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Pediatricians Group Sues Over US FTC Launching Gender-Affirming Care Probe
The American Academy of Pediatrics filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the U.S. Federal Trade Commission of launching an investigation concerning its support of gender-affirming care for transgender youth as part of an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to retaliate against the medical group.
The pediatricians association in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., challenged a demand the FTC made last month that AAP turn over an array of information as part of what the group called an unconstitutional effort to punish it for its support for treating transgender youth. It said the FTC’s document demand is overbroad and was issued to intimidate it in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protections against government abridgment of freedom of speech after earlier disagreements with the Trump administration.
“Unable to prevail in the marketplace of ideas, the FTC has resorted to burdening AAP with an intrusive and expensive investigation that is unconstitutional and outside the scope of the FTC’s statutory authority,” AAP alleged in the lawsuit, which seeks a judicial order blocking the document request as unconstitutional.
NIH Director Bhattacharya to Lead CDC After O’Neill’s Exit
National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will take on leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an acting basis, an administration official not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to STAT. Bhattacharya is taking the role after the previous acting director, Health and Human Services Department Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, exited the department.
Bhattacharya will still run NIH, as well. O’Neill will be nominated to run the National Science Foundation, the administration official said. The New York Times first reported the news. Bhattacharya will be the third leader the public health agency has had since summer.
Susan Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate, led the CDC for 28 days before she was fired by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after she refused to preemptively sign off on vaccine policy. After her ouster, O’Neill became acting director. O’Neill signed off on changes to reduce the number of recommended pediatric vaccines.
RFK Jr. Elevates Top FDA Human Foods Official to HHS Management Team
Food Safety Magazine reported:
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced several appointments to his immediate team managing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Specifically, Chris Klomp, the Director of Medicare and the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will become Chief Counselor at HHS and oversee all operations of the Department.
Additionally, HHS has announced two new Senior Counselors for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Kyle Diamantas, the Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at FDA, and Grace Graham, the Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs at FDA. Each of these individuals will continue to serve in their current roles in addition to serving in Secretary Kennedy’s office.
A White House insider told Politico that the personnel shake-up is designed to advance work on “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda items like phasing out artificial food dyes and implementing dietary guidelines-related changes. Two senior HHS officials, Deputy Secretary Jim O’Niell — who was also named Acting Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) following the termination of Suzan Monarez, M.D. — and General Counsel Mike Stuart, are reportedly leaving their current roles as part of the leadership changes, per Politico.
MAHA Hamstrings EPA Chemicals Regulators
Blowback from MAHA activists has prompted new scrutiny of smaller, less consequential decisions coming out of EPA’s chemical’s office, a reworking that has led to significant delays, multiple sources say. The added reviews stem from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s push to quell criticism from a faction of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” grassroots base upset about pesticide approvals, chemical evaluations and personnel choices.
“Not only are they unable to figure out what to do about MAHA in a way that will feel meaningful to the MAHA people, they are also now failing at the basic, day-to-day processing of pesticide actions that aren’t even on MAHA’s radar in the first place, because they’re just so paralyzed by the whole thing,” said a chemical industry source. Sources have been granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal agency processes.
Zeldin is under political pressure to appease the MAHA base, which gathered thousands of signatures late last year on a petition asking President Donald Trump to remove the administrator over inconsistencies with the MAHA agenda.
Trump Administration Launches New Push to Improve Military Meals
The Trump administration is reportedly launching a new push to improve the quality of food at U.S. military bases after a study found that meals contained poor nutrients and harmful contaminants. The study, commissioned by Moms Across America in partnership with the Children’s Health Defense Military Chapter and Centner Academy, detected pesticides in 100 percent of sampled military meals, including Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs), rations and other cafeteria items.
High levels of heavy metals exceeding safe drinking-water standards, glyphosate and banned veterinary drugs were also found in meals, according to the report.
The organizations said they were “motivated to test military food after learning that China does not feed its military GMOs and Russia does not allow GMOs into its country.”
“Unfortunately, 100 percent of those pesticides are made in China, which is concerning. We also saw 100 percent of them positive for heavy metals, some up to 17 thousand times higher than what the EPA allows in drinking water,” Zen Honeycutt, the founder and executive director of Moms Across America, told “Raising America” in an interview.
