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Makary Departs FDA Amid Turmoil as Diamantas, Agency’s Top Food Official, Steps In
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary is resigning from his role, according to an administration source familiar with the matter. Kyle Diamantas, the top food regulator at the agency, will step in as acting commissioner. Makary has served in the role for a little over a year.
The White House and spokespeople for Makary and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. A group within HHS was unhappy with Makary’s leadership and had been looking into ways to remove him for months, FDA sources told STAT.
Speculation that Makary would depart intensified on Friday after the Wall Street Journal and others reported that President Trump planned to fire him. HHS officials had started thinking about Makary’s replacement, according to sources familiar.
RFK Jr.: ‘We’re Not Worried’ About Hantavirus Spreading After Cruise Ship Outbreak
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the U.S. has the hantavirus “under control.” During Monday’s press conference in the Oval Office about mental health, a reporter asked President Trump whether he regretted withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) in light of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship that had more than a dozen Americans on board.
Trump maintained he was “glad” to have left the WHO and reiterated his belief that the U.S. was paying too much into the organization. When asked if U.S. health authorities are prepared to take on a potential outbreak of hantavirus in spite of the funding and staffing cuts carried out under Trump’s second term, Kennedy said, “We’ve had CDC teams on it from day one.”
Congress Clutches to Its Junk Food Affinity Despite MAHA Pressure
The MAHA assault on junk food is not catching on in Congress, even as President Donald Trump and his legions of supporters use the populist health movement to take shots at the deep-pocketed industry. In the name of “Make America Healthy Again,” the Trump administration is goading food makers to voluntarily swear off synthetic dyes and forgo marketing to kids. It’s blocking candy and soda from being purchased with federal food assistance in dozens of states, while cutting off SNAP dollars for retailers that don’t stock a wider variety of food than previously required.
But the campaign isn’t resonating on Capitol Hill, where both Republicans and Democrats in recent weeks have continued to side with processed food companies on key votes to rein in the industry — driven by long-entrenched political beliefs and reinforced by a barrage of lobbying cash reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s century-old playbook for controlling policy.
The food and beverage industry has spent a record $113 million in lobbying since Trump returned to office last January, reflecting a more than 30 percent increase from 2024 to 2025.
Mississippi River Groups Tell Feds to Act on Nitrate Contamination
Mississippi River conservation groups are among a broad coalition urging the federal government to take action against nitrate contamination in drinking water, which they say has reached “crisis levels” and is a public health emergency. Nitrate, which forms when nitrogen-rich sources combine with oxygen, has long been found in the country’s surface waters and groundwater, where it can end up in people’s drinking water. Consuming water with elevated levels of nitrate is linked to birth defects, thyroid problems and some cancers.
Agricultural fertilizer and manure are the most common sources of nitrogen to groundwater, with septic systems and lawn fertilizers also contributing. An April analysis from the Environmental Working Group found that about 18% of the U.S. population from 2021 to 2023 used drinking water from community systems with 3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or more of nitrate, the threshold at which the Environmental Protection Agency says indicates contamination.
Advocates say nitrate contamination has struggled to capture public attention but is costly and hazardous to those it affects.
EPA Plan Would Let Work Start on Data Centers, Power Plants Before Air Permits
EPA on Monday proposed allowing data centers, power plants and other industrial facilities to begin certain construction work before obtaining required federal air permits.
The proposal is the latest development in the Trump administration’s effort to juice new manufacturing and other industries, especially artificial intelligence.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the change will cut through red tape to speed up projects. “Today’s proposal works to provide solutions to issues that have held up critical American infrastructure and advance the next great technological forefront,” he said in a statement.
New facilities that qualify as major sources of pollution, or major sources undergoing significant modifications, must go through a permitting process known as New Source Review to ensure their emissions won’t worsen air quality beyond current levels. Industry leaders have long argued NSR permitting is time-consuming and costly.
