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Kennedy Blasts Critics of Trump’s Surgeon General Nominee: ‘Terrified of Change’
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday issued an unrelenting defense of President Trump’s surgeon general nominee, Casey Means, who has faced an onslaught of criticism since the president tapped her for the influential government post late Wednesday.
In a post on the social platform X on Thursday, Kennedy chastised her critics — which have included some high-profile conservative influencers including Laura Loomer, who called the pick “honestly insane” and suggested Trump did not make the decision himself.
“The absurd attacks on Casey Means reveal just how far off course our healthcare conversations have veered, and how badly entrenched interests — including Big Food and its industry-funded social media gurus — are terrified of change,” Kennedy wrote in his post on X.
Kennedy touted Means’s credentials, noting she was the president of her undergraduate class at Stanford University, a “standout” at Stanford Medical School and “a top performer” in surgical residency, which “she had the courage to leave” because she “realized her patients weren’t getting better.”
FDA Approves, Expands 3 Natural Food Colors After HHS Plan to Remove Artificial Dyes
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved on Friday additional color additives from natural sources in line with the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) goal to eliminate artificial food dyes. The agency approved two dyes and expanded approval of a third, meaning it can now be used in a wider range of food products.
“Today we take a major step to Make America Healthy Again,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “For too long, our food system has relied on synthetic, petroleum-based dyes that offer no nutritional value and pose unnecessary health risks. We’re removing these dyes and approving safe, natural alternatives — to protect families and support healthier choices.”
The approved additives include Galdieria extract blue, which is derived from algae; butterfly pea flower extract from the butterfly pea flower; and calcium phosphate, a natural compound containing calcium and phosphorus.
Reynolds Receives USDA Waiver to Launch New Summer Feeding Program, ‘Healthy Kids Iowa’
The Des Moines Register reported:
President Donald Trump’s administration has granted a waiver for Iowa to opt out of the federal government’s summer feeding program and launch its own program to serve low-income kids during the summer months.
Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, announced May 7 that Iowa has received federal approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to launch a pilot program called “Healthy Kids Iowa” that will allow families to access $40 worth of food per child each month during June, July and August.
Families may choose from a selection of foods offered at distribution sites around the state, which will be chosen in partnership with Feeding America food banks.
U.S. Taxpayers Have No Idea How Many Animals Are Used in Government-Funded Labs. A New Federal Bill Would Change That.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reported:
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers has introduced legislation that would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to begin accurately counting the number of animals used and held in hundreds of government-funded laboratories. The Federal Animal Research Accountability Act (HR 3295), led by Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Don Davis (D-N.C.), and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) addresses what advocates say is a serious lack of transparency by the U.S. government.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit medical ethics group supporting this legislation, points out that the European Union, U.K., and Canada all collect and disclose to the public detailed information about the number of animals used in experiments. In comparison, the NIH, which annually awards about $20 billion worth of grants involving animals to more than 800 facilities, currently collects only crude estimates every four years. In addition, the estimates are only accessible through monthslong Freedom of Information Act requests.
“It’s time to bring government-funded animal experiments out of the shadows,” said Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy at the Physicians Committee. “The NIH says it is committed to reducing the number of animals in research, so we hope it will support this bill. We are grateful to Reps. Malliotakis, Davis, and Kiggans for leading this important effort.”
Trump Team Faces Key Legal Decision That Could Put Mental Health Parity in Peril
The Trump administration must soon make a decision that will affect millions of Americans’ ability to access and afford mental health and addiction care.
The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce mental health parity — the idea that insurers must cover mental illness and addiction treatment comparably to physical treatments for ailments such as cancer or high blood pressure.
Although a federal parity law has been on the books since 2008, the regulations in question were issued last September. They represent the latest development in a nearly two-decade push by advocates, regulators, and lawmakers to ensure insurance plans cover mental health care equitably to physical health care.
Within the dense 166-page final rule, two provisions have garnered particular attention: first, that insurers provide “meaningful benefits” — as defined by independent medical standards — for covered mental health conditions if they do so for physical conditions. For example, if insurers cover screening and insulin treatment for diabetes, then they can’t cover screening alone for opioid addiction; they must also cover medications to treat opioid use disorder.
FDA Plans to Increase Surprise Inspections at Companies Outside of the US
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it plans to expand unannounced inspections at foreign sites that produce food, essential medicines, and other medical products for American consumers. The agency said it wants to ensure that foreign companies receive the same level of oversight as companies within the U.S.
“With this shift, the FDA is further ensuring that every product entering the U.S. is safe, legitimate, and honestly made. Unannounced inspections will also help expose bad actors — those who falsify records or conceal violations — before they can put American lives at risk,” the FDA said in its announcement.
The regulating agency conducts an estimated 3,000 foreign inspections each year in more than 90 countries, but those foreign entities receive a warning in advance and often have weeks to prepare for the inspections — which the FDA said undermines the inspection process.
Trump Administration to Stop US Research on Space Pollution, in Boon to Elon Musk
The Trump administration is poised to kill federal research into pollution from satellites and rockets, including some caused by Elon Musk’s space companies, raising new conflict-of-interest questions about the billionaire SpaceX and Starlink owner.
The pollution appears to be accumulating in the stratosphere at alarming levels. Some fear it could destroy the ozone layer, potentially expose some people to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation or help further destabilize the Earth’s climate during the climate crisis.
The two research projects would have had the potential to eventually lead to new regulations, costs or logistical challenges for Musk’s companies and the commercial space industry, experts say.
They were part of the office of atmospheric research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which the Trump administration is now proposing to kill. The administration says it is “eliminating the federal government’s support of woke ideology”, but critics say it is protecting a prolific donor and political ally.
