Latest news with #LFS
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
Belgium says 52 babies born from sperm donor with cancer-linked gene
At least 10 cases of cancer have reportedly been identified among the 67 children born from a Danish man's sperm donations between 2008 and 2017. PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO BRUSSELS - A Danish sperm donor with a potentially cancer-causing gene fathered 52 children in Belgium between 2008 and 2017, the country's health ministry revealed on May 30, in a case potentially involving several other children across Europe. According to a recent investigation by The Guardian, at least 10 cases of cancer have been identified among the 67 children born from his donations between 2008 and 2017. The man was reportedly in good health with no known family history of cancer, and had been tested in line with regulations in place at the time of the donations. But he was later found to carry a mutation of the TP53 gene that causes Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a rare hereditary disorder that significantly increases cancer risks, including for breast cancer or leukaemia. An alert was issued in 2023 after cancers were identified in some children conceived from his donations at a clinic in Denmark, and Belgium's Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products was notified that year. But Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke has said he learned about the case on May 26, and the government has declined to say how many Belgian cases involve confirmed cancer diagnoses. The scandal has exposed apparent breaches of Belgian law, which since 2007 has limited a single donor's sperm to no more than six women. 'That rule was exceeded nationally and within individual centres,' the health ministry said. An internal review has identified 37 affected families in Belgium, leading to 52 births. Authorities noted that not all children necessarily reside in Belgium. The donor's sperm was also reportedly used in at least nine other countries – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Greece, the Netherlands and Poland. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Irish Examiner
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
David McNamara: Signs of easing on Irish jobs market
The recent exceptional growth in the Irish labour market continued in the first quarter of 2025. The latest labour force survey (LFS) shows employment rose 1.3% in the quarter, and the annual growth rate accelerated to 3.3% y/y (+2.7% y/y in Q4 2024), with nearly 90,000 jobs created in the past year. Total employment in Ireland is now at 2.8 million and has grown rapidly by 427,000 (+19%) over the past five years, particularly in the post-covid period. At a sectoral level, the out-turn was broadly positive. Of the 14 sub-sectors, 12 registered growth in the year to Q1 2025. Annual growth was led by Financial Services (+11.5%), Education (+9.3%), and Information & Communication (+8.2%). The weakest performers were Wholesale & Retail (-2.5%) and Agriculture (-0.8%). Unemployment remains low, ticking down to a 4% rate in Q1 2025 from 4.3% in Q4 2024. The jobless rate has now been below 5% for over three years, the longest such period it has been under that threshold on record. Furthermore, the long-term unemployment rate also remains exceptionally low at just 0.9%, from 1.0% a year ago, and the participation rate rose to 66.2% from 65.8% in Q4 2024. This sustains a period of exceptional growth in the labour force. Strong migration flows continue underpin new labour supply and jobs growth, accounting for half of annual employment growth, while the sharp rise in the female participation rate has also contributed significantly to rising labour force numbers. This leaves annual labour force growth at 3.5%, an acceleration from the 2.6% pace in Q4 2024. While the LFS data remain positive, there have been signs of a cooling in other jobs data of late. The latest hiring data from recruitment website suggest waning employer demand, with new job postings falling 16% year-on-year in mid-May 2025, reflecting a broad-based slowdown in hiring activity across sectors. The AIB PMI employment surveys point to still-solid hiring activity in the manufacturing, services and construction sectors; but signs of employer caution, with some firms noting 'non-replacement of voluntary leavers' in recent months. Monthly payrolls data from the CSO also suggest jobs growth has slowed of late from a near 3% annual pace at the end of 2024 to 1.5% in March 2025. These lead indicators suggest the sharp pace of growth evident in the LFS in Q1 is unlikely to be sustained, with annual growth likely to slow towards 2%. David McNamara is Chief Economist with AIB Read More David McNamara: UK economy moves back towards EU orbit
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
RFK Jr. calls for healthier school meals as Trump cancels program that funded them
Tucson : First-graders at John B. Wright elementary school in Tucson bounced into the brightly lit lunchroom, chattering with friends as they grabbed trays featuring juicy mandarin oranges, cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce, all grown at nearby farms that coax fresh produce from the Sonoran Desert. Those fruit and vegetables were supplied with the help of the federal Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFS, which was set to distribute $660 million to school systems and child care facilities in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture ( USDA ). The USDA abruptly canceled the program in March as part of President Donald Trump 's plans to gut the federal government. "People think it's crappy food, it's processed, unhealthy, they think it's mystery meat," said Lindsay Aguilar , who heads up the Tucson Unified School District's nutrition