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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Wellness on Nassen, doctor Nicole Sapphire, and

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Speaker 1: this is your weekly rundown. This week, tragedy has struck

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Speaker 1: yet again, this time in Minneapolis, where another school shooting

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Speaker 1: has left families shattered and a community and nation in mourning.

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Speaker 1: Every one of these senseless acts forces us to confront

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Speaker 1: a very painful reality. We are failing to address the

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Speaker 1: root causes of violence amongst our youth. Guns are always

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Speaker 1: at the center of the conversation, but if we're truly

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Speaker 1: going to prevent the next tragedy, we have to look deeper.

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Speaker 1: What is driving so many young people to this breaking point?

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Speaker 1: Mental illness, isolation, social disconnection, and yes, the powerful medications

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Speaker 1: that so many of these kids are being prescribed. These

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Speaker 1: are rarely part of the discussion, yet they must be.

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Speaker 1: And we also cannot ignore the growing medical crisis surrounding

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Speaker 1: the trans movement. Let me be clear, every individual deserves

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Speaker 1: compassion and dignity, but as a physician, as a mother,

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Speaker 1: I cannot turn away from the undeniable truth that many

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Speaker 1: adolescents swept into this movement are struggling with profound mental illness.

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Speaker 1: Instead of addressing underlying depression, anxiety, the broken homes or trauma.

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Speaker 1: We are placing vulnerable kids on a conveyor belt of

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Speaker 1: puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, antidepressants, and surgeries, all interventions

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Speaker 1: with lifelong consequences. These are powerful drugs with known risks,

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Speaker 1: and yet they're being handed up to miners who can't

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Speaker 1: legally buy alcohol or even vote. We are sacrificing thoughtful

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Speaker 1: medical care at the altar of ideology, and when tragedies

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Speaker 1: like school shootings occur, no one dares to ask whether

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Speaker 1: these medications or untreated psychiatric disorders are actually part of

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Speaker 1: the picture. And while this crisis is unfolding, the public's

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Speaker 1: trust in our health institutions continue to crumble. Just this week,

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Speaker 1: more senior officials at the CDC have resigned. Their departure

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Speaker 1: highlight what so many Americans already feel the agency is fractured, politicized,

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Speaker 1: and out of touch. During COVID, the CDC became less

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Speaker 1: of a scientific authority and more of a political mouthpiece,

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Speaker 1: and now as they continue to lose experienced leaders, the

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Speaker 1: vacuum of trust only grows. We need strong, apolitical health

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Speaker 1: leadership that can restore credibility, not more resignations. These just

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Speaker 1: confirm the suspicions of dysfunction. Here's the bottom line. We

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Speaker 1: cannot prevent school shootings or improve public health with surface

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Speaker 1: level conversations. We need to confront the uncomfortable truths that

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Speaker 1: mental illness is spiraling in this country, that medications have consequences,

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Speaker 1: and that our institutions are failing us. Ignoring these realities

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Speaker 1: will not make them disappear. Americans deserve clear, consistent health communication,

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Speaker 1: but right now, too much of the conversation is dominated

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Speaker 1: by one divisive figure, RFK Junior. Regardless where you stand politically,

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Speaker 1: if you support Maha or not, everyone should want to

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Speaker 1: make America healthier again. It's dangerous to have a single

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Speaker 1: polarizing voice shaping the national diaglogue. The Department of Health

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Speaker 1: and Human Services should be elevating more spokespeople, scientists, positions,

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Speaker 1: and public health leaders who can speak directly to Americans

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Speaker 1: with credibility, clarity, and trust. And these can't just be

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Speaker 1: people in RFK Junior's inner circle. We have to bridge

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Speaker 1: the divide as a society. We have to demand better

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Speaker 1: better care for our children, better honesty from our leaders,

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Speaker 1: and better accountability from the agency's task with keeping us safe.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Wellness on Mass on America's number

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Speaker 1: one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Wellness on Mass with doctor

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Speaker 1: Nicole Saffire and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts, and we will see

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Speaker 1: you soon