Medical Matters Weekly Hosts Addiction Researcher Sept. 28

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BENNINGTON, Vt. The next guest on Medical Matters Weekly is Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, a national leader in addiction research and the director of the Vermont Center on Behavior & Health (VCBH) at the University of Vermont (UVM). The show airs on Facebook Live at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28.

Higgins is principle investigator on multiple National Institutes of Health grants on the general topic of behavior and health, including a National Institute of General Medical Sciences’ Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) award, a National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)/Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) award, and a NIDA institutional training award. He is the Virginia H. Donaldson Endowed Professor of Translational Science in the departments of psychiatry and psychological science at UVM and serves as vice chair of psychiatry.

Higgins’ research centers around behavioral economics and behavioral pharmacology to investigate tobacco, substance use, and other health-related risk behaviors in vulnerable populations. His projects focus on examining mechanisms underpinning vulnerability to tobacco and other risk behaviors, treatment interventions to reduce them and improve health outcomes, and regulatory science. He is the author of more than 425 journal articles and invited book chapters and editor of a dozen volumes and therapist manuals in behavior and health.

VCBH is an interdisciplinary research center committed to investigating relationships between personal behavior patterns (i.e., lifestyle) and risk for chronic disease and premature death. Their work has historically focused on health disparities for the most vulnerable populations, particularly among the socioeconomically disadvantaged where these risk factors are overrepresented.

Medical Matters Weekly features personalities who drive positive change within health care and related professions. The show addresses all aspects of creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for all, including food and nutrition, housing, diversity and inclusion, groundbreaking medical care, exercise, mental health, the environment, research, and government.

The show is produced by Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Viewers can view on facebook.com/svmedicalcenter and facebook.com/CATTVBennington. The show is also available to view or download as a podcast on svhealthcare.org/medicalmatters.

The show is broadcast on Facebook Live, YouTube, and all podcast platforms. After the program, the video is available on area public access television stations CAT-TV (Comcast channel 1075) and GNAT-TV's (Comcast channel 1074), as well as on public access stations throughout the United States.





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New Law Prohibits Sale of Invasive Pond Slider Turtles

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Under Vermont's newly-passed Act 47 of 2025 the sale of pond slider turtles, which includes the popular red-eared slider, is subject to new restrictions starting July 1, 2025.
 
Pond sliders are the most popular turtle sold in pet stores nationwide.  They are also an invasive species that competes for food and habitat with native species like the painted turtle, which is common in Vermont, and the spiny softshell turtle, which is listed as threatened on the state's threatened and endangered species list.
 
Act 47 began as a package of wildlife legislation introduced this year in H.231.  The bill included a proposal from biologists with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department to stop the continued importation and sale of pond sliders in Vermont.  These measures were identified as priorities for protecting vulnerable populations of native reptiles and amphibians.  On June 5 this year, H.231 was passed into law as Act 47. 
 
Among the first provisions of Act 47 to come into effect is the ban on importation and sale of pond sliders beginning this July.
 
"This is very good news for our native turtles," said Luke Groff, the lead reptile and amphibian biologist with the department.  "Pond sliders can outcompete native turtles and cause them to have smaller body sizes, slower growth rates and higher mortality rates.  Sliders can also transfer diseases and parasites to native turtles.  Ultimately, these impacts can result in population declines for our native species."
 
Pet stores and pet dealers in Vermont can no longer bring new pond sliders into the state.  Stores that currently have pond sliders in their inventory may sell those turtles as long as they can provide documentation demonstrating they possessed the turtles prior to July 1, 2025.
 
People who currently have pet pond sliders are legally allowed to keep their turtles, and in fact are strongly encouraged to do so.  This is because Act 47 also prohibits the release of pond sliders into the wild.
 
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