program. "Parents associate it from when we were in school 23 years ago. It is completely different from what it used to be." The Trump administration's mixed messages on school meals -- funding cuts alongside calls for healthier, and more costly options -- create a challenge for those involved with school nutrition programs, they told Reuters. As part of his Trump-inspired campaign to "Make America Healthy Again," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accused schools of feeding children unhealthy food laden with food dyes and additives. "We need to stop poisoning our kids and make sure that Americans are once again the healthiest kids on the planet," Kennedy said at an event with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins late last month, adding that the two agencies would be "looking at" school meals. Aguilar is skeptical. "In my opinion, if you want to make America healthy again, you have to invest in your school nutrition programs," rather than cutting them, she said. "To me, it's like, walk the talk." Kennedy did not respond to a request for an interview and a department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 29.5 per cent of Tucson Unified School District families received SNAP food benefits in the last 12 months, well above the national average of 19.6 per cent. Many live in so-called food deserts, where there is little access to affordable, fresh food, and large grocery stores are far away. That reliance on federal nutrition support stands in sharp contrast to the area's thriving food scene. Flanked by mountain ranges, and located just 68 miles from Mexico, Tucson sits within an actual desert, studded with soaring Saguaro cacti and buzzing with wildlife. In that landscape, with its 4,000-year-old agricultural heritage, farmers grow crops like prickly pear cactus, mesquite and chiltepin peppers that award-winning chefs serve at high-end restaurants. But outside culinary circles, hunger haunts many homes. Juanita Mesquita, a school district Student Success Specialist and a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, sits with colleagues at one of the district's Family Resource Centers, located in southwestern Tucson near Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O'odham reservations. Mesquita works with Native students to help them graduate, and said hunger is an ever-present obstacle. "This morning, I had a little girl saying her stomach hurt because she didn't eat," she said. Roxanne Begay-James, the district's director of Native American Student Services, said her family lives six miles away from the nearest large supermarket. "I know in some neighborhoods here in Tucson, they have their little markets on the weekends where they can get produce and veggies and fresh baked goods. We don't have that out here," she said. At Wright Elementary, Principal Brenda Encinas said a student at her school reported eating ice cream for dinner because there was no other food at home. FREE SCHOOL MEALS All students in the Tucson Unified School District are able to eat at no charge through the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision, which allows the country's highest poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to their students without collecting individual applications. Aguilar makes sure those school meals are healthy, and packed with fresh produce. In a conference room at the Shamrock Foods distribution center in Phoenix, Aguilar and close to a hundred school nutrition program staffers gathered at a meeting of the Arizona School Nutrition Association on April 30. They shared anxieties about funding cuts and made plans to lobby state legislators to protect their school meal programs. They also grumbled about perceptions, buoyed by Kennedy, that school nutrition is poor, even dangerous. Since 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, championed by former first lady Michelle Obama and signed into law by former President Barack Obama, has required schools to serve more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk, and fewer foods high in sodium and trans fat. Yet Kennedy regularly blames school food for chronic illnesses affecting American children. Kennedy recently visited Arizona to celebrate a newly passed state law banning certain dyes and additives in school meals. Those ingredients were in just a few items in Aguilar's district, she said, and some were already being phased out. After lunch at Wright Elementary school, staffers gathered at the school nutrition program's central office to try out new recipes for ranch dressing -- an item Aguilar said would need to change to comply with the law. The old dressing contained titanium dioxide, one of the ingredients on the Arizona list, used to make food look whiter. The Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe. She said plans were in the works to change that recipe before the law was passed. Aguilar says the relationships her district has been building with local farmers stretch back several years before the launch of LFS. The district partnered with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and Pivot Produce, which distributes food from Tucson area farms to buyers, to provide the schools with local produce. More menu upgrades came with the addition of LFS. For instance, USDA requires that schools serve at least a half cup of dark green vegetables every week. A common choice is romaine lettuce, Aguilar said. But there were quality issues with the romaine the district was purchasing, so it tried using locally grown butter lettuce. The lettuce cost more, and needed to be washed and chopped by staff, but it was fresher, she said. "We've introduced this local product that does take more labor and time and love to prepare. But in the end, our staff wanted that product because they saw the difference in that quality."
