EurekAlert! News by Subject: Policy & Ethics - News by Subject: Policy & Ethics

Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Dec-2025 09:11 ET (30-Dec-2025 14:11 GMT/UTC)

Study: Arrival of boll weevils in U.S. South in early 20th century brought long-term benefits for Black sons born after the agricultural shock

Carnegie Mellon University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study, researchers investigated the long-term impact of the boll weevil, an agricultural pest that destroys cotton crops, which invaded the South in the early 20th century and spurred significant economic changes. They found that this agricultural shock brought about long-term advantages for Black sons born after the boll weevil appeared.

Journal: The Economic Journal

Researchers unite to frame deportations as a national health crisis

University of California - Merced
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Several longtime public health researchers warn that current U.S. immigration enforcement and deportation policies are producing widespread harm to physical and mental health, with family separation and the specters of fear and intimidation affecting the well-being of immigrant and non-immigrant communities.

Journal: Health Affairs

More women sought permanent contraception after Supreme Court Dobbs decision

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The number of women undergoing tubal ligations — a surgical procedure that permanently prevents pregnancy — increased 51% across four academic medical centers in four states in the year after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, according to a new study from researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, Albany Medical Center, University of South Florida and University of Tennessee Medical Center. Almost half of those seeking the procedure reported that their decision was somewhat or very related to the current political climate, even in states considered to be protective of abortion access.

Journal: Contraception

Mifepristone access through community pharmacies when regulated as a routine prescription medication

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: The results of this study of pharmacies in British Columbia, Canada, suggest that when medication abortion is available as a routine health service and mifepristone is regulated as a routine prescription, pharmacists play a key role in providing geographically distributed access to medication abortion. These findings may inform policy and initiatives to enhance pharmacist referral networks and improve mifepristone access, as well as service planning for international jurisdictions considering a similar medication abortion framework.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Hollings researcher co-leads AACR subcommittee calling for nicotine limits

Medical University of South Carolina
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., co-led a new American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) policy statement supporting a proposed FDA rule to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes. The proposed policy, still in the public comment stage, would reduce nicotine content by about 95%. By making cigarettes minimally or non-addictive, the policy could help millions of Americans quit smoking and prevent countless new addictions. Toll and his colleagues say the policy could save lives, reduce health care costs and transform cancer prevention, but emphasize the need to pair the policy with strong cessation support services and public education initiatives.

Journal: Clinical Cancer Research

Historic maps reveal 99 per cent loss of meadows in the South Downs countryside

University of Portsmouth
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study from the University of Portsmouth has uncovered a dramatic collapse in traditional meadowland across the lower Rother catchment in the South Downs, West Sussex, with losses of up to 99.9 per cent since the mid-19th century.

Using digitised Victorian tithe maps of the catchment, researchers compared historical records from around 1840 with modern land cover data from 2021. The results reveal how shifts in farming practices, land ownership and environmental policy have transformed the English countryside.

Journal: Landscapes

Trust and fairness are Brazil’s most powerful climate tools, finds new Earth4All analysis ahead of COP30

The Club of Rome
Reports and Proceedings

Ahead of the critical climate summit in Belém, a new report from Earth4All argues that Brazil’s greatest assets in tackling the climate crisis are not only its vast forests and renewable energy potential, but the power of trust and social cohesion.

34
35
36
37
38