People who use marijuana were found to have higher levels of lead and cadmium in their blood and urine, in comparison to those who do not use weed, according to a new study. The team of researchers at Columbia University analysed data from blood and urine samples collected between 2005 and 2018 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a program conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. They looked at samples of 7,254 people who said they had used marijuana in the last 30 days. Participants were examined for levels of heavy metals and 358 people were found to have 27 per cent higher blood lead levels than those who said they didn’t use either marijuana or tobacco. There were also 22 per cent higher levels of cadmium in those marijuana users according to the research, which was published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Researchers also found that the urine samples showed similar results. High levels of cadmium can cause stomach irritation, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, according to Better Health. Researchers found that although tobacco is the main source of cadmium exposure in the general population, the study showed similar exposure levels among cannabis users. “For both cadmium and lead, these metals are likely to stay in the body for years, long after exposure ends,” Tiffany Sanchez, an author of the study and an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health said to NBC News. As cannabis plants can absorb heavy metals from soil - the new findings demonstrate that heavy metals in cannabis plants can also wind up in the human body. “Previous studies have measured metals in marijuana plants, products, or marijuana smoke,” study authors have said. Lead exposure can be particularly harmful to children and pregnant women. In adults, chronic exposure to lead increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart problems and kidney damage. “Our study wasn’t able to tease apart whether or not self-reported cannabis users were using medical or recreational cannabis, so we can’t say definitively if medical cannabis users specifically had higher metal levels,” Sanchez said as reported by CNN. “This is something that should be evaluated in future studies.” Heavy metals bind to parts of your cells that prevent your organs from doing their job, according to the Cleveland Clinic and symptoms of heavy metal poisoning can be life-threatening and can cause irreversible damage. “Immunocompromised people, such as those going through chemotherapy, may be at greater risk from metal exposure or from other common cannabis contaminants like molds. However, this is very much an understudied area,” Sanchez added. On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration ease restrictions on marijuana by moving it from Schedule I drug to Schedule III. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the agency has responded to President Joe Biden’s request “to provide a scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DEA.” “We’ve worked to ensure that a scientific evaluation be completed and shared expeditiously,” he added. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that HHS had recommended that marijuana be moved from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance. “HHS has done the right thing,” Schumer said. “DEA should now follow through on this important step to greatly reduce the harm caused by draconian marijuana laws.” Rescheduling the drug would reduce or potentially eliminate criminal penalties for possession. Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. According to the DEA, Schedule I drugs "have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse." Additional reporting from agencies Read More Biden health agency recommends classifying marijuana as lower-risk, opening potential for major policy changes Seth Rogen reveals why he smokes marijuana ‘all day, every single day’ Rugby star Ugo Monye: Boarding school shaped my career and my personality Queen Latifah calls for more ‘inclusive healthcare’ for people with obesity As Simon Cowell shares positive therapy experience, how can it help even if you aren’t in crisis?

Diontae Johnson and the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to be barreling toward a split.

Closing in on the biggest victory of his tennis career, Dominic Stricker was having a terrific time at the U.S. Open

Mets' Pete Alonso dropped an F-bomb in a post-game interview last week, and Buck Showalter isn't too happy about it.Uh oh -- looks like New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso may have to put some money in the swear jar.Yes, he's an adult, but he's an adult playing for Buck Sho...

Hundreds of far-left protesters clashed with police in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Saturday night, during demonstrations over jail terms handed down to several people convicted of vigilante attacks against neo-Nazis.

