Opinion: The body of public health is taking two destructive hits at once
Cuts to federal programs that have long-standing roles in public protection have been layered on top of massive funding reductions to state and local health departments.
There’s a theory of cancer causation that I’ve been thinking about recently called the two-hit hypothesis. It proposes that cancer begins with two mutations: one that can be inherited and one that is influenced by environmental or other factors.
Public health seems to be in the midst of experiencing two hits. The result could be deadly.
