Mark Petticrew
@markpetticrew.bsky.social
Public Health, Commercial Determinants of Health, Professor at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Great journalism. Well needed exposure of next gen influencer Merchants of Doubt!
Emily Atkin@emorwee.bsky.social · 6d agoAlexandra Fasulo runs one of the most prolific anti-solar campaigns online, regularly telling over 2 million followers renewable energy is threatening farms and wildlife. But how much of her rhetoric is actually true? @alexhannaford.com spent months parsing through the nuance for HEATED:
Jump to 50 seconds in and listen to the music they use. Trust me. Your flabber will have never been so gasted.
Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra@fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 10mo agoSpecial bonus feature:
There are two quite different conversations going on about #climate adaptation at the moment. This piece, co-authored with @carolinelucas.bsky.social, gives an outline of each. Check it out. rupertsreads.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-...
'human caused' feels like it just sort of emerges from the human body like an ooze, rather than a small number of highly influential political and corporate players actively decided to keep a dangerous fuel prominent in society when we could ditch it way faster than we are right now
Maybe I'm wrong abt this feeling but "human-caused climate change" seems to have lost its political and physical relevance to decision making and policy So when an article mentions that phrase re wildfires, it's treated like an asteroid hurtling towards us that no one caused and no one can stop
Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.
General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Plastics sicken and kill! Study in The Lancet: Every stage of the plastic lifecycle harms human health including global warming, air pollution, cancer, and disease, with primary plastic production and plastic burning causing the greatest harm. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Global health burdens of plastics: a lifecycle assessment model from 2016 to 2040
Adverse health effects are associated with emissions throughout plastics lifecycles, particularly from production, though the non-disclosure of plastics chemical composition is severely limiting LCA c...
thelancet.com
@maizie333.bsky.social @markpetticrew.bsky.social How to fight targeted alcohol digital marketing
Institute of Alcohol Studies@ias.org.uk · 2w ago"Couldn't get this advert out of my head... I relapsed after 15 years." Our new film investigates how digital alcohol marketing targets the most vulnerable - and why regulation hasn't caught up. 🎬 Watch our latest film, "Digital Intoxication": youtu.be/9tIye2pKvYw
1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
Really great paper on the intersection between colonialism and it's legacy, & vector -borne disease; and also the role of commercial determinants of health is discussed journals.plos.org/globalpublic...
Addressing historical biases and the limits of biomedical commodities in vector-borne disease control in Africa
In this essay, we describe efforts to curtail the spread of vector-borne infections and how these efforts are entangled in the causes and consequences of the destruction of life, and the ecosystems wh...
journals.plos.org
The BBC cancelling Winterwatch is such a shame, especially when we need to be connecting with nature more than ever. If we want people to protect our wildlife, we have to show them it! Add your name to ask the BBC to reconsider. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/do...
Tell the BBC: Save Winterwatch!
The UK is losing its wildlife, and shows like Winterwatch are vital for connecting us to nature. The BBC's decision to cancel it makes no sense. Let's ask them to rethink this! Add your name here:
you.38degrees.org.uk
The BBC cancelling Winterwatch is such a shame, especially when we need to be connecting with nature more than ever. If we want people to protect our wildlife, we have to show them it! Add your name to ask the BBC to reconsider. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/do...
Tell the BBC: Save Winterwatch!
The UK is losing its wildlife, and shows like Winterwatch are vital for connecting us to nature. The BBC's decision to cancel it makes no sense. Let's ask them to rethink this! Add your name here:
you.38degrees.org.uk
#MusicChallenge #DavidsMonthOfMusic Day 23 - Song by a band/artist whose name starts with W. Did they invent post-punk? Art punk? Whatever the answer, they burst out of the box with 3 masterpiece albums. youtu.be/I1ds5KfglWE?...
Mannequin (2006 Remastered Version)
YouTube video by Wire - Topic
youtu.be
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Application of tobacco control experience to alcohol consumption measures
Low- and middle-income countries face a rapidly escalating, alcohol-related public health crisis spanning cancer, injury, liver disease, mental health disorders and the complications of human immunode...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
In a rare editorial, NEJM editors push back on Trump’s growing political interference in science. Good to see this published ⬇️ #OMB
The OMB and the Politicization of Science | NEJM
The Editors highlight three aspects of OMB’s recently proposed rule changes as particularly striking: that decisions on research funding would be made by political appointees, that funding could be...
nejm.org
Gambling blights local communities. Our new paper, led by @blythejenny.bsky.social w/ @markpetticrew.bsky.social , reports on the formidable barriers those in local government in London face in tackling gambling harms @london.gov.uk www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The right’s culture war over prostate cancer screening is damaging trust in medicine | Polly Toynbee
The decision not to test all men and only screen the most at risk, including black men, is fact-based. Yet it’s been called ‘two tier’ – and labelled as misandry, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
theguardian.com
Cracking paper by Myles Balfe, UCC, in the June issue of J Public Health: ‘The evils are uncontrolled’: Marx’s Capital as a form of witnessing for child public health academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/a...
