‘The pain was unbearable’: the agonising cost of England’s ‘cowboy’ cosmetic clinics

Plans to cut down on “cowboy” cosmetic procedures have been introduced by the government, meaning that only qualified healthcare professionals will be able to perform high-risk treatments.Clinics administering fillers and Botox will need to meet strict standards to obtain a licence as part of the Department of Health and Social Care proposals to protect people from “rogue operators” with no medical training who often provide “invasive” procedures in homes, hotels and pop-up clinics.Officials said that people have been left “maimed” by beauty procedures, with some deaths linked to poor care.One woman who was left with significant injuries after such a treatment told the Guardian she had been left with issues that could last a lifetime.Triggs, 40, from Leeds, was left with significant bruising and swelling after paying £100 for a fake Endolift, a non-surgical laser treatment used for skin tightening and fat reduction on the face and body

Liquid butt lifts targeted in clampdown on England’s cosmetic ‘wild west’

Ministers have announced a clampdown on “cowboy” cosmetic procedures, including liquid Brazilian butt lifts, with stricter rules on who is allowed to perform the procedures in England.Wes Streeting, the health secretary, plans to introduce legislation next year restricting who can access and perform aesthetic treatments. Labour has warned that the industry is a “wild west” because of a lack of regulation around who can administer treatments such as dermatological filler and Botox injections.At present a licence is not required to perform such procedures in England. Health department officials said botched treatments had left people “maimed” and suffering from “dangerous complications, permanent scarring and even death”

Scientists find link between genes and ME/chronic fatigue syndrome

Scientists have found the first robust evidence that people’s genes affect their chances of developing myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a mysterious and debilitating illness that has been neglected and dismissed for decades by many in the medical community.Early findings from the world’s largest study into the genetics of the condition pinpointed eight regions of the human genome that were substantially different in people with an ME/CFS diagnosis compared to those without the illness.The discovery suggests that several variants of genes commonly found in the population raise the risk of developing the illness, though many people will carry the variants and never acquire it.Prof Chris Ponting, an investigator on the DecodeME study at the University of Edinburgh, called the results “a wake-up call” that showed a person’s genetics could “tip the balance” on whether they would develop ME/CFS.“These provide the first robust evidence for genetic contributions to ME,” Ponting said

Resistance to change in the lifesaving work of the Samaritans | Letters

Unlike Peter Ormerod (I was a Samaritan – I love Samaritans. But for the sake of all who take those calls, it must change course, 29 July), I am a still Samaritan, and spent several hours last Tuesday on the phone to some extremely distressed callers. I did that from what was formerly the front bedroom of a ramshackle Edwardian terrace house, which has room for just two workstations.The words “call centre” have been widely used to depict the charity’s proposed shift to larger, more modern branches. I wonder how many readers who work in comfortable, modern offices housing 20 (or even more) desks would consider themselves marooned in an inhuman “call centre” (or “regional hub” as Ormerod labels them)?Because Ormerod is no longer a Samaritan, he perhaps has not had access to the FAQs for volunteers, which note that nobody will be asked to work on their own

Despite RFK’s funding block, mRNA vaccines are too impressive to ignore

It was a blow many were braced for, yet the block on US funding for mRNA vaccines by Robert F Kennedy Jr’s health department has left scientists reeling, with some stating the move could make the world less safe.On Tuesday, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it would cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines, ending 22 federal contracts – including one with the pharmaceutical company Moderna for its bird flu vaccine for humans.“We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” Kennedy said in a statement issued on Tuesday.In many ways, it is not a surprise: Kennedy has long been known to be a vaccine sceptic, despite saying he is “not anti-vaccine”, just “pro-safety”, and has himself spread misinformation around immunisation, including falsely calling mRNA Covid jabs the “deadliest vaccine ever made”.In the statement, Kennedy said HSS had “reviewed the science, listened to the experts and acted,” and went on to claim mRNA vaccines failed to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections such as Covid and flu

Verbally abused children more likely to have poor mental health as adults, study finds

Parents who ridicule, threaten or humiliate their children risk leaving them with a 64% higher chance of having poor mental health as an adult, a study has found.The research also found physical abuse experienced among the research participants reduced over time, while verbal abuse increased.Published in BMJ Open, the study gathered data of 20,687 adults from seven studies published between 2012 and 2024.The studies used all involved questions on childhood physical and verbal abuse using the validated Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) tool and the Warwick-Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale to measure individual and combined components of adult mental wellbeing.Participants were asked over a two-week period about their mental wellbeing, with responses given a score to determine whether the participant had a low or high sense of mental wellbeing