appetites, Diet
TikTok is shaping teenagers’ appetites, a new study suggests. Teens say what they see on TikTok is prompting hunger, driving their cravings and fueling their interest in trying new food, researchers reported Aug. 19 in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
“Adolescents described TikTok as a highly engaging environment where food content can quickly capture their attention and cue a desire to eat or try something new,” said lead author Adrianna Bell, who conducted the study as a research fellow at the University of Minnesota.
However, the teens also said that parents can successfully intercede in TikTok’s influence, by offering family meals, shared activities and other face-to-face interactions as a substitute. Parents also can provide a protective perspective by questioning the credibility of what teenagers are being fed through TikTok, the study says.
