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After Loss in Court, RFK Jr. Amends Guidelines for Key Vaccine Panel to Emphasize Risks of Shots
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health agency has altered the guiding document for an influential vaccine panel by enhancing its role in considering safety risks and expanding qualifications for membership to include knowledge of “recovery from serious vaccine injuries.” During his time as health secretary, Kennedy has focused on overhauling the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the panel that recommends which vaccines should be included on federal immunization schedules, to reflect his own beliefs that vaccines can harm human health.
Last spring, he fired all the panel’s members and replaced them with more like-minded individuals — a move that Boston-based Judge Brian Murphy temporarily unwound last month amid public health groups’ legal challenge to several vaccine policy changes.
The charter was due to be renewed on April 1, so an update was expected. But the new document, which Kennedy signed March 31, doesn’t conform with the spirit of Murphy’s order, said Richard Hughes, one of the attorneys who argued against Kennedy’s vaccine decisions before Murphy on behalf of groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In Private Meeting, Trump Soothes Disenchanted MAHA Leaders
President Trump met privately on Thursday with leaders of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement as part of a high-level White House strategy session to keep disenchanted MAHA voters in the fold ahead of the midterm elections.
Neither the White House nor Mr. Kennedy’s office would provide details of the meeting. Top White House officials including Susie Wiles, the chief of staff, and Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, spent nearly two hours soliciting the activists’ ideas on messaging and other matters during a round-table discussion in the West Wing, according to two participants. Mr. Trump also invited them into the Oval Office.
One attendee, Alex Clark, a health and wellness podcaster for the conservative group Turning Point U.S.A., said she and other activists left the meeting feeling “hopeful, and grateful for an opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation and be heard by all of President Trump’s top advisers.”
Casey Means’s Brother Says ‘Conversations Happening’ in Surgeon General Confirmation Process
Senior White House adviser Calley Means said Thursday that “conversations are ongoing” amid doubts over whether his sister, surgeon general nominee Casey Means, has enough votes in the Senate for confirmation. Calley Means was asked during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill” whether the White House still expected Casey Means to be the next surgeon general after President Trump recently indicated he was open to withdrawing her nomination.
“We do expect it here at the White House,” he told host Blake Burman. “Casey is one of the smartest and most eloquent doctors in the country, and at this moment, we don’t need a doctor who is a defender of the status quo.” Casey Means’s confirmation has been stalled since she was nominated in May, and the prospect of any movement seemed more fraught following a tense Senate committee hearing in February.
FDA Delays Approval of 2 Natural Food Dyes Following Safety Objections
The Trump administration has raced to expand natural dye options after asking food companies to voluntarily remove artificial colors by the end of this year. However, industry players say the agency did not perform important safety assessments when approving these colors, and also raised questions over whether the dyes can truly be considered “natural.”
“The push for ‘sustainable’ colors should not come at the expense of consumer transparency and safety,” GMO/Toxin Free USA wrote in its objections to beetroot red.
Stakeholders say that critical safety checks were overlooked in the approval of beetroot red and spirulina extract, including tests that would ensure the dyes are not carcinogenic and do not expose consumers to heavy metals.
In its petition objecting to spirulina, Obelisk Tech Systems notes the FDA failed to evaluate the dye’s risk against the total dietary heavy metal burden from all food sources, instead looking at the color in isolation. As a result, the agency set acceptable heavy metal thresholds far higher than what is considered safe, the firm argues.
EPA Proposes Gutting Rules for Handling Toxic Coal Ash, a Move That Threatens Groundwater
The Trump administration on Thursday proposed weakening rules for the disposal of ash produced by burning coal that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater. Those regulations were strengthened under the Biden administration as part of a wider crackdown on pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The Trump administration proposed easing standards for monitoring and protecting groundwater near some coal ash sites, and rolling back rules that require the cleanup of entire coal properties rather than just the sites where ash was dumped. The revisions would also make it easier to reuse coal ash for other purposes.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposal reflects the agency’s “commitment to restoring American energy dominance, strengthening cooperative federalism, and accommodating unique circumstances at certain (coal) facilities.” Burning coal produces tremendous amounts of ash, a waste product that contains heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cobalt. If not stored properly, coal ash can contaminate groundwater. Coal plants are often situated on the banks of rivers or other waterways, with waste ash sitting nearby.
