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FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence at a trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. Accidental overdoses contribute to 90 percent of all U.S. opioid-related deaths. Rising use of illicitly manufactured and highly potent synthetic opioids including fentanyl has likely contributed to the unintentional death rate, which surged nine-fold between 2000 and 2017, the study found. (U.S.

Millions in opioid settlement funds sit untouched as overdose deaths rise

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence at a trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. Accidental overdoses contribute to 90 percent of all U.S. opioid-related deaths. Rising use of illicitly manufactured and highly potent synthetic opioids including fentanyl has likely contributed to the unintentional death rate, which surged nine-fold between 2000 and 2017, the study found. (U.S.

December 18, 2023, 11:39am Health

Nearly a year after Montana began receiving millions of dollars to invest in efforts to combat the opioid crisis, much of that money remains untouched. Meanwhile, the state’s opioid overdose and death counts continue to rise. Read story

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2020, file photo, an American flag on top the Space Needle was lowered to half-staff today by the Seattle Fire Department to remember those who lost their lives on 9/11, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Thick smoke from wildfires burning across Washington, Oregon and California makes seeing the Space Needle and downtown Seattle nearly impossible in this view from Queen Anne Hill.

Washington’s outdoor workers to see permanent protections against wildfire smoke

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2020, file photo, an American flag on top the Space Needle was lowered to half-staff today by the Seattle Fire Department to remember those who lost their lives on 9/11, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Thick smoke from wildfires burning across Washington, Oregon and California makes seeing the Space Needle and downtown Seattle nearly impossible in this view from Queen Anne Hill.

December 18, 2023, 10:25am Health

People working outdoors, coughing and hacking through wildfire season, risking long-term damage to their lungs and heart, will soon see greater protections from smoke and particulate matter in the air. Read story

Eduardo Martinez, 57, and his son Cesar Martinez, 24, grieve the death of their wife and mother Margarita Martinez, who recently died of breast cancer, in Nov.

California farmworker family grieves one cancer death. Now, they worry about second diagnosis

Eduardo Martinez, 57, and his son Cesar Martinez, 24, grieve the death of their wife and mother Margarita Martinez, who recently died of breast cancer, in Nov.

December 17, 2023, 6:02am Health

Eduardo Martinez has tried to push forward after his wife, Margarita, died last month following a 14-year battle with breast cancer. Read story

Jennifer Adkins and husband, John, from Caldwell, Idaho talk to the media outside the Ada County Courthouse, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 in Boise, Idaho. The two are plaintiffs in a case concerning access to abortive care in Idaho. An attorney for Idaho asked a judge on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit seeking clarity about the medical exemptions to the state&rsquo;s broad abortion bans, saying it was based on hypothetical situations rather than current facts.

Hypothetical situations or real-life medical tragedies? A judge weighs an Idaho abortion ban lawsuit

Jennifer Adkins and husband, John, from Caldwell, Idaho talk to the media outside the Ada County Courthouse, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 in Boise, Idaho. The two are plaintiffs in a case concerning access to abortive care in Idaho. An attorney for Idaho asked a judge on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit seeking clarity about the medical exemptions to the state&rsquo;s broad abortion bans, saying it was based on hypothetical situations rather than current facts.

December 14, 2023, 5:34pm Health

An attorney for Idaho asked a judge on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit seeking clarity about the medical exemptions to the state’s broad abortion bans, saying it was based on hypothetical situations rather than current facts. Read story

Older Americans to pay less for some drug treatments as drugmakers penalized for big price jumps

December 14, 2023, 9:51am Health

Hundreds of thousands of older Americans could pay less for some of their outpatient drug treatments beginning early next year, the Biden administration announced Thursday. Read story

Gautam Dongre, of the National Alliance of Sickle Cell Organizations, sits for a portrait with his daughter, Sumedha, 13, at their residence in Nagpur, India, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Dongre recalls how his newborn son, Girish, cried constantly from stomach and leg pain. Doctors couldn&rsquo;t figure out what was wrong and didn&rsquo;t diagnose him with sickle cell for 2 1/2 years. When Sumedha was born, he and his wife had her tested immediately and learned she had the disease too.

Promising new gene therapies for sickle cell are out of reach in countries where they’re needed most

Gautam Dongre, of the National Alliance of Sickle Cell Organizations, sits for a portrait with his daughter, Sumedha, 13, at their residence in Nagpur, India, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Dongre recalls how his newborn son, Girish, cried constantly from stomach and leg pain. Doctors couldn&rsquo;t figure out what was wrong and didn&rsquo;t diagnose him with sickle cell for 2 1/2 years. When Sumedha was born, he and his wife had her tested immediately and learned she had the disease too.

December 14, 2023, 9:45am Health

Gautam Dongre’s two children in India and Pascazia Mazeze’s son in Tanzania live with an inherited blood disorder that turns blood cells into instruments of pain. Read story

FILE - CBD wax is displayed at a shop in Sunset Hills, Mo., on June 27, 2019. CBD use increased 50% in the past four years, according to a new survey published Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Brian Munoz/St.

More people are using CBD products. There’s still little research on the benefits and risks

FILE - CBD wax is displayed at a shop in Sunset Hills, Mo., on June 27, 2019. CBD use increased 50% in the past four years, according to a new survey published Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Brian Munoz/St.

December 13, 2023, 1:12pm Health

CBD use increased 50% in the past four years, according to a new survey published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read story

After recalls and infections, experts say safer eyedrops will require new FDA powers

December 13, 2023, 9:55am Health

When you buy eyedrops at a U.S. store, you might assume you’re getting a product made in a clean, well-maintained factory that’s passed muster with health regulators. Read story

FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Allen G.

The Supreme Court will rule on limits on a commonly used abortion medication

FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Allen G.

December 13, 2023, 9:54am Health

The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to take up a dispute over a medication used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, its first abortion case since it overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Read story

Kentucky woman seeking court approval for abortion learned her embryo no longer has cardiac activity

December 12, 2023, 10:20am Health

A pregnant woman in Kentucky who filed a lawsuit demanding the right to an abortion has learned her embryo no longer has cardiac activity, her attorneys said Tuesday. Read story