Since the recent outbreak of a deadly strain of fungal meningitis was traced to contaminated steroid shots produced in a Massachusetts-area compounded pharmacy, Massachusetts officials have been cracking down on the largely unregulated compounded drug industry. And earlier today, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy approved new, tighter rules for compounding pharmacies that will — for the first time in the state’s history — empower state officials to track compounded drugs and help prevent future public health crises.

The new regulations allow the state to penalize compounding pharmacies whose products fail to comply with safety standards, giving the pharmacy board power to quarantine compounded drugs they suspect to be unsafe — such as the tainted steroid shots, which ended up exposing thousands of Americans to meningitis and killing nearly 30 people — without waiting to hold a hearing first. The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts’ efforts to tighten regulations in the pharmaceutical industry are also being replicated on a national level, now that the meningitis outbreak has brought more attention to the lack of regulatory power over compounded pharmacies and their potentially dangerous products:

At the same time, Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey unveiled federal legislation Thursday to address what he called a “regulatory black hole” currently governing these pharmacies by giving the FDA new oversight authority. [...]

“No one should live in fear that their medicine is unsafe, and these actions at the state and federal level will help ensure we’re at the forefront of efforts to protect public health,” interim state public health commissioner Dr. Lauren Smith said in a statement.

The Department of Public Health also announced Thursday that Christian A. Hartman, a specialist in pharmacy practice and patient safety, would chair a new Special Commission that will study potential changes to laws and regulations to fill the regulatory gray area between state and federal oversight.

Over 20,000 U.S. pharmacies across the country practice compounding, which involves repackaging or recombining medications in an attempt to keep down the costs of filling prescriptions. However, despite the widespread practice, the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t been able to oversee this sector of the pharmaceutical industry because it doesn’t have the power to regulate pharmacies — which means that compounded drugs do not have to meet the agency’s safety guidelines. Public health advocates have been calling on Congress to strengthen the FDA’s regulatory power to prevent future outbreaks, and Massachusetts’ new regulations are a step in the right direction to correcting the situation that allowed meningitis to spread in the first place.

The Commonwealth Fund is out with a new study that highlights how Obamacare will help the low-income wage earners — who typically have significantly less access to health insurance than their higher-paid co-workers, or the employees who work in larger firms — afford the critical health coverage they need.

Contrary to unfounded conservative hysteria about the health reform law’s negative impact on the economy, Obamacare actually lowers health care spending in small firms while giving employers a viable avenue for insuring their employees. And the Commonwealth report further illustrates Obamacare’s potential to greatly reduce the percentage of low-wage workers going without health coverage. Currently, over half of workers making less than $15 per hour at businesses with less than 50 employees are either currently uninsured or have been uninsured in the past several years:

These workers do not qualify for employer-sponsored health insurance — either because their employer does not offer health benefits or because they work part-time — and although their hourly wages surpass current Medicaid eligibility thresholds, they don’t make enough to afford insurance on the private market. This dynamic leaves low-wage workers both uninsured and unable to afford their essential medical costs. Luckily, the study finds that Obamacare provisions will go a long way toward ensuring low-wage workers have affordable coverage, particularly thanks to the incentives that encourage small businesses to provide their employees with coverage and the Medicaid expansion to cover more low-income Americans who were previously above the income threshold.

The report concludes that by 2014, Obamacare’s statewide exchanges will provide subsidized insurance in one form or another to a full 50 percent of the 27.6 million American workers who are currently uninsured. The Medicaid expansion — if GOP governors choose to participate it in it rather than continuing to deny coverage to their low-income constituents — will provide insurance to an additional 37 percent of uninsured workers.

Tea Party standard-bearer Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) today refused to state her position on legal abortion access for rape victims, repeatedly dodging questions from the debate moderator during a radio debate with challenger Jim Graves.

Bachmann has been a longtime supporter of the so-called “Personhood Amendment,” a measure that would outlaw all abortions, some types of birth control, and potentially in-vitro fertilizations. But in today’s debate, Bachmann would not clarify whether she would support abortion access for rape victims, repeatedly saying, “I agree with the Catholic Church,” and vaguely suggesting that there could be “waivers” for certain unnamed conditions:

BACHMANN: And it isn’t just these very rare cases that we deal with, it’s the big overall issue of abortion and the legality of abortion. And 52 million lives is a lot. And again, my position is in line with the Catholic Church, that’s been my position for 40 years, it hasn’t changed.

MODERATOR: Representative, just at the end there though, there, you heard what Richard Mourdock said and you know that has been controversial: ‘God intended this to happen’ if a fetus results as a consequence of that rape. And I want to know if you agree with that.

BACHMANN: Well what I agree with is that I’m 100 percent pro-life and I agree with the Catholic Church on that issue.[...]

MODERATOR: Just to be clear here though, we are talking about an amendment to the U.S. Constitution here. Declaring personhood, right? From the moment of conception.

