December 17, 2008

Suicide Prevention Among Cancer Patients
Dr. Miller is interviewed in a discussion piece on suicide prevention among cancer patients in the current issue (Vol 100, Issue 24) of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

October 19, 2008
Concealed Gun Law in Spotlight in NC
An article in the Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC) examines NC's CCW law and mentions HICRC's 2006 Road Rage article.

October 18, 2008
Gun Smuggling out of Boston
David Hemenway was quoted in a Boston Globe article about guns being smuggled out of the country.

October 2, 2008
Bulletins on CCW laws released
We are pleased to announce the latest edition of Bulletins, our newsletter summarizing key topics within firearms research. This issue discusses Carrying Concealed Weapons (CCW) laws and evidence surrounding their efficacy. 

Download this issue
Download our issue on Safe Storage and Teen Suicide

September 24, 2008
New article on Children and Gun Violence
David Hemenway's article on "Protecting Children from Gun Violence" appears in the First Focus book: Big Ideas for Children: Investing in our Nation's Future, 2008.   Hemenway's paper describes the Swedish society-wide success in reducing child injury, and suggests comparable roles that could be played by physicians, reporters, clergy, foundation, Hollywood writers, and others in the United States to help reduce gun violence here.  The article (and book) are downloadable from the following link.

September 4, 2008
New NEJM article
The current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine features a Perspective piece by Matt Miller and David Hemenway, titled "Guns and Suicide in the United States". The article discusses how physicians and other health professionals can broaden their treatment of such patients to address not only their mental illness but also the patients' access to guns and other lethal means-- an approach could dramatically reduce suicide fatalities.

August 24, 2008
Lower Drinking Age=Bad Public Health Policy
The news is abuzz with a controversial proposal by over 100 college presidents that suggests the legal drinking age should be reduced to 18 (see this Washington Post article). HICRC firmly believes this would be a very bad policy for public health that would about as effective at addressing widespread binge-drinking as, in the words of Harvard's Dr. Henry Wechsler, "pouring gasoline to put the fire out."

Dr. Hemenway's upcoming book: "While We Were Sleeping: Success Stories in Injury and Violence Prevention" (University of California Press, June 2009), applaudes the raising of the legal drinking age to 21 as a public health success story: "This natural experiment is the most well-studied alcohol control policy in United States history...The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that traffic fatalities have fallen by over 800 deaths per year due to the higher drinking age."
 

July 18, 2008
Means Matter in the News
Our most recent undertaking, the Means Matter campaign, was highlighted in an article about means restriction in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.

An article on guns and suicide was also featured in the latest issue of the Harvard Public Health Review.

July 7th, 2008
Means Restriction in the News
Scott Anderson wrote an in-depth story about reducing access to lethal means in yesterday's New York Times. David Hemenway, Catherine Barber, and Matt Miller were all interviewed. Another article about guns and suicide interviewing David and Matt appeared in today's Washington Post. Read the NYT article, the Post article, and click here to learn more about means restriction.

May 27, 2008
Hemenway Article Honored in Two (Mathematics!) Anthologies
An article written by HICRC Center Director David Hemenway over 25 years ago for Mathematics Magazine entitled "Why Your Classes are Larger than Average" has been selected for two separate anthologies published by the Mathematics Association of America.

"Harmony of the World: 75 Years of Mathematics Magazine," published in 2007, presents 34 articles of "the best material from the publications long history." It is filled "with articles covering some of the most important and influential mathematical concepts of the last 75 years, written by illustrious authors."

A very different anthology, "Is Mathematics Inevitable?" published in 2008, "is a collection of gems from the literature of mathematics that shine as brightly today as when they first appeared in print. They deserve to be seen and admired."

Hemenway's short, readable article, published in 1982,can be found as a pdf at Mathematics Magazine.

March 19, 2008
David Hemenway Interview at the New England Journal of Medicine
David Hemenway, PhD, discusses gun violence in the United States and the likely effects of the Supreme Court case D.C. v. Heller in an audio interview with the New England Journal of Medicine. Click here for a link to the interview.

March 14, 2008
2008 Poison Prevention Week Kick-off
The Regional Center for Poison Control and Prevention presents the 2008 Poison Prevention Week Kick-off on Friday, March 14, 2008, starting at 9:30am.  The event will take place at the Massachusetts State House in the Great Hall and is open to the public.  See their website for more information.

February 21, 2008
HICRC Research Cited on WUMB Radio
Research by Renee M. Johnson, PhD, on carbon monoxide detector prevalence was cited in the January 19th episode of Commonwealth Journal on WUMB radio, titled "Carbon Monoxide: The Invisible Danger". The findings are from the Boston Neighborhood Survey.

Click here for link to the podcast.

February 14, 2008
National Firearms Survey Article Second Most Downloaded on Injury Prevention Journal
HICRC's Lisa Hepburn, Matt Miller, Deb Azrael, and David Hemenway's 2007 article "The US gun stock: results from the 2004 national firearms survey" is the second most downloaded on the Injury Prevention Journal website.  In the past year, over 5,000 full-text access downloads have been made.

Click on link for the full results.

February 5, 2008
Poisonings More Than Tripled in Rate Since 1990
Poisonings from accidents and unknown circumstances more than tripled in rate since 1990. In 2005, the last year for which mortality data are available, over 26,800 people died from accidental or unknown poisonings (largely overdoses of medications or illegal drugs). That's twenty thousand more than in 1990. It's also 2,400 more than in 2004; the problem shows no sign of abating. The rates are highest among the middle-aged, but teenagers and young adults have been racing to catch up. Elders have remained largely untouched by the increases.

Unfortunately, there has been insufficient response to this growing problem. HICRC strongly recommends that governments and foundations respond to this new public health epidemic by supporting:

--data systems and research to understand the nature of the problem;

--notification systems to respond quickly when new, dangerous substances hit the street;

--appropriate emergency medical system response; and

--community interventions/evaluation research to understand what works best to stem the tide.

February 4, 2008
Cathy Barber Receives 2008 Leadership in Suicide Prevention Award
The Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention presented an award to HICRC's Cathy Barber on Monday, February 4th, at the Massachusetts State House in recognition for her contributions to suicide prevention efforts. Ms. Barber led the effort to design and pilot what is now the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System, co-founded the National Center for Suicide Prevention Training, and conducts a variety of research dissemination activities on suicide prevention. Other award recipients included Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and his wife Deborah DiMasi, State Representative Ruth Balser, Sally Fogerty of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Needham Coalition for Suicide Prevention, Sandy Vickery of the Bourne Council on Aging, and the Youth Education and Support Project.