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RFK Jr.’s Health Department Heightens Scrutiny of Vaccines
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taking the first steps toward reshaping how the federal government oversees vaccines. In Kennedy’s first few weeks at the helm, the Health and Human Services Department scuttled meetings of infectious-disease experts and began scrutinizing vaccine contracts.
More changes to the government’s stance on shots are in the works.
Kennedy is collecting names of potential new members to put on a committee that recommends which vaccines Americans should get and when, according to people familiar with the matter.
He is also weighing a new conflict-of-interest policy for the committee that would disqualify some current members, another person familiar with his thinking said.
The moves make clear that Kennedy, a longtime critic of shots, has government immunization practices, programs and personnel in his crosshairs now that he is in charge of U.S. health policy.
Trump’s FDA Pick Made His Name by Bashing the Medical Establishment. Soon He May Be Leading It
Dr. Marty Makary rose to national attention by skewering the medical establishment in books and papers and bashing the federal response to COVID-19 on TV. Now the Johns Hopkins University surgeon and researcher has been nominated to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
The agency — responsible for regulating products ranging from toothpaste to vaccines — is famously understated, issuing carefully worded statements devoid of opinion or scientific speculation. That’s the opposite approach of Makary, whose sweeping rhetoric and biting criticism often veer into hyperbole, according to a review of recent speeches, interviews and podcast appearances by The Associated Press.
Makary has called the U.S. food supply “poison,” says the federal government is the “greatest perpetrator of misinformation” about COVID-19 and regularly suggests that pesticides, fluoride and overuse of antibiotics may be to blame for rising rates of infertility, attention deficit disorder and other health conditions. He’ll appear Thursday before a Senate panel considering his nomination.
Trump’s EPA Moves to Block State Pesticide Labels That Warn of Cancer Risks
President Donald Trump’s environmental regulators are advancing a proposal to block states from warning consumers about herbicides and other agricultural products in their food, according to federal documents reviewed by The Lever. Among the substances that could now go undisclosed is a widely used chemical that some studies have linked to cancer and that Trump’s own health secretary has called a “poison.”
Last month, Trump issued an executive order mandating agencies “fully address the growing health crisis in America.” But the initiative from Republican attorneys general — which would usurp state labeling authority — is now being moved forward by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The measure would declare that any label citing scientific findings not acknowledged by Trump’s EPA would “constitute misbranding.”
The move could be setting up a confrontation with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., head of the Health and Human Services Department. Kennedy helped sue a major agrochemical company for failing to warn consumers of its pesticides’ harmful side effects. In a 2024 op-ed penned days after endorsing Trump for the presidency, Kennedy claimed that pesticides, among other issues, are to blame for widespread health issues afflicting Americans.
He has specifically targeted glyphosate, a widely used herbicide that some studies have called carcinogenic. Trump’s EPA in 2020 said the compound is safe, but a court ruled that the decision “was not supported by substantial evidence.”
Supreme Court Strikes Down EPA Rules on Discharge of Water Pollution
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down rules regulating the discharge of water pollution, narrowing the landmark Clean Water Act in an unusual case that pitted one of the nation’s greenest cities — San Francisco — against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In a 5-4 ruling, the justices found that the EPA cannot impose generic prohibitions against violating water quality standards. The ruling could affect businesses and other cities that sit on bodies of water, including New York, Boston and Washington.
San Francisco sued the EPA after the agency found the city in violation of the terms of a 2019 permit required to discharge pollution from its wastewater system into the Pacific Ocean.
Legendary Former NIH Director Retires From Embattled Agency
Dr. Francis Collins, the legendary former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has retired, NPR has learned.
Collins, who notified the NIH on Friday of his decision, did not specify the reasons for his departure. But his retirement comes as the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research is in turmoil under the Trump administration, facing cutbacks and layoffs.
“I have loved being employed by this extraordinary, life-giving institution for 32 years.” Collins wrote in a statement dated Saturday.
HHS Audit Finds Fraud Scheme May Have Cost Taxpayers $454M
An audit found a fraudulent scheme involving unwanted COVID-19 tests charged to Medicare may have cost taxpayers as much as $454 million, 11 News Investigates has learned. What seemed like a one-off story in May 2023 grew with interviews of hundreds of Maryland residents for more than a dozen stories.
Much has developed since Roger Gossett, of Annapolis, first reached out to 11 News Investigates in 2023 about a COVID-19 test scheme involving his Medicare account, which was charged more than $1,500 for unwanted COVID-19 tests he received in the mail. “It’s obviously fraud because I didn’t ask for it nor did I authorize it,” Gossett told 11 News Investigates in 2023.
Since then, 293 Marylanders contacted 11 News Investigates, saying the same thing happened to them. And, 11 News Investigates tracked involvement from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice as they worked to recoup tens of millions of dollars from companies like Luna Labs and SK Diagnostics.
