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HHS Presses Ahead With Effort to Curb Antidepressant Use
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pressing forward with his effort to help Americans stop taking psychiatric drugs, a medical practice known as deprescribing.
Earlier this month, dozens of mental health professionals met with federal health officials to map out forthcoming clinical guidance they hope will help providers instruct patients on how to come off of antidepressant medications.
While the Department of Health and Human Services has discussed plans to hold such a meeting, the outlines of the discussion haven’t been reported. During those talks, they reviewed guidance from European nations and worked on recommendations for nonmedication-based options for patients to address their mental health, such as therapy.
A senior HHS official said they discussed gaps in the research around deprescribing SSRIs, including the side effects a person may experience, which vary depending on the drug and how long the person was on it, and how to recognize the difference between those side effects and a return of a patient’s depressive symptoms.
Trump Officials Accused of Stacking Top Chemical Safety Board With Industry ‘mouthpieces’
The Trump administration has stacked a top chemical safety board with industry-aligned scientists who have a range of financial conflicts of interest and stand to profit from deregulation, public health advocates say. The Environmental Protection Agency’s science advisory committee on chemicals (SACC) is slated to review research for dozens of toxic chemicals during the new members’ terms. At least 13 proposed Trump appointees are probably conflicted on the chemicals that will be reviewed, comments filed with the EPA by a coalition of public health advocacy groups alleges.
Their appointment, critics warn, is designed to provide scientific justification for the EPA’s broader campaign to dismantle the nation’s protections against toxic chemicals.
Among the appointees are Wade Barranco, employed by Lyondell Chemical Company, which in 2024 released nearly 1m pounds of chemicals likely to be reviewed by the SACC during his term, including acetaldehyde, benzene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene and styrene.
Rollins, RFK Jr., Zeldin Agree to New Food Contaminant Rules
The Trump administration’s top officials on food, health and environment rewrote a decades-old agreement on testing meat, poultry and egg products for environmental contaminants like heavy metals and pesticides. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed an updated memorandum of understanding Friday that drops several transparency and notification obligations that had governed how USDA, HHS and EPA share residue information.
“This new MOU modernizes how our agencies work together and streamlines the way we share information, coordinates scientific expertise, and improves how we detect and address potential risks,” Rollins said in a news release.
Under the 1984 MOU, the three agencies agreed to coordinate on litigation, provide testimony and documents on request, and exchange lists of federally inspected establishments, which are no longer included in the updated agreement. The new MOU also includes additional language on information that should remain confidential and “shall be restricted to authorized” employees.
US State Department Tells Americans to Avoid Congo Due to Ebola
The U.S. State Department is telling Americans not to go to Congo for any reason, due to the growing outbreak of Ebola in the central African country. “Do not travel for any reason to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to Ebola, which is a deadly communicable disease,” the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa said on July 11.
“If you travel and are exposed to Ebola, your life may be at serious risk. You may have to quarantine outside the United States at your own expense for up to 21 days and costs may be very significant. Your insurance may not cover these costs.”
The State Department had in June advised Americans not to go to Congo because of crime, unrest, terrorism, kidnapping risk, and health concerns. The new alert underlines the risk of Ebola, a disease that is deadly in a significant number of cases.
