Featured Reports
Out of Balance: A Look at Snack Foods in Secondary Schools across the States
The majority of our nation’s secondary schools do not sell fruits and vegetables in school stores, snack bars, or vending machines, according to a new report by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project. Read More
Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: An Assessment of the Evidence for Best Practices
A PDMP is a statewide electronic database that gathers information from pharmacies on dispensed prescriptions for controlled substances. This white paper describes what is known about PDMP best practices and documents the extent to which these practices have been implemented. Read More
Legal Review Concerning the Use of Health Impact Assessments in Non-Health Sectors
This report examines the legal foundations that support incorporating health considerations into policy and programmatic decisions made in non-health fields. The findings are intended to aid public health professionals and others who seek to ensure that such decisions are made with health in mind. Read More
More Reports
| Date | Reports | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 11, 2006 |
Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, 2006Ready or Not? 2006 finds that five years after September 11, public health emergency preparedness is still not at an acceptable level. Limited progress continues to be but the big-picture goals of adequate preparedness remain unmet. As a result, Americans continue to face unnecessary and unacceptably high levels of risk. In 2002, Congress passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Act, allocating nearly $1 billion annually to states to bolster public health emergency preparedness. Even after this investment of almost $4 billion, the government health agencies have yet to release state-by-state information to Americans or policymakers about how prepared their communities are to respond to health threats. More info |
Pandemic Planning |
| Apr 29, 2008 |
Putting Meat on the TableThe current industrial farm animal production system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves, according to an extensive two and a half year examination conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. More info |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Sep 18, 2006 |
Public Health at RiskThe Human Genome Project unleashed a torrent of information about the human genome and the role of genetic variation in human health. As a result, genetic testing is now among the fastest growing areas of laboratory medicine. Today, genetic tests for about 1000 diseases are clinically available, with hundreds more available in a research setting. More info |
Genetics |
| Jun 4, 2010 |
PSP Submits Growers' CommentsThe Produce Safety Project (PSP) supports the development by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a mandatory and enforceable produce safety standard for the growing, harvesting and packing of fresh fruits and vegetables. Among other activities, PSP sponsored six stakeholder discussions around the country with the goal of providing a platform for stakeholders, with particular emphasis on growers, to discuss their expertise in promoting produce safety through their current practices and offer input for consideration by FDA as it prepares to propose a produce safety rule. More info |
Food Hazards |
| Jun 1, 2005 |
Protecting Low-Income Families' SavingsThe eligibility rules for certain means-tested programs like Food Stamps and Medicaid often discourage saving for retirement by people who are potentially otherwise eligible for and may need these programs. By excluding 401(k) and IRA savings from these asset tests, we would increase the likelihood that lower-income earners will save for retirement. Those who do the right thing by saving should not be excluded from programs that help so many Americans make it through hard times. More info |
Retirement Security |
| Oct 30, 2009 |
Progress on Court ReformsThe release of the court recommendations of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care in 2004 focused greater attention on the need to enhance dependency court performance to achieve improved outcomes for children and youth in foster care and their families. As part of a first of its kind national judicial summit in 2005, states developed action plans to strengthen dependency court performance in the four critical areas identified by the Pew Commission: accountability, collaboration with child welfare agencies, judicial leadership, and constituent voice. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 provided $100 million in court improvement funds to support judicial reforms across the country. In this review, Kids Are Waiting both examines the progress that states have made since the 2005 summit in strengthening their dependency courts and improving outcomes for children, youth, and families, and makes recommendations for continued improvements. More info |
Health Topics |
| Apr 30, 2009 |
Produce Safety Summit: Implications of Mandatory Safety StandardsEvery year in the United States, foodborne illnesses cause sickness, death, and significant economic and social costs that extend beyond the immediate victims. In January 2007, the Government Accountability Office designated federal oversight of food safety as a high-risk area because of the need to reduce risks to public health as well as the economy. In March 2009, President Obama announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group to address the need to reduce foodborne illness. A number of actions are being proposed to address these issues, including mandatory safety standards for foods such as fresh produce. However, there are significant inherent challenges in the implementation and enforcement of safety standards, primarily due to multi-stakeholder involvement, increased complexities in the food production and distribution chains, and fragmentation of oversight responsibilities. More info |
Food Hazards |
| Sep 19, 2012 |
Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: An Assessment of the Evidence for Best PracticesA PDMP is a statewide electronic database that gathers information from pharmacies on dispensed prescriptions for controlled substances. This white paper describes what is known about PDMP best practices and documents the extent to which these practices have been implemented. More info |
Drug Safety |
| Jul 3, 2008 |
PharmFree ScorecardMost of the 150 U.S. medical schools are failing when it comes to building strong conflict of interest policies to limit pharmaceutical marketing on campus, according to the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard released today. More info |
Conflicts of Interest |
| Oct 16, 2006 |
Pew Biomedical Scholars Win Top AwardsTwo Pew Biomedical Scholars have won top science awards this fall. More info |
Biomedical Research |
| Oct 17, 2007 |
Pandemic Influenza: Warning, Children At RiskExperts predict a severe pandemic flu outbreak could result in up to 1.9 million deaths in the United States, approximately 9.9 million Americans needing to be hospitalized, and an economic recession with losses of over $680 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. How to treat and care for the nation’s 73.6 million children and adolescents during an influenza pandemic is a significant concern. More info |
Pandemic Planning |
| Apr 1, 2007 |
Pandemic Flu and the Potential for U.S. Economic RecessionA pandemic flu outbreak could sicken 90 billion and kill 2 million people in the United States, according to estimates, but a recent Trust for America's Health report examines another potential casualty-- our economy. According to the report, an outbreak could deliver a $680 billion blow to the U.S. economy, leading to the second worst recession since World War II. More info |
Pandemic Planning |
| Apr 28, 2009 |
Oversight of Next Generation NanotechnologySince 1980, the capability of the federal agencies responsible for environmental health and safety has steadily eroded. The agencies cannot perform their basic functions now, and they are completely unable to cope with the new challenges they face in the 21st century. This paper describes some of these challenges, focusing on next-generation nanotechnologies, and suggests changes that could revitalize the health and safety agencies. More info |
Health Topics |
| Nov 1, 2012 |
Out of Balance: A Look at Snack Foods in Secondary Schools across the StatesHow healthy are the snack foods sold in secondary schools via vending machines, school stores and snack bars? A recent report on unhealthy snack foods published by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project—a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—suggests the issue could be more than bite-sized. More info |
School Food |
| Feb 1, 2006 |
Notes from the President: Passages (Winter 2005-2006 Trust Magazine)Is any institution so perfectly organized as to be immune to change? For sure, organizations must be well designed for their mission, but also adapt to changing times—not to fads, but to the deeper currents that distinguish an era. Those that reinvent themselves are more likely to be relevant to the next generation. More info |
Retirement Security |
