Category: Health
Posted inEnvironment, From the Newsroom, Health, Media

Public Press Wins 2025 Izzy Award for Series Investigating Human Radiation Experimentation

Avatar photo by Michael Stoll

The San Francisco Public Press is proud to announce that our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,” has been honored with a 2025 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.

The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College presents this prominent national award annually to spotlight exceptional work in journalism. Named for trailblazing investigative journalist I.F. Stone, who in 1953 launched a fiercely independent newsletter that exposed government deception, racism and McCarthyism, the Izzy Award honors muckraking produced outside traditional corporate media structures.

Posted inGovernment & Politics, Health, Politics

Protesters Denounce DOGE, Health Care Cuts, Call Out Local Representatives

Avatar photo by Madison Alvarado

Facing looming threats to healthcare programs, the implementation of anti-immigrant policies, and the outsized role of billionaires in Trump’s administration, protesters gathered at Airbnb’s headquarters in San Francisco with message for state and local elected officials: “Get a f—ing backbone,” said demonstrator Fred Sherburn-Zimmer, organizing and policy director at the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco.

Around 200 people gathered outside of Airbnb’s headquarters in the South of Market neighborhood on March 28 to denounce the dismantling of government programs and call on members of Congress to push back on cuts.

Posted inEnvironment, Health, Social Justice

Toxic Waste Cleanups Take Longer in Marginalized Communities

Avatar photo by Audrey Mei Yi Brown

Toxic site cleanups take longer in marginalized communities, according to a new Public Press analysis of more than 20,000 sites of varying size across the nine-county Bay Area.

In areas that scored high on a national index of socioeconomic vulnerability, the median cleanup took more than 450 days longer than in the least vulnerable areas.

Many factors, including the type of toxin, the nature of the site and the complexity of the cleanup, could affect how long a remediation takes and explain some of the differences. But in a subset of more than 12,000 cleanups of comparable complexity, the disparities were even more pronounced.

Experts warn that prolonged exposure to contamination as a result of slow cleanups can increase the risk of illness for nearby residents.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Government & Politics, Health

San Francisco Tries to Mitigate Harm of Out-of-State Abortion Bans

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Anti-abortion groups have initiated increasingly aggressive activities in San Francisco since the fall of Roe v. Wade, with some ignoring protective zones around clinics and even threatening violence.

In response, community groups, nonprofits and local government have stepped up efforts to ensure access to abortions and reproductive health support in San Francisco — both for people who live in the city and for those who travel here seeking help.

Posted inEnvironment, Exposed, Government & Politics, Health, History, Neighborhoods

Shuttered Radiation Lab Poses Ongoing Health Risks for Growing Neighborhood

Chris Roberts by Chris Roberts

Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,” details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exercises and medical experiments early in the Cold War.

In part 6, we detail how cavalier attitudes toward radiation exposure and an indifference to how pollution left by the Navy might affect San Franciscans have been constants officials warned of plutonium blowing in the air three-quarters of a century ago.

Posted inAging, Climate Change, Community, Health

非营利组织称：保护华埠长者免受气候灾难影响 需要更多资金

by Ambika Kandasamy

极端天气事件近年来造成许多严重破坏和人员伤亡。 2022年，欧洲热浪及南亚、西非和中非的洪水导致数千人死亡；2023年，夏威夷茂宜岛发生的野火是美国有史以来死亡人数最多的火灾之一，夺走了100条人命；加拿大野火造成成千上万人流离失所，迫使美国对超过1亿2000万居民发布空气品质警报。

尽管全人类都受到自然灾害的影响，但美国环保署警告，因为既有疾病、免疫力低下、行动不便和其他健康问题，包括老年人在内的部分人口面对的风险比其他人要高。

Posted inAging, Climate Change, Community, Health

非營利組織稱：保護華埠長者免受氣候災難影響 需更多資金

by Ambika Kandasamy

極端天氣事件近年來造成許多嚴重破壞和人員傷亡。2022年，歐洲熱浪及南亞、西非和中非的洪水導致數千人死亡；2023年，夏威夷茂宜島發生的野火是美國有史以來死亡人數最多的火災之一，奪走了100條人命；加拿大野火造成成千上萬人流離失所，迫使美國對超過1億2000萬居民發佈空氣品質警報。

儘管全人類都受到自然災害的影響，但美國環保署警告，因為既有疾病、免疫力低下、行動不便和其他健康問題，包括老年人在內的部分人口面對的風險比其他人要高。

Posted inEnvironment, Exposed, Government & Politics, Health, History, Neighborhoods

Destroyed Records, Dying Witnesses Consign San Francisco Radiation Lab to Obscurity

Chris Roberts by Chris Roberts

Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,” details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exercises and medical experiments early in the Cold War.

In part 5, we trace the obscure nature of the work at the lab to the military’s culture of secrecy, explore why officials shredded millions of pages of paper records and show how an ongoing lack of official interest in acknowledging this history has frustrated local people dealing with the shipyard’s environmental legacy.

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