Ya Libnan
20-05-2025
- Health
- Ya Libnan
RFK Jr. demands healthier school meals as Trump cancels program that funded them
File : Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. President Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies before a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard Highlights TUCSON, Arizona – First-graders at John B. Wright elementary school in Tucson bounced into the brightly lit lunchroom, chattering with friends as they grabbed trays featuring juicy mandarin oranges, cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce, all grown at nearby farms that coax fresh produce from the Sonoran Desert. Those fruit and vegetables were supplied with the help of the federal Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFS, which was set to distribute $660 million to school systems and child care facilities in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA abruptly canceled the program in March as part of President Donald Trump 's plans to gut the federal government. 'People think it's crappy food, it's processed, unhealthy, they think it's mystery meat,' said Lindsay Aguilar, who heads up the Tucson Unified School District's nutrition program. 'Parents associate it from when we were in school 23 years ago. It is completely different from what it used to be.' The Trump administration's mixed messages on school meals — funding cuts alongside calls for healthier, and more costly options — create a challenge for those involved with school nutrition programs, they told Reuters. As part of his Trump-inspired campaign to 'Make America Healthy Again,' Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accused schools of feeding children unhealthy food laden with food dyes and additives . 'We need to stop poisoning our kids and make sure that Americans are once again the healthiest kids on the planet,' Kennedy said at an event with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins late last month, adding that the two agencies would be 'looking at' school meals. Aguilar is skeptical. 'In my opinion, if you want to make America healthy again, you have to invest in your school nutrition programs,' rather than cutting them, she said. 'To me, it's like, walk the talk.' Kennedy did not respond to a request for an interview and a department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 29.5% of Tucson Unified School District families received SNAP food benefits in the last 12 months, well above the national average of 19.6%. Many live in so-called food deserts, where there is little access to affordable, fresh food, and large grocery stores are far away. That reliance on federal nutrition support stands in sharp contrast to the area's thriving food scene. Flanked by mountain ranges, and located just 68 miles from Mexico, Tucson sits within an actual desert, studded with soaring Saguaro cacti and buzzing with wildlife. In that landscape, with its 4,000-year-old agricultural heritage, farmers grow crops like prickly pear cactus, mesquite and chiltepin peppers that award-winning chefs serve at high-end restaurants. But outside culinary circles, hunger haunts many homes. List Now Juanita Mesquita, a school district Student Success Specialist and a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, sits with colleagues at one of the district's Family Resource Centers, located in southwestern Tucson near Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O'odham reservations. Mesquita works with Native students to help them graduate, and said hunger is an ever-present obstacle. 'This morning, I had a little girl saying her stomach hurt because she didn't eat,' she said. Roxanne Begay-James, the district's director of Native American Student Services, said her family lives six miles away from the nearest large supermarket. 'I know in some neighborhoods here in Tucson, they have their little markets on the weekends where they can get produce and veggies and fresh baked goods. We don't have that out here,' she said. At Wright Elementary, Principal Brenda Encinas said a student at her school reported eating ice cream for dinner because there was no other food at home. FREE SCHOOL MEALS All students in the Tucson Unified School District are able to eat at no charge through the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision, which allows the country's highest poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to their students without collecting individual applications. Aguilar makes sure those school meals are healthy, and packed with fresh produce. In a conference room at the Shamrock Foods distribution center in Phoenix, Aguilar and close to a hundred school nutrition program staffers gathered at a meeting of the Arizona School Nutrition Association on April 30. They shared anxieties about funding cuts and made plans to lobby state legislators to protect their school meal programs. They also grumbled about perceptions, buoyed by Kennedy, that school nutrition is poor, even dangerous. Since 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, championed by former first lady Michelle Obama and signed into law by former President Barack Obama, has required schools to serve more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk, and fewer foods high in sodium and trans fat. Yet Kennedy regularly blames school food for chronic illnesses affecting American children. Kennedy recently visited Arizona to celebrate a newly passed state law banning certain dyes and additives in school meals. Those ingredients were in just a few items in Aguilar's district, she said, and some were already being phased out. After lunch at Wright Elementary school, staffers gathered at the school nutrition program's central office to try out new recipes for ranch dressing — an item Aguilar said would need to change to comply with the law. The old dressing contained titanium dioxide, one of the ingredients on the Arizona list, used to make food look whiter. The Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe. She said plans were in the works to change that recipe before the law was passed. Aguilar says the relationships her district has been building with local farmers stretch back several years before the launch of LFS. The district partnered with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and Pivot Produce, which distributes food from Tucson area farms to buyers, to provide the schools with local produce. More menu upgrades came with the addition of LFS. For instance, USDA requires that schools serve at least a half cup of dark green vegetables every week. A common choice is romaine lettuce, Aguilar said. But there were quality issues with the romaine the district was purchasing, so it tried using locally grown butter lettuce. The lettuce cost more, and needed to be washed and chopped by staff, but it was fresher, she said. 'We've introduced this local product that does take more labor and time and love to prepare. But in the end, our staff wanted that product because they saw the difference in that quality.' (Reuters)
