Login
RFK Jr. Says Cassidy Accusing Him of Breaking Promises ‘Not True’
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday dismissed criticism from GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.) that he is breaking promises.
Speaking to NewsNation’s Anna Kooiman in Atlantic City, N.J., Kennedy said he met with Cassidy roughly a month ago and told the Louisiana Republican his critiques are untrue.
“I went through every promise that I made to them and I’ve kept them all,” the HHS secretary added, recalling his conversation with Cassidy. “I won’t speculate as to why Senator Cassidy is saying those things. I think anybody can make that speculation. But what he’s saying is not true.”
After Bold Pledge, EPA Shelves Microplastics Testing in U.S. Drinking Water
The Los Angeles Times reported:
For the next five years, the Environmental Protection Agency has indicated it will not require public water utilities to test for microplastics or pharmaceuticals in drinking water, according to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register.
On Friday, the EPA submitted a list of chemicals it plans to test for under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, a mandatory testing program used to collect information about concerning chemicals in drinking water that could be harming human health. It did not include microplastics or pharmaceuticals.
Congress Members Move to Override Supreme Court Ruling on Pesticide Protections
Some US lawmakers are rushing to introduce legislation to reverse the impact of a US Supreme Court ruling handed down last week that overturned years of precedent by limiting consumer lawsuits against pesticide companies. US Rep Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine, and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, on Monday introduced an amendment to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) — the key law for regulating pesticides.
Under their proposed amendment to FIFRA, people who are exposed to pesticides they blame for causing health problems would once again be able to sue companies for failing to warn them of health risks.
The Supreme Court’s decision most immediately benefitted Bayer and Syngenta, global agrochemical companies that are currently facing thousands of lawsuits brought by users of their weed killing products, but other pesticide companies also benefit from the protections provided in the court ruling.
FDA’s Top Gene Therapy Regulator Is Leaving His Role
Vijay Kumar, acting director of the office that reviews cell and gene therapies at the Food and Drug Administration, is stepping down from his role, according to an email obtained by STAT. “After careful reflection, I decided the time has come for me to move on,” Kumar wrote. “I discussed with Center and Agency leadership; we mutually decided not to renew my detail.”
Kumar’s departure follows a broader leadership shake-up inside the agency and a particularly rocky year of turnover in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research where the cell and gene therapy office is housed. CBER Director Vinay Prasad promoted Kumar to director of the Office of Therapeutic Products after pushing former director Nicole Verdun out of the role a little over a year ago. Before that, Kumar was a lead physician in the office.
FDA Allows Philip Morris to Market Zyn as Less Harmful Than Cigarettes
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it would allow Philip Morris to market its Zyn nicotine pouches as less harmful than cigarettes. The agency allowed the company to market 20 variants of Zyn products with the claim that “using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.”
Popular nicotine pouch products had been awaiting the agency’s clearance as scientists hesitated due to potential risks to new users, including children. Tobacco companies have also been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump and other key officials this year for changes they favor, including a faster, clearer FDA authorization process.
The FDA, in its order permitting the sale of the particular flavour variants, said the pouches “would significantly reduce harm and the risk of tobacco-related disease to individual tobacco users and benefit the health of the population as a whole.”
Nicotine pouches, which users insert under their lip to get a nicotine buzz, are the fastest-growing nicotine product in the U.S., with millions of users. Philip Morris alone sold 794 million cans of its current version of Zyn in the country in 2025, more than double its 2023 sales.
Medical Journal Retracts Paper on Amgen’s Tavneos Drug Trial After FDA Findings
The New England Journal of Medicine on Monday retracted an article on a pivotal clinical trial that supported approval of Amgen’s rare-disease drug, citing concerns that patient outcome data were altered and that some researchers had been unblinded.
The journal said two academic authors of the 2021 study requested the retraction, after a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation found results for nine patients were altered and some researchers were told which patients received the drug, Tavneos, and who did not. The changes were not disclosed in the article, said the journal.
An Amgen spokesperson said it “takes scientific integrity seriously and respects the role of journals in upholding the peer review process.”
They said results of a “re-adjudication” of the trial’s results by the Duke Clinical Research Institute “will be shared with the FDA as part of our hearing submission due by July 29 and submitted for publication. TAVNEOS remains on the market in the U.S.”
In April, the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) proposed withdrawing Tavneos’ approval, citing a lack of proven effectiveness and false statements in its original application.