Former UFC champion Max Holloway broke down in tears on Thursday, while discussing the wildfires that have ravaged his native Hawaii. The Lahaina area in Maui County has been devastated by the natural disaster this month, with at least 155 people killed and more than 1,000 still missing. Holloway, 31, discussed the events at a pre-fight media day this week, ahead of his featherweight clash with Chan Sung Jung in Singapore on Saturday (26 August). “You guys saw how everything went down, how the Lahaina people were let down by the state, by the government,” Holloway said. “But the Hawaii community, they stepped up. The people stepped up, the Hawaiians stepped up. “Then, after the Hawaiians stepped up, the world stepped up. You guys are seeing everything, people helping – the UFC is helping out with ‘UFC loves Hawaii’ and so on and so on. It’s just a tough thing. I just shared my story about how some people ended up passing away. “It’s just tough, man. Those guys [in Hawaii] are the real heroes right now. They’re going through it, and my walkout song is going to be a dedication to them, and they said we should use red [fight shorts] to solidify those guys that are in the fire and going through it. “I’m actually going to be using red for the first time in my UFC career. I’ve been using the black, and I was able to be granted red for the shorts.” A tearful Holloway added: “I always go in there with Hawaii on my back, but it feels a little bit heavier now.” Holloway reigned as undisputed UFC featherweight champion from 2017 to 2019. In his most recent fight, in April, the Hawaiian outpointed British title hopeful Arnold Allen. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Maui county sues Hawaiian Electric Company over deadly Lahaina fires UFC schedule 2023: Every major fight happening this year Oleksandr Usyk may produce his greatest counter yet against Daniel Dubois

England are preparing to face Australia in the Women’s World Cup semi-finals, with the hosts gripped by Matildas fever ahead of Wednesday’s crunch clash in Sydney. The Lionesses reached the semi-finals as they came from behind to beat Colombia on Saturday and will return to Stadium Australia to face the hosts, with Sarina Wiegman’s side looking to reach their first ever World Cup final. Australia defeated France on penalties in what was the most-watched sporting event in the country since the 2000 Olympics, with the excitement set to build even further ahead of facing rivals England. The World Cup semi-finals kick off tomorrow with Spain meeting Sweden in Auckland for a place in Sunday’s showpiece final. All four teams left in the World Cup are looking to win the tournament for the first time, with European champions England remaining slight favourites. Sweden were impressive in knocking out Japan in the quarter-finals, while Spain have a hugely talented squad and Australia have the momentum and backing of their home support. Follow all the latest World Cup news and updates ahead of the semi-finals in today’s live blog. Read More Who and when do England play next? Lionesses’ route to the World Cup final ahead of semi-final England reach familiar World Cup hurdle — but this time there’s a difference England embrace a new identity to reveal World Cup strength

Hundreds of articles praising Bangladeshi government policies apparently by independent experts have appeared in national and international media but the authors have questionable credentials, fake photos, and may not even...

A judge has refused bond for Damaris Milton, who is accused of stabbing people in the Georgia Airport

