California votes to go cage-free; Oregon and Washington State split on local soda taxes

California’s citizens have once again approved welfare standards for farm animals after voting this past Tuesday for Proposition 12. The proposition “will require farmers to give sows, veal calves and egg-laying chickens more room to move about and also require that pork, veal and eggs produced outside of California but sold in the state meet the same standards.” In other election news, after the soda industry’s heightened financial investment against the taxation of sugary beverages, both Oregon and Washington State are now void of soda and local grocery taxes. Read more at The Fern ...

Taxing red meat would save many lives, research shows

Governments already tax products containing tobacco, high levels of sugar and alcohol because of the clearly negative effects they have on human health. Now, some experts predict that countries whose citizens consume more than the recommended amount of red meat will have to tax it for future environmental and health benefits. Excess consumption of red meat has been widely linked to heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and research has found that this knowledge may soften the stances of those who oppose the general shift away from red meat. Read more at The Guardian …

Michigan vote to legalize pot fires up investor momentum behind cannabis

Michigan voted on Tuesday to become the 10th U.S. state allowing for the recreational use of cannabis, prompting experts to suggest that marijuana’s nationwide legality is inevitable within the next five years. Gradual support for the drug’s legalization on both a government and trade group level has slowly but surely cleared way for the industry’s exponential growth. Read more at Reuters  …

Doctors say natural supplement Kratom linked to opioid withdrawal symptoms in newborn

Because southeast Asian herbal supplement Kratom is marketed as such, it falls outside of the FDA’s regulations, and this has led to considerable confusion over whether Kratom is “an untapped resource in combatting the opioid epidemic” or if it is simply an easily accessible gateway drug. A recent case in which a former opioid addict gave birth to a baby exhibiting drug withdrawal symptoms, despite the mother being sober for two years, after consuming Kratom throughout her pregnancy has led the FDA to condemn the substance as nothing more than an alternative opioid with no medical uses. Read more at The Washington Times …

CVS to test stores with added health services early next year after Aetna deal closes

CVS is expected to close a $69 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna prior to Thanksgiving. Examples of future changes resulting from this acquisition will include CVS’ expanding the scope of its MinuteClinic services and combining Aetna’s clinical programs with CVS stores’ to guide discharged patients in order to avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions. CVS CEO Larry Merlo said that the company will be testing these and other programs for scalability across all CVS locations. Read more at CNBC …