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.

Nearly half of all women aged younger than 40 who live with advanced breast cancer have children under the age of 18, according to the first global survey to investigate the challenges these women face. Results from the survey were presented to the Advanced Breast Cancer Eighth International Consensus Conference (ABC8) on Thursday.

Between 2012 and 2022, a national target of 4 million STEM degrees earned in the United States was surpassed by 16%, cumulatively totaling 4.65 STEM degrees over that decade. This exceeded a projected need of 4 million, which was one million more than the baseline projection. This study also emphasized that keeping and improving national‐level data collection is critical for sustaining STEM education progress and policy oversight.