What legalisation of NARCAN says about America’s drug laws
Overdose antidote NARCAN has officially been legalised for sale without prescription. It’s a significant step for a country long suffering from an opioid epidemic.
Toward the end of 2022, rumours began circling that the FDA was planning to legalise NARCAN, a drug found to reverse the effects of opioid overdose.
Current in Change
Parisians vote unanimously in favour of e-scooter ban
After recording hundreds of accidents and receiving complaints of congested streets, the French government asked Parisians to vote on a potential ban for rented e-scooters. The result could prompt other European cities to do the same. When they first started popping up on city streets, rentable e-scooters seemed like a...
Climate change exacerbating damage caused by crop-destroying fungi
Scientists have warned that fast-rising fungal attacks on the world’s most important crops threaten the planet’s future food supply and that failure to tackle this could lead to a ‘global health catastrophe.’ An ‘unprecedented’ spread of a fungus infecting wheat across the globe has prompted scientists to call for greater...
Climate change risks to public health will be highlighted at COP28
The next UN climate summit will be the first to consider health issues in depth, with a meeting of global health ministers to underline the crisis’ impact on wellbeing. Every year, global leaders join forces at the UN climate summit to discuss the most concerning issues relating to our ecological...
Understanding the ‘loverboy method’ of human trafficking
Andrew Tate’s arrest highlights a tactic used to exploit young women into human trafficking known as the ‘loverboy method.’ To learn more, a survivor of human trafficking explains how it works and debunks popular common myths. Rebecca Bender was 18 when she thought she’d found someone to spend the rest...
Why feminism is more important than ever in 2023
Women have always been fighting for their rights, and the string of violence and crime over the past few years shows an even greater need for it. Sarah Everard’s murder by a Met Police officer sparked a movement around women’s public safety. Vigils and protests were held and two years...
Invasive blue crabs are taking over the Mediterranean Sea
Coastal towns near the Mediterranean are grappling with an invasive sea species brought to their waters by international shipping boats. Dealing with this new inhabitant might mean serving them up on thousands of plates across Europe – if only a local appetite for them will grow. International trade is causing hundreds of animal species to find homes in parts of the world they would have never reached otherwise. This is...
Researchers suggest council tax discount for those who garden sustainably
Experts from the University of Sheffield say that British homeowners should be given financial incentives to preserve green spaces as it would be more beneficial to wildlife and the environment. UK scientists have recommended that eco-friendly gardeners should be given a cut in their council tax, following new research uncovering that cities may have lost as much as 50% of their green garden space over the past two decades. The move...
UK boosts domestic air travel as EU countries move to ban it
It’s no secret that air travel is awful for the environment. Why is the UK making domestic flights cheaper and more frequent when EU countries such as the Netherlands, Austria, France, and Belgium are phasing them out? When opting for a domestic flight instead of driving or taking the train, UK travellers are taxed an air passenger duty (APD) fee of around £13. In other cases, such as long-haul flights, the...
Air pollution causes premature death of 1,200 young Europeans annually
According to the EEA’s latest assessment, dirty air kills well over a thousand under 18s across the continent every year and significantly increases the risk of disease later in life. Despite improvements in recent years, ‘the level of key air pollutants in many European countries remains stubbornly above World Health Organisation’ guidelines. This is according to the European Environmental Agency, which assessed over 30 nations across the continent,...
