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White House Issues Warning Over U.S. Fertility Rate
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a White House press briefing that the declining U.S. fertility rate is a “national security threat” and warned it is not high enough to ensure the American population remains stable.
Kennedy was speaking to the press after President Donald Trump announced his administration had struck a new deal to reduce the costs of fertility medication.
“Secretary Kennedy is sounding the alarm on a public health issue others are too timid, or too politically cautious, to confront,” a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told Newsweek.
Fertility rates have become a global concern, and the Trump administration has made it a key focal point of its policies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, U.S. fertility hit a new low in 2024, after steadily decreasing over the last decade.
FDA Stayed Silent as Internal Reports About Potential Tylenol Risks Piled Up
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defied the advice of its own drug safety experts to warn pregnant women about Tylenol for nearly a decade, internal reports and presentations obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation reveal. FDA rank-and-file scientists repeatedly recommended the agency release information about Tylenol in pregnancy across three scientific reviews conducted in 2016, 2019, 2022 and two memos, one from the FDA’s maternal health division in 2016 and one from the FDA’s urological health division in 2017.
The scientific literature posits many plausible drivers of autism, the most well-established of which are genetic, and the FDA drug safety experts acknowledged that the research linking the condition to Tylenol is far from ironclad. Still, as alarm bells rang within FDA headquarters and the boardrooms of Tylenol’s manufacturers, pregnant women heard nothing from either the government or the manufacturers about the potential risks until the September announcement by President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
FDA leadership declined to update its webpage about over-the-counter painkillers in pregnancy, repeatedly falling back on language first issued in January 2015. But that statement simply acknowledged that “FDA is aware of concerns” about Tylenol and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD) citing just one scientific paper.
Next Steps in Vax Fight
Gov. Ron Desantis has so far released a short-yet-far-reaching list of priorities for his final legislative session as governor. But a key part of the list — ending vaccine mandates — wasn’t an area of discussion during the last two weeks the Legislature spent in Tallahassee. Republican leaders haven’t said whether they’re ready to comply with the governor’s request, and a dozen rank-and-file members told Playbook they haven’t gotten insight into what the Legislature will do.
No lawmaker has introduced a bill to do away with the vaccine mandates. And while some members are onboard with DeSantis’ proposal, many Republicans have also told Playbook they’re uncomfortable with the change or unsure where their constituents stand. But that doesn’t mean Democrats are ready to let the issue die off, and they’re already reporting they’ve heard a lot about it from constituents.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) led a town hall about the issue in her district Monday evening that included a panel with medical experts. At the start of the event, she shared that her uncle, who grew up in Iran, died due to complications from polio at an early age because the vaccines weren’t available to him. Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly predicted to Playbook that vaccines would be a “real issue in this race” and said he’d soon announce a list of public health advisers to his campaign. DeSantis has said he wants families to decide whether to vaccinate their children, rather than force them to do it in order to go to school or other public places.
Trump EPA Seeks to Weaken Scrutiny for Some of U.S.’s Most Toxic Chemicals
A new rule proposed by the Trump administration would dramatically weaken safety reviews for some of the nation’s most toxic chemicals that are already on the market, public health advocates and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee warn. Many of the chemicals that would receive less scrutiny are among the nation’s most dangerous substances, including PFAS, formaldehyde, asbestos and dioxins. Each poses serious health risks in consumer goods, or for workers handling the substances, advocates say.
If implemented, the new rule would shorten the time it takes to review chemicals, and alter the methodology used to assess their dangers. It would also prohibit states from banning or restricting dangerous chemicals, and could invalidate hundreds of state-level protections. “This is a gift to industry wrapped on golden wrapping paper with a big bow on it,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA scientist now with the Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility non-profit.
