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CDC Working to Rehome More Than 100 Laboratory Monkeys
The Washington Examiner reported:
More than 100 laboratory animals are waiting to be rehomed as the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to reduce reliance on animal testing.
The HHS touted its latest initiatives last week to accelerate the department’s shift toward more “human-based” research methods. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a release that the HHS was moving to put human biology at the “center of science.”
“We are modernizing outdated regulations, investing in human-based technologies, and breaking down barriers that have kept researchers dependent on animal models when better tools are available,” Kennedy said in a release. “Under President Trump, we will use the best science to protect patients, accelerate medical breakthroughs, and end unnecessary animal testing.”
EPA’s Atrazine Clean Up Plan Is ‘Utterly Worthless,’ Study Finds
A US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan to reduce the amount of atrazine running off into US rivers, lakes and streams would leave 99% of watersheds contaminated at levels that exceed the agency’s threshold for harm to plants, fish and other species, according to a new study.
The study by the Center for Biological Diversity, published Tuesday in the Journal of Environmental Quality, finds that an EPA strategy to clean up atrazine — a cancer-linked pesticide banned in more than 60 countries around the world — will barely make a dent in the pesticide’s widespread pollution, which has plagued waterways in US farming states for decades.
The study comes on the heels of a separate Center for Biological Diversity report last month that found atrazine contaminates an estimated 25% of river and stream miles in the lower 48 US states, including many waterways used for drinking water. The researchers say the federal cleanup plan will leave fish and other aquatic life — as well as humans — at continued risk of health problems due to atrazine exposure.
U.S. Supreme Court Declines Request to Consider Bellingham COVID-19 Vaccine Case
The Spokesman-Review reported:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that it will not hear the case of a group of former city of Bellingham employees who were fired for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The employees — which include EMTs, police officers, firefighters, a senior inspector and a wastewater collections supervisor — filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Bellingham and former Mayor Seth Fleetwood in June 2024 over Fleetwood’s 2021 executive order requiring city employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The plaintiffs alleged that the city deprived them of the option to refuse and their rights to due process, equal protection and privacy. They also claimed wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress and requested punitive damages.
The city refuted the allegations, challenging the notion that the COVID-19 vaccine was an “investigational drug” and outlining what the city sees as failures by the other claims to meet legal standards. The district court dismissed the case with prejudice in January 2025, and the plaintiffs filed an appeal the following month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On May 26, two circuit judges upheld the district court’s ruling, dismissing the case.
Robert Kennedy Jr. Pushes New Healthcare Pricing Rules as HHS Says Patients Deserve Clearer Costs: ‘Americans Should Know…’
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized new regulations Monday aimed at making healthcare pricing and coverage information easier to find, compare, and verify. The rules, issued through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in partnership with the Departments of Labor and the Treasury, update the existing Transparency in Coverage requirements, according to a press release.
The final rules reduce duplicative pricing data, add more context around in-network prices, expand out-of-network pricing information, and strengthen accountability for data accuracy. Reporting frequency for pricing information will shift from monthly to quarterly. Group health plans and insurers will also be required to provide consumers with personalized cost-sharing information by phone, in addition to existing online tools.
“Americans should know what their healthcare will cost before they receive it,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He added that President Donald Trump directed the agency to bring real price transparency to healthcare. “These rules give patients clearer, more reliable information to compare costs, understand their coverage, and make informed decisions before they receive care,” said Kennedy Jr.
DC Circuit Grills EPA Over Reclassification of Toxic Chemical Emission Standard
Courthouse News Service reported:
A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday seemed likely to strike down a new set of EPA regulations that allows thousands of industrial polluters to increase emissions of toxic chemicals like mercury and arsenic. The three-judge panel heard extensive arguments brought by a coalition of environmental advocacy groups who assert that the new regulations unraveled standards set by Section 112 of the Clean Air Act by allowing polluters to emit up to 10 tons of one chemical or 25 tons of several per year.
Sanjay Narayan, attorney for the Sierra Club and representing the coalition, argued the new standards — enacted in January 2020 — effectively permitted such facilities to escape “Maximum Achievable Control Technology” standards and increase their toxic pollution. If a polluter emits just 9.9 tons of mercury they still comply with the standards under the EPA’s Reclassification Rule, Narayan said.
“These are substances like mercury, dioxins, arsenic, cyanide substances that are extremely dangerous, even in very, very small quantities, sometimes a pound, sometimes a gram, sometimes less,” Narayan said. “What the rule says is that if a source complies with a MACT standard, compliance brings its emissions below 10 or 25 tons, that major source threshold, then the source can stop complying with the standard, the standard is no longer applicable, and so long as the source remains below that 10-25 ton threshold, MACT does not apply.”
HHS Announces Nearly $3 Million for New Tick-Control Research
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a press release on September 28 announcing nearly $3 million in new federal funding to test innovative approaches to controlling ticks and reducing Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome and other tick-borne illnesses.
The funding, provided through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), will support research at two CDC Centers of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases: the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases and the Midwest Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Disease.
The projects will take a different approach from the personal prevention measures most people are familiar with. Instead of relying solely on repellents, protective clothing and tick checks, researchers will test ways to target ticks while they are feeding on wildlife.