BACHMANN: If– what — From the moment of conception declaring the personhood of an individual would again be in line with saying that I am 100 percent pro-life and I believe in the protection of human life from conception to natural death.

The back-and-forth goes on. Listen:

The Catholic Church hierarchy does not support abortion access for rape victims, and will only consider abortion in extremely limited circumstances when it is necessary to save the life of the woman — although abortion rights in life-threatening situations remain contested.

Bachmann likely refused to clarify her position because she feared a backlash similar to what Senate candidates Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin faced after they stated their opposition to providing access to legal abortion for women who conceived through rape. But Bachmann’s record is clear as day: She refers to abortion as a ‘holocaust,’ has participated in events with Personhood USA, a group that opposes abortion in cases of rape, and she has she would unconstitutionally roll back the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

Americans across the East Coast are slowly recovering from the widespread destruction that Hurricane Sandy wreaked earlier this week. But in addition to the infrastructure that still needs to be rebuilt and the public transportation systems that aren’t yet back up and running, Sandy has left another consequence in its wake: potentially dangerous threats to public health.

Although initial concerns that the rats that survived Sandy could spread infectious diseases in New York City may be overblown, public health officials are still warning Americans to be mindful of potential hazards in the water and the air. NPR lays out the most relevant threats for Americans in the areas that have been devastated by the so-called “superstorm”:

– Contaminated flood water. The state epidemiologist for the New Jersey Department of Health, Tina Tan, told NPR that since floodwaters can be somewhat of a toxic stew in the aftermath of storms, Americans should avoid coming into contact with the potentially hazardous water. “Floodwaters potentially could contain mixtures of a variety of chemicals such as pesticides, paint, gasoline, you know other things for example that you might store in your garage or your basement that might actually get all flooded out,” Tan said.

– Compromised sewage treatment plants. In the places where sewage treatment plants are no longer working after fires or flooding, bacteria and pathogens pose more of a risk to Americans. People may become sick with symptoms associated with gastrointestinal illnesses, like vomiting and nausea.

– Unsafe drinking water. Public health officials are recommending that Americans boil their drinking water for at least a minute before consuming it, in case water sources have been compromised. Fortunately, since New York City water sources are mostly located outside of the city, the downtown Manhattan residents who are still recovering from significant damage from the storm shouldn’t have to worry.

– Carbon monoxide poisoning. Many Americans are using back-up generators in the wake of massive power outages, but generators can pose serious risks to the public if they’re not used correctly. Without the proper ventilation, they can cause dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in the air, which has killed Americans in the wake of past natural disasters.

– Food poisoning. Americans without power may end up eating spoiled food that they have no way of refrigerating. The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NPR that cities typically see a sharp increase in the number of foodborne illnesses among residents after a blackout.

– Mold growing in flooded homes. Once flood waters recede, mold on building structures could cause asthma and allergy issues for the residents who continue to live there.

And in addition to widespread public health risks in the aftermath of the storm, several hospital facilities have also been compromised by Hurricane Sandy, forcing medical officials to scramble to find alternate locations to treat patients who require critical care. NYU Langone Medical Center was forced to evacuate its patients on Monday night after the facility flooded and lost power, and Bellevue Hospital Center evacuated yesterday after its backup power generators failed. The president of the Health and Hospitals Corporation told the New York Times that hospitals like Bellevue have been facing “third world conditions” in Sandy’s wake, with no hot water, no flushing toilets, and no lab or radiology services.

A new poll has confirmed what we’ve long known: the Republican drive to criminalize abortion even for victims of rape and incest is overwhelmingly opposed by the general public. The YouGov/Huffington Post poll, conducted over a three day period at the end of October, found very strong support for abortion rights in those cases as well as to preserve the health of the woman:

74 percent said abortion should be legal in cases where the mother’s life is endangered by pregnancy, 70 percent said it should be legal when the mother’s health is endangered, and 74 percent said it should be legal when a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape or incest. No more than 14 percent of respondents said that abortion should be illegal in all cases.

The poll also found support for full reproductive rights on top of these relatively minimalist ones. In a separate sample, 27 percent of respondents were in favor of unrestricted access to abortion services — nearly twice as many as those who supported criminalizing the procedure in all cases (15 percent). Respondents also opposed the drive to cut off federal government support for Planned Parenthood by a wide 48-32 margin.

The GOP party platform, however, falls on the other end of the spectrum and endorses banning abortion in all cases. And athough presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he’d be “delighted” to sign legislation enacting such a ban, his official position is the only slightly less-restrictive “rape, incest, and life of the woman” standard. Unlike 70 percent of respondents in the above poll, Romney does not endorse abortion on health grounds other than in the case of an imminent threat to a woman’s life. Moreover, many of the prospective GOP members of Congress a hypothetical President Romney would be working with have a demonstrated pattern of making callous and ignorant statements about rape and women’s reproductive rights.