Public Health

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved tough new standards Wednesday to regulate several infant sleep products for the first time.

Boston -- Some of the largest cosmetic and personal care companies are doing a poor job informing the public on what ingredients are going into their products, hiding potentially toxic chemicals from consumers. The MASSPIRG Education Fund released USPIRG Education Fund’s scorecard report Wednesday that found 20 of 26 surveyed brands had failed to adequately disclose product ingredients to consumers. The report, entitled Looking Inward 2021: Where popular personal care brands stand on ingredient safety and disclosure, found the average ingredient disclosure score was 5.56 out of 10, or an F, pointing to a need for improvement across the industry.

A month after announcing a weak plan to reduce heavy metals in baby food, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new plan Thursday aimed at making baby food safer over the next several years.

A new analysis by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group found that 8 percent of nursing homes nationwide as of Dec. 27 had a critical shortage of surgical-grade N95 masks, which are the best protection against spreading the virus. Additionally, 4 to 6 percent of nursing homes reported shortages in at least one other category of personal protective equipment.