As former President Donald Trump prepares for a momentous court appearance Tuesday on charges related to the hoarding of top-secret documents, Republican allies are amplifying, without evidence, claims that he is the target of a political prosecution. To press their case, Trump's backers are citing the Justice Department's decision in 2016 not to bring charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in that year's presidential race, over her handling of classified information. His supporters also are invoking a separate classified documents investigation concerning President Joe Biden to allege a two-tier system of justice that is punishing Trump, the undisputed early front-runner for the GOP's 2024 White House nomination, for conduct that Democrats have engaged in. "Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president?” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump primary rival. “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country.” But those arguments overlook abundant factual and legal differences — chiefly relating to intent, state of mind and deliberate acts of obstruction — that limit the value of any such comparisons. A look at the Clinton, Biden and Trump investigations and what separates them: WHAT DID CLINTON DO? Clinton relied on a private email system for the sake of convenience during her time as the Obama administration's top diplomat. That decision came back to haunt her when, in 2015, the intelligence agencies' internal watchdog alerted the FBI to the presence of potentially hundreds of emails containing classified information. FBI investigators would ultimately conclude that Clinton sent and received emails containing classified information on that unclassified system, including information classified at the top-secret level. Of the roughly 30,000 emails turned over by Clinton's representatives, the FBI has said, 110 emails in 52 email chains were found to have classified information, including some at the top-secret level. After a roughly yearlong inquiry, the FBI closed out the investigation in July 2016, finding that Clinton did not intend to break the law. The bureau reopened the inquiry months later, 11 days before the presidential election, after discovering a new batch of emails. After reviewing those communications, the FBI again opted against recommending charges. WHAT IS TRUMP ACCUSED OF DOING? The indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith alleges that when Trump left the White House after his term ended in January 2021, he took hundreds of classified documents with him to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago — and then repeatedly impeded efforts by the government he once oversaw to get the records back. The material that Trump retained, prosecutors say, related to American nuclear programs, weapons and defense capabilities of the United States and foreign countries and potential vulnerabilities to an attack — information that, if exposed, could jeopardize the safety of the military and human sources. Beyond just the hoarding of documents — in locations including a bathroom, ballroom, shower and his bedroom — the Justice Department says Trump showed highly sensitive material to visitors who without security clearances and obstructed the FBI by, among other things, directing a personal aide who was charged alongside him to move boxes around Mar-a-Lago to conceal them from investigators. Though Trump and his allies have claimed he could do with the documents as he pleased under the Presidential Records Act, the indictment makes short shrift of that argument and does not once reference that statute. All told, the indictment includes 37 felony counts against Trump, most under an Espionage Act pertaining to the willful retention of national defense information. WHAT SEPARATES THE CLINTON AND TRUMP CASES? A lot, but two important differences are in willfulness and obstruction. In an otherwise harshly critical assessment in which he condemned Clinton's email practices as “extremely careless,” then-FBI Director James Comey announced that investigators had found no clear evidence that Clinton or her aides had intended to break laws governing classified information. As a result, he said, “no reasonable prosecutor" would move forward with a case. The relevant Espionage Act cases brought by the Justice Department over the past century, Comey said, all involved factors including efforts to obstruct justice, willful mishandling of classified documents and the exposure of vast quantities of records. None of those factors existed in the Clinton investigation, he said. That is in direct contrast to the allegations against Trump, who prosecutors say was involved in the packing of boxes to go to Mar-a-Lago and then actively took steps to conceal the classified documents from investigators. The indictment accuses him, for instance, of suggesting that a lawyer hide documents demanded by a Justice Department subpoena or falsely represent that all requested records had been turned over, even though more than 100 remained. The indictment repeatedly cites Trump's own words against him to make the case that he understood what he was doing and what the law did and did not permit him to do. It describes a July 2021 meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, which he showed off a Pentagon “plan of attack” to people without the security clearances to view the material and proclaimed that “as president, I could have declassified it.” “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,” the indictment quotes him as saying. That conversation, captured by an audio recording, is likely to be a powerful piece of evidence to the extent that it undercuts Trump's oft-repeated claims that he had declassified the documents he brought with him to Mar-a-Lago. WHERE DOES BIDEN FIT IN? The White House disclosed in January that, two months earlier, a lawyer for Biden had located what it said was a “small number” of classified documents from his time as vice president during a search of the Washington office space of Biden's former institute. The documents were turned over to the Justice Department. Lawyers for Biden subsequently located an additional batch of classified documents at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the FBI found even more during a voluntary search of the property. The revelations were a humbling setback for Biden's efforts to draw a clear contrast between his handling of sensitive information and Trump's. Even so, as with Clinton, there are significant differences in the matters. Though Attorney General Merrick Garland in January named a second special counsel to investigate the Biden documents, no charges have been brought and, so far at least, no evidence has emerged to suggest that anyone intentionally moved classified documents or tried to impede the probe. While the FBI obtained a search warrant last August to recover additional classified documents, each of the Biden searches has been done voluntarily with his team's consent. The Justice Department, meanwhile, notified Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, earlier this month that it would not bring charges after the discovery of classified documents in his Indiana home. That case also involved no allegations of willful retention or obstruction. _____ Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP ___ More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement Jim Jordan rejects Trump statement suggesting Mar-a-Lago papers weren’t declassified Kimberly Guilfoyle posts chilling warning over Trump indictment Trump-appointed judge will stay on Mar-a-Lago documents case unless she recuses

A new poll finds rare agreement across partisan lines and in this case President Joe Biden is the unifying figure, though not the way he would prefer to be

Israeli forces killed five men during raids in Jenin and Jericho, while one died at a protest in Gaza.