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Cassidy Rips RFK Jr. Vaccine Schedule Change, Says It’s ‘Based on No Scientific Input’
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who cast a critical vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, on Monday blasted the reduction of the childhood immunization schedule by Kennedy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC announced Monday it would be reducing the number of recommended vaccines for children from 17 to 11, putting the U.S. in line with that of other developed countries like Denmark, a nation which anti-vaccine skeptics and critics often cite as a model to be emulated.
Cassidy, a physician and longtime proponent of vaccinations, said this move will “make America sicker.”
Kennedy Set to Release New Nutrition Guidelines
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as health secretary last year, he pledged to improve Americans’ well-being. Now, he and others in his Make America Healthy Again orbit are trying to deliver on that promise by rewriting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the government’s official guidance on what to eat and drink for good health.
The guidelines, updated every five years, haven’t changed much in substance since they were first published in 1980.
But Mr. Kennedy has suggested that the new version — expected in the coming days — will be radically different, with revised recommendations on meat, dairy and saturated fats, concerning some nutrition researchers. The guidelines are a public health tool, meant to translate scientific evidence on diet and health into actionable advice.
They tell us how many fruits and vegetables to consume every day, whether to cook with vegetable oils or butter, what to eat to get enough protein and more. There’s also guidance for people in various life stages, such as how much caffeine is safe for pregnant women, when babies should start eating solid food and what supplements older adults may need.
Every five years, officials from the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments revise the guidelines to reflect the latest nutrition science. They are typically published in a long, dense document that is written for professionals including policymakers, federal food program officials and health care providers such as doctors, nurses and dietitians.
EPA Says It Will Propose Drinking Water Limit for Perchlorate, but Only Because Court Ordered It
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it would propose a drinking water limit for perchlorate, a harmful chemical in rockets and other explosives, but also said doing so wouldn’t significantly benefit public health and that it was acting only because a court ordered it.
The agency said it will seek input on how strict the limit should be for perchlorate, which is particularly dangerous for infants, and require utilities to test. The agency’s move is the latest in a more than decade-long battle over whether to regulate perchlorate. The EPA said that the public benefit of the regulation did not justify its expected cost.
“Due to infrequent perchlorate levels of health concern, the vast majority of the approximately 66,000 water systems that would be subject to the rule will incur substantial administrative and monitoring costs with limited or no corresponding public health benefits as a whole,” the agency wrote in its proposal.
EPA Delays Coal Plant Wastewater Rule, Allowing Continued Toxic Discharges
Environmental Protection reported:
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a rule delaying by five years deadlines for stricter wastewater treatment standards for coal-fired power plants, a move that will allow continued releases of toxic pollutants into waterways that supply drinking water for more than 30 million Americans.
The delayed standards would have required coal plants to significantly reduce discharges of wastewater containing arsenic, mercury, bromide, and other hazardous pollutants. Under the new rule, power plants will have additional time before being required to install more advanced treatment technologies.
Environmental groups criticized the decision, arguing it prioritizes industry interests over public health. Thom Cmar, deputy managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Midwest regional office, said the rule allows coal plants to continue polluting waterways used as sources of drinking water. He said municipal water utilities had urged the EPA to require stronger protection and indicated legal challenges are expected.
Teachers Have a Right to Tell Parents if Their Child Might Be LGBTQ+, Federal Judge Rules
The Los Angeles Times reported:
A federal court ruling has affirmed the free speech and religious rights of California teachers who want to tell parents about how their child is expressing gender identity at school, a victory for conservatives and parent-rights advocates that stands to rewrite state school policies if upheld.
In his late December decision, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez concluded that federal law allows school employees to notify parents of “gender incongruence.” School staff members, he wrote, are free to make a personal decision to contact a parent with information about the possible LGBTQ+ identity of their child.
