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Protest Against Plan for Cliffridge Park Cell Towers in La Jolla Draws Over 80 People
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported:
With posterboard signs, a sound system and balloons alerting passersby to their presence, a demonstration at La Jolla’s Cliffridge Park on April 11 drew a crowd of more than 80 parents, children and other community members to voice their opposition to a proposal to put cell towers in the park.
Event organizer Kerri DeNies, a parent at nearby Torrey Pines Elementary School, led a brief presentation on what she and others perceive as negative impacts of cell towers close to schools, clubs, fields and densely populated locations. The park, at 8311 Cliffridge Ave., neighbors the Dan McKinney Family YMCA and Torrey Pines Church, in addition to Torrey Pines Elementary.
Dish Network has proposed to encase wireless communications antennas in two 30-foot foul poles on the park’s lower baseball field as part of a 5G wireless network that Dish is trying to establish to achieve what it calls “more affordable wireless services and fast connectivity for businesses, students and households.” The foul poles, which currently stand 21 feet, were once used by T-Mobile but have since been decommissioned.
Community concerns are largely grounded in the oft-debated health impacts, especially on children, of electromagnetic radiation from cell facilities.
Poll: More Pa. Residents See Link Between Autism and Vaccines
A growing share of Pennsylvanians believe that the recommended childhood immunizations increase a child’s chance of developing autism, Muhlenberg College’s 2025 Pennsylvania Health Poll shows.
Muhlenberg’s recent report shows the results of the college’s recent telephone survey of 521 adult Pennsylvanians. The survey let respondents voice their opinions on issues such as health care quality, belief in the link between childhood immunizations and autism, trust in Robert F. Kennedy Jr., legalization of marijuana, mental health and sources of stress.
The survey results for 2025 showed a notable gain in the percentage of Pennsylvanians who believe there is a link between childhood immunizations and autism, with about under 1 in 3 agreeing either strongly or partially agreeing that the chances of a child getting autism are increased if they receive the recommended childhood immunizations.
However, more than half said they disagreed with the statement. The overwhelming body of scientific research shows that there is no causal or correlative link between vaccines and autism.
Childhood Toxin Exposure ‘May Be Factor in Bowel Cancer Rise in Under-50s’
Childhood exposure to a toxin produced by bacteria in the bowel may be contributing to the rise of colorectal cancer in under-50s around the world, researchers say.
Countries, including some in Europe and Oceania, have witnessed an increase in young adults with bowel cancer in recent decades, with some of the steepest increases reported in England, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Chile.
Doctors have pointed to soaring rates of obesity, widespread junk food and physical inactivity as potential drivers of the disease, but the new study finds that harmful strains of the common gut microbe E coli may be involved.
Prof Ludmil Alexandrov at the University of California, San Diego, said: “We think what we’re seeing is an infection in early life that subsequently increases one’s risk for developing colorectal cancer in the future.”
Mood Disorders Have Increased Among Kids, Teens
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Depression and anxiety have been increasing steadily among children and teenagers in recent years, a new study says. More than 1 in 10 children (10.6%) suffered from anxiety in 2022, up from 7.1% in 2016, researchers reported April 21 in JAMA Pediatrics. During the same period, depression among children increased to 4.6% from 3.2%, results show.
“Our findings underscore the critical need to prioritize youth mental health, which continued to worsen even as we emerged from the pandemic,” lead researcher Marie Heffernan, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a news release.
“Parents and schools need more support to be better equipped to help children suffering from anxiety or depression,” she added. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, which is funded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
Antibiotics Might Increase Risk of Childhood Asthma, Allergies
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Overuse of antibiotics might increase kids’ risk of developing asthma and allergies, by disrupting their gut bacteria during a crucial stage of child development, a new study says. Exposure to antibiotics prior to age two is associated with a 24% increased risk of asthma and 33% increased risk of food allergies in later childhood, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
“Antibiotics play a critical role in combatting bacterial infections, but physicians should be judicious when prescribing antibiotics to children under two, as frequent use may affect long-term health outcomes,” lead researcher Dr. Daniel Horton of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research said in a news release.
For the study, researchers tracked the health of more than one million children in the U.K., comparing early antibiotic treatment to their later risk of allergies and asthma. Previous research has suggested that early and repeated antibiotic use can disrupt the development of health gut bacteria as a child ages, researchers said in background notes. This, in turn, can influence their risk of allergic conditions.
US at Tipping Point for Return of Endemic Measles
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The U.S. is at a tipping point for the return of endemic measles a quarter century after the disease was declared eradicated in the country, researchers warned on Thursday.
At current U.S. childhood vaccination rates, measles could return to spreading regularly at high levels, with an estimated 851,300 cases over the next 25 years, computer models used by the researchers suggest.
If rates of vaccination with the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, shot were to decline by 10%, an estimated 11.1 million cases of measles would result over 25 years, according to a report of the study in JAMA. Measles has not been endemic, or continuously present, in the U.S. since 2000.
Nearly Half of Americans Are Breathing Unhealthy Air as Pollution Exposure Numbers Reach Decade High
More Americans are being forced to breathe unhealthy air than at any other time in the past decade, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association. Nearly half of Americans — or about 156 million people — are living in counties with failing grades for ozone or particulate matter pollution, two of the most common and dangerous air pollutants. That’s 25 million more people than in the 2024 report.
“This is drastically worse than the findings in last year’s [report] and a shocking demonstration of a trend that not only is continuing but worsening as a consequence of climate change,” reads the report, which is the 26th installment in an annual series called “State of the Air.”
Over the last decade, the State of the Air reports have shown how climate change is making it harder to fight air pollution. Wildfires, extreme heat and drought fueled by global warming are contributing to worsening air pollution across much of the country, and these threats are likely to grow in the coming years.
