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Eight years after the March for Science galvanized more than 1 million people globally, scientists will be back in the streets Friday to “Stand Up for Science.” We’ll be there, too, reporting on the gatherings in Boston, NYC and D.C.
Makary plays MAHA soldier but stays mum on FDA policies
Marty Makary, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, testified before the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday. And, well, it was a snoozer, especially compared to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s contentious hearings.
The Johns Hopkins pancreatic surgeon played the Make America Healthy Again movement’s greatest hits — radical transparency, ending childhood chronic disease — but offered little more than lip service when faced with the few tough questions he received.
Makary affirmed that “vaccines save lives” when asked about the Texas measles outbreak, but like Kennedy, he did not recommend them for the current outbreak. And he merely pledged to review the data on whether it’s safe to prescribe mifepristone remotely.
Perhaps the only topic about which Makary felt heat was the recent layoffs of FDA employees, some of whom were later rehired. He emphasized that he wasn’t involved with those decisions, though he pledged to personally assess FDA staffing levels.
The almost two-hour hearing did not paint a clear picture of what type of commissioner Makary will be or how he will earn the trust of an FDA workforce embattled by layoffs and ripe for a staff exodus. He is expected to easily secure Senate confirmation.
You can find the full rundown of the hearing through STAT’s liveblog.
NIH employees who recently worked in Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office placed on leave
Seven employees at the National Institutes of Health who formerly worked at the agency’s Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office were suddenly put on administrative leave Tuesday without warning or explanation, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.
In December, the employees were reassigned to other offices within the NIH in advance of the second Trump administration, which was expected to dismantle the office. It’s unclear why employees who were previously part of an office that functionally no longer exists would be put on administrative leave.
The moves are in line with the administration’s stated objectives to withdraw federal support for what it calls “gender ideology.” Federal agencies have been swift to adopt this directive. The CDC recently confirmed it will no longer process transgender identity data, and the NIH has terminated some ongoing grant funding for research focused on LGBTQ+ populations. Read more from Theresa Gaffney.
Americans love Medicaid
Republicans have been searching for a politically palatable method of cutting billions from Medicaid to offset potential tax cuts. But Americans don’t want Medicaid cuts — not even President Trump’s voters.
A KFF poll released Friday found that over 80% of respondents want funding to the federal health program to either remain stable or increase. More than half said either they or a family member had personal experience with Medicaid.
One of the potential options for cuts include work requirements. Nearly 60% of adults are in favor of adding work requirements to Medicaid, though that figure drops precipitously when people polled were informed that most enrollees already work and many people would lose coverage.
The poll spells trouble for Republicans, who have promised to not cut Medicaid, targeting instead the program’s “waste, fraud and abuse.” But health policy experts remain skeptical that Republicans can find enough chaff.
Involuntary treatment is flawed, biased
A polarizing New York policy to treat people with mental illness is ineffective and racially biased, according to a report released Wednesday from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
The report alleges that, more than 25 years after Kendra’s Law was introduced — giving courts the power to mandate treatment if a person has a history of hospitalization or violence — the results have not merited the loss of bodily autonomy. Black and Hispanic populations have been disproportionately enrolled over white people since the program’s inception, and it is unclear whether it performs better than peer support or peer-led mental health crisis response teams. Another recent report raised similar concerns.
New York has been a trendsetter with Kendra’s Law. Almost every state now has an involuntary commitment policy on its books. New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeks to expand the populations eligible for it, too.
“We all have a right to control our bodies and our health care,” said Madison Pinckney, a legal fellow in NYLPI’s Disability Justice Program. “You’re stripping [people] of those rights.”
In news that’s likely to irk the anti-seed oil demographic, a new study suggests that swapping plant-based oils for butter may help people live longer, healthier lives.
That finding might sound intuitive. But it’s noteworthy in the context of the Make America Healthy Again movement’s suspicions about vegetable oils as a contributor to chronic disease. And previous research on different types of dietary fats had yielded mixed results on the association between butter and mortality, and tended to focus mainly on olive oil in the plant-based oils category.
This study, published Thursday in JAMA Internal Medicine, followed 221,054 adults over more than 30 years, with participants responding to regular questionnaires about which fats they ate and how much. Among the study’s most important takeaways: Substituting just 10 grams (less than a tablespoon) of butter a day with plant-based oils like canola oil, soybean oil, and olive oil could lower risk of death by 17%. Read more from me about the study. — Sarah Todd
Patient advocates urge HHS to preserve public input
It’s officially been one week since I noticed RFK Jr. was taking back a little-known waiver, the Richardson Waiver. In doing so, he moved to cut the public out of much of his agency’s decisionmaking process. In the days since, I have reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for clarification on the change, but I haven’t heard back. Now, patient groups and lawmakers are pushing back on the move, and the private sector is bracing itself for the potential impacts.
A coalition of nearly two dozen patient advocacy groups — including Susan G. Komen, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the National Organization for Rare Disorders, among others — made public a letter asking HHS to revoke its decision. And in the private sector, advisers and attorneys are telling their clients to prepare for a wide spectrum of possibilities under the new policy. Read more in my story. — Isabella Cueto
What we’re reading
The R-word is back. But why?, NPR
Inside the scientific quest to reverse human aging, Washington Post
All the ways Trump wants to exclude trans people from public life, The 19th
Why this year’s flu season is the worst in more than a decade, Scientific American
New Mexico adult dies with measles, though cause of death isn’t yet confirmed, STAT