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HHS Autism Panel Considers Shift From Genetics, Sparking Alarm
A recently overhauled federal advisory panel is set to consider a shift of resources for autism policy on Thursday, on the heels of the Trump administration’s renewed focus on an unproven link between vaccines and autism. The Health and Human Services Department’s Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee will meet for the second time this year after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced the body’s 21 public members in January.
The panel, composed of representatives from HHS, other agencies and public members, plans to vote on a new strategic plan that received hundreds of comments criticizing the limited four-day comment period. Multiple groups expressed concerns the draft proposal — produced after a single IACC meeting with no discussion of the plan itself — could run afoul of Federal Advisory Committee Act requirements.
A recently overhauled federal advisory panel is set to consider a shift of resources for autism policy on Thursday, on the heels of the Trump administration’s renewed focus on an unproven link between vaccines and autism.
MAHA Moms Take On Coal
The Make America Healthy Again movement has taken on many issues over the past few years: pesticides, processed foods, vaccines. Now it has another target, and it’s one that President Trump likes to promote: coal.
In a letter sent to Trump and several other members of the administration last week, a group of nearly 200 MAHA activists said they were concerned that the data center boom was leading to an increase in the burning of coal.
In April of 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at reviving the coal industry, which has struggled in the face of cheaper forms of energy, including gas and renewables. As part of the push, his administration directed federal agencies to explore whether coal plants could power artificial intelligence data centers. More than a year after that order, the MAHA letter-writers said they were concerned that the administration’s enthusiasm for coal could have adverse health consequences.
E.P.A. Moves to Curb Public Input on Data Centers
The Trump administration is moving to make it harder for communities to weigh in on proposed data centers, even as a backlash against the behemoth projects grows across the country.
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate a federal requirement that states publicize and solicit public input on applications for air pollution permits for a range of industrial facilities, including new data centers and the power plants needed to run them.
The move could prevent residents from raising concerns about — or even learning about — data centers before permits are approved and construction starts. Nearly 200 advocacy groups and more than a dozen states have voiced opposition to the change, making it the latest flashpoint in the national debate over the data centers powering the artificial intelligence boom.
HHS Plans New FDA Deputy Commissioner Roles for Technology and Drugs, Sources Say
The Department of Health and Human Services is planning to create two new deputy commissioner roles at the Food and Drug Administration, one of which would focus on technology and the intersection of health and artificial intelligence, CNBC has learned.
The other new position is for a deputy commissioner for drugs, according to two sources familiar with the plan. The agency already has several deputy commissioners, including an acting deputy commissioner for food, though it is unclear who will step into that role permanently.
HHS officials would appoint the new leaders in what some in the Trump administration view as a bid to exert greater influence over the agency, according to the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
No final decisions or formal announcements about the new roles have been made, the sources said.
Leaked Memo Shows How U.S. Aims to Weaken Global Limits on Plastic Production
The United States has doubled down on its opposition to plastic production limits in global treaty talks, according to a diplomatic memo reviewed by The Washington Post, pushing to create a broad loophole to disregard the treaty on national security grounds.
A year after the Trump administration worked with other major oil-producing nations to block strict plastic pollution limits, leading to a failed U.N. conference in Geneva, environmentalists and other observers argue this same group is helping steer negotiations toward a weaker agreement.
Involving delegates from nearly 180 countries, the talks have reached a critical point after four years. Global plastic pollution has ballooned to more than 57 million tons per year, and a coalition of dozens of countries — including most members of the European Union and many from Africa and Latin America — say this waste will become overwhelming unless the world imposes meaningful restrictions soon.