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. calls for healthier school meals as Trump cancels program that funded them
By Renee Hickman TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) -First-graders at John B. Wright elementary school in Tucson bounced into the brightly lit lunchroom, chattering with friends as they grabbed trays featuring juicy mandarin oranges, cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce, all grown at nearby farms that coax fresh produce from the Sonoran Desert. Those fruit and vegetables were supplied with the help of the federal Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFS, which was set to distribute $660 million to school systems and child care facilities in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA abruptly canceled the program in March as part of President Donald Trump's plans to gut the federal government. 'People think it's crappy food, it's processed, unhealthy, they think it's mystery meat,' said Lindsay Aguilar, who heads up the Tucson Unified School District's nutrition program. 'Parents associate it from when we were in school 23 years ago. It is completely different from what it used to be.' The Trump administration's mixed messages on school meals -- funding cuts alongside calls for healthier, and more costly options -- create a challenge for those involved with school nutrition programs, they told Reuters. As part of his Trump-inspired campaign to "Make America Healthy Again," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accused schools of feeding children unhealthy food laden with food dyes and additives. 'We need to stop poisoning our kids and make sure that Americans are once again the healthiest kids on the planet,' Kennedy said at an event with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins late last month, adding that the two agencies would be 'looking at' school meals. Aguilar is skeptical. 'In my opinion, if you want to make America healthy again, you have to invest in your school nutrition programs,' rather than cutting them, she said. "To me, it's like, walk the talk.' Kennedy did not respond to a request for an interview and a department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 29.5% of Tucson Unified School District families received SNAP food benefits in the last 12 months, well above the national average of 19.6%. Many live in so-called food deserts, where there is little access to affordable, fresh food, and large grocery stores are far away. That reliance on federal nutrition support stands in sharp contrast to the area's thriving food scene. Flanked by mountain ranges, and located just 68 miles from Mexico, Tucson sits within an actual desert, studded with soaring Saguaro cacti and buzzing with wildlife. In that landscape, with its 4,000-year-old agricultural heritage, farmers grow crops like prickly pear cactus, mesquite and chiltepin peppers that award-winning chefs serve at high-end restaurants. But outside culinary circles, hunger haunts many homes. Juanita Mesquita, a school district Student Success Specialist and a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, sits with colleagues at one of the district's Family Resource Centers, located in southwestern Tucson near Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O'odham reservations. Mesquita works with Native students to help them graduate, and said hunger is an ever-present obstacle. 'This morning, I had a little girl saying her stomach hurt because she didn't eat,' she said. Roxanne Begay-James, the district's director of Native American Student Services, said her family lives six miles away from the nearest large supermarket. 'I know in some neighborhoods here in Tucson, they have their little markets on the weekends where they can get produce and veggies and fresh baked goods. We don't have that out here,' she said. At Wright Elementary, Principal Brenda Encinas said a student at her school reported eating ice cream for dinner because there was no other food at home. FREE SCHOOL MEALS All students in the Tucson Unified School District are able to eat at no charge through the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision, which allows the country's highest poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to their students without collecting individual applications. Aguilar makes sure those school meals are healthy, and packed with fresh produce. In a conference room at the Shamrock Foods distribution center in Phoenix, Aguilar and close to a hundred school nutrition program staffers gathered at a meeting of the Arizona School Nutrition Association on April 30. They shared anxieties about funding cuts and made plans to lobby state legislators to protect their school meal programs. They also grumbled about perceptions, buoyed by Kennedy, that school nutrition is poor, even dangerous. Since 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, championed by former first lady Michelle Obama and signed into law by former President Barack Obama, has required schools to serve more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk, and fewer foods high in sodium and trans fat. Yet Kennedy regularly blames school food for chronic illnesses affecting American children. Kennedy recently visited Arizona to celebrate a newly passed state law banning certain dyes and additives in school meals. Those ingredients were in just a few items in Aguilar's district, she said, and some were already being phased out. After lunch at Wright Elementary school, staffers gathered at the school nutrition program's central office to try out new recipes for ranch dressing -- an item Aguilar said would need to change to comply with the law. The old dressing contained titanium dioxide, one of the ingredients on the Arizona list, used to make food look whiter. The Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe. She said plans were in the works to change that recipe before the law was passed. Aguilar says the relationships her district has been building with local farmers stretch back several years before the launch of LFS. The district partnered with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and Pivot Produce, which distributes food from Tucson area farms to buyers, to provide the schools with local produce. More menu upgrades came with the addition of LFS. For instance, USDA requires that schools serve at least a half cup of dark green vegetables every week. A common choice is romaine lettuce, Aguilar said. But there were quality issues with the romaine the district was purchasing, so it tried using locally grown butter lettuce. The lettuce cost more, and needed to be washed and chopped by staff, but it was fresher, she said. 'We've introduced this local product that does take more labor and time and love to prepare. But in the end, our staff wanted that product because they saw the difference in that quality."
