Health

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner James Comer announced today that he is creating industrial hemp pilot projects in Kentucky. The pilot projects were made possible by the passage of the United States Farm Bill that was signed into law by the President on Feb. 7. Commissioner Comer and Attorney General Jack Conway have been in...

WESTERN KY – Cigarette and alcohol use by eighth, 10th and 12th-graders are at their lowest point since the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey began polling teenagers in 1975, according to this year’s survey results. However, this positive news is tempered by a slowing rate of decline in teen smoking as well as continued high...

KENTUCKY – The Kentucky State Board of Education was one of only four states awarded a $6,000 grant by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) to help the board continue to strengthen and implement policies to foster healthy eating among students and promote school health programs. The grant will be used during...

MADISONVILLE, Ky. — On Sept. 19 at Baptist Health Madisonville’s Trover Wellness Park, hundreds of families and business leaders will join together in the March of Dimes annual March for Babies—the nation’s oldest walk fundraiser honoring babies born healthy and those who need help to survive and thrive. This year’s community Ambassador Family is the Bearden...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. representatives James Comer (R-KY), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Jared Polis (D-CO) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced federal legislation to end unnecessary and outdated regulations on industrial hemp.  The Industrial Hemp Farming Act exempts industrial hemp from the Controlled Substance Act’s definition of marijuana, creates a new category for hemp research at universities and...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles announced the Kentucky Department of Agriculture has opened the application period for Kentuckians wishing to participate in the state’s industrial hemp research pilot program for the 2018 growing season. “I am proud to report that our program participants grew more than 3,200 acres of hemp this year, the...

KENTUCKY — More than half of Kentucky’s industrial hemp crop this year can be traced to 19 counties, 58 farmers and one company in Winchester. With 23,000 pounds of imported hemp seed destined for 2,466 acres, Atalo Holdings is a superpower in hemp production and processing in Kentucky. Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy Executive Director...

FRANKFORT, Ky. ― The industrial hemp seeds ticketed for pilot research programs in Kentucky finally made it to the state Department of Agriculture headquarters in Frankfort today after being held in Louisville for weeks by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at the direction of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "This is an historic day...

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— In an effort to understand how specific genetic factors coupled with lifetime exposure to cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke may influence a woman’s ability to conceive, University of Louisville researchers have been awarded a three-year, $440,000 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Infertility can be...

LEXINGTON, Ky.— E-cigarettes are increasingly popular, and adult women of childbearing age are the most common users. This is especially true in Kentucky, which has the country's second highest rate of smoking during pregnancy. Many women try to quit or reduce their smoking while pregnant, and may turn to e-cigs under the belief that they...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — As mosquito season comes to an end and the holiday and winter travel season begins, the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH), within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, urges pregnant women, those who might be pregnant and their sex partners to avoid traveling to areas with ongoing Zika virus transmission. “With...

KENTUCKY — After a nationwide examination of water contamination data reported to the Environmental Protection Agency in the calendar years of 2015 and 2016, FluksAqua has just released a highly localized analysis of health-based drinking water violations focused on the county and city level. Using the EPA’s publicly-available Enforcement and Compliance History Online database, FluksAqua analyzed...

KENTUCKY — What?!!? Can you repeat that please? This question gets a better response by the way. Hearing is something we all tend to take for granted. And the longer you live, the more likely you will develop hearing loss. It’s a fact of nature. Many people don’t seek treatment for several reasons. They don’t realize...

KENTUCKY — For Carl Varney in Greenup County, addiction began with marijuana and alcohol. Then he got in a car wreck in his mid-twenties and was prescribed opioid pain medication. “I already had an addiction in my life, and so for these to come in, a highly addictive substance, it took no time at all...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded an additional $144.1 million in grants to prevent and treat opioid addiction in support of President Trump’s commitment to combat the opioid crisis. The grants will be administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Those supporting prevention, treatment,...

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Even with the assistance of detoxification and rehabilitation programs, 80 percent of people attempting recovery from opioid addiction will relapse. Opioid addiction is a complex medical disorder that impacts the entire nation, but much of the problem is condensed to disparate regions of Kentucky. This is the third and final installment of...

PADUCAH, Ky. — Baptist Health and Four Rivers Behavioral Health are expanding walk-in clinics to serve all McCracken County and Paducah public schools every school day, beginning with the 2016-17 year. Nurse practitioners will offer care for minor injuries and illnesses, as well as school/sports physicals and vaccinations. “Our goal is to provide convenient, accessible...