All points are 🎯 in your 🧵 A few years ago, I was riding as bike messenger/courier. It was zero hours work at £10.85 an hour (in London). No hours, no pay. I rode as many hours/shifts as possible, 6 days a week, trying to cover rent. When the regular day shift ended, I'd begin an evening shift.
As ever, a great rundown of corporate manoeuvring to prevent an EU ban on PFAS forever chemicals, from @corporateeurope.org Thank you for referencing our work, we really appreciate it 🙏
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)@corporateeurope.org · 3mo agoAs the EU Chemicals Agency winds up its second public consultation on the proposed 🇪🇺 PFAS ban, the fluoropolymer industry is once again mobilising to criticise alternatives to their products. See our new blog post which updates on PFAS industry's lobby campaign: corporateeurope.org/en/2026/05/p...
Oil + gas drilling is permitted in many Marine 'Protected' Areas in the UK, as illustrated in our Watershed Pollution Map, below. Bottom trawl fishing is allowed in many MPAs. All of which begs the question - what's 'protected' about a Marine Protected Area? share.google/LiNhOTjTO4hY... 1/4
STUDY: “Reframing obesity as the result of government policy (& lack thereof) shaped by industry influence will logically meet great resistance because it reorients policymakers to address unhealthy food environments lobbied for by multinational food companies…” co-written by @grantennis.bsky.social
Harms of Framing Obesity as a Disease of Individuals
This Viewpoint examines how framing obesity as an individual disease that should be treated may impact addressing the larger systemic- and policy-driven roots of the problem that could be addressed to...
jamanetwork.com
This is because Goblins exist. We constantly forget about the Little Folk. Our whole society is set up not to notice Them. AI doesn't understand this and constantly tries to warn us of Their presence. shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/11...
Ethan Mollick@emollick.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis is an actual line that was added to the official system prompt for Codex for GPT-5.5 by OpenAI. Usually the system prompt is as minimal as possible, so I assume it would otherwise mention goblins a lot. AIs are weird.
“[O]ne can hardly imagine a more nihilistic and disturbing message to send than turning public health policy over, in part, to someone who has dedicated much of their career to maximizing the consumption of inherently unhealthy products,” Jeff Hauser… said via email.” @profgoldberg.bsky.social
Former tobacco executive joins CDC senior leadership, raising concerns over industry influence
Naming a former Imperial Brands executive for a CDC job is the latest example, advocates say, of tobacco industry influence in Trump administration.
statnews.com
In just TWO DAYS... BHATTACHARYA GETS A "FIRESIDE CHAT" on FRIDAY at the NATIONAL ACADEMIES so we can hear him talk about RESEARCH INTEGRITY. The SAME WEEK he stops 🛑 CDC from publishing research. I cannot WAIT to discover if there will be any chance for the audience to ask him about this.
Gregg Gonsalves@gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 4mo agoJay Bhattacharya pulls a study because he doesn’t like the conclusions. I cannot explain how bad this is and how it reeks of the stench of ideological zealotry and has no basis in science. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...
Follow us and check out tobaccotactics.org to find out more about the tactics and activities of companies such as BAT. www.bath.ac.uk/research-gro... ash.org.uk
Tobacco Tactics
Tobacco Tactics is the essential source for rigorous research on the tobacco industry. Want to stay one-step ahead of Big Tobacco? Stay in touch with Tobacco Tactics
tobaccotactics.org
The board of British American Tobacco, one of the most powerful and profitable #TobaccoCompanies in the world, met in London yesterday. They had a lot to say about their business and @tcrgbath.bsky.social & @ashorguk.bsky.social were there to hear it.
The gap between what we know about commercial forces and health - and what we're doing about it - is large. LHGP's Nason Maani and Sandro Galea's new book, A Healthier Profit @oxunipress.bsky.social sets out to close it. Available for pre-order now ahead of its 2027 launch.
Civil society is essential public health infrastructure that Europe cannot afford to lose url: academic.oup.com/eurpub/artic...
Civil society is essential public health infrastructure that Europe cannot afford to lose
Civil society is fundamental to democracy—and to public health. Civil society organisations (CSOs) (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/civ
academic.oup.com
