CDC virus expert resigns after RFK Jr.'s purge of vaccine advisers
A senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who oversaw respiratory virus surveillance has resigned and raised concerns about the future of vaccine policy as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upends the agency's long-standing approach to immunization.
Fiona Havers, a physician considered a senior subject-matter expert on respiratory diseases and vaccines, led the CDC's surveillance of hospitalizations for coronavirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus that is the leading cause of hospitalizations in infants.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
15 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Nina Kuscsik, pioneer in long-distance running and first woman to win the Boston Marathon, has died
BOSTON (AP) — Nina Kuscsik, who campaigned for women's inclusion in long-distance running and then won the Boston Marathon the first year that they were officially allowed to enter into the race, has died. She was 86. An obituary for the A.L. Jacobsen Funeral Home in Huntington Station, New York, said Kuscsik died June 8 of respiratory failure after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. 'Nina was more than a pioneer, determined women's running advocate, and celebrated icon within the sport. To us, she was a friend who will always be remembered for her kindness, joyful laugh and smile,' the Boston Athletic Association said on Instagram. 'Nina held the distinct honor of winning the 1972 Boston Marathon, and recognized the platform that came with that triumphant moment, inspiring thousands of women to reach their own goals and finish lines in the decades since. The BAA extends heartfelt condolences to Nina's family, friends, and all in the running community who were touched by her grace.' According to the obituary, Kuscsik graduated from high school at 16, studied nursing for two years and received her license at 18 after petitioning to change a New York law that required nurses to be 21. She won state championships in speed skating, roller skating and cycling – all in the same year -- before turning to running when her bicycle broke. She ran the Boston Marathon four times from 1968-71 — before women were officially welcomed, a period retroactively recognized as the Pioneer Era — and then won the first official women's race in 1972. She was also the first woman to enter the New York race, in 1970, and was one of the 'Six who Sat' – six women who refused to start the '72 New York City Marathon for 10 minutes to protest an Amateur Athletic Union rule that the women's race had to be separate from the men's. She won that year and the next year as well. She later served on AAU and USA Track and Field committees drafting rules for women's running. Kathrine Switzer, who entered the 1971 Boston Marathon using her initials and became the first woman to official compete, called Kuscsik 'one of our greatest leaders.' 'Nina was not only a champion runner, but was instrumental in the official acceptance of women and distance running because she did years of tough work of changing rules, regulations and submitting medical evidence to prove women's capability,' said Switzer, who started alongside Kuscsik and six other women who met the qualifying time for the the 1972 Boston race. 'Eight of us registered, eight of us showed up, and all eight of us finished,' she said. 'It was a stunning moment — and a blistering hot day — but appropriately enough, Nina won.' In addition to the more than 80 marathons she ran over her lifetime, Kuscsik set the American record for the 50-mile run in 1977 and won the Empire State Building Run-Up three straight years from 1979–81. She was inducted into the Long Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1999. ___ AP sports:
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Texas startup sells plastic-eating fungi diapers to tackle landfill waste
By Evan Garcia AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -Could baby poop and fungi work together to tackle landfill waste? That's the idea behind a new product launched by an Austin, Texas-based startup that sells disposable diapers paired with fungi intended to break down the plastic. Each of Hiro Technologies' MycoDigestible Diapers comes with a packet of fungi to be added to the dirty diaper before it is thrown in the trash. After a week or two, the fungi are activated by moisture from feces, urine and the environment to begin the process of biodegradation. Disposable diapers contribute significantly to landfill waste. An estimated 4 million tons of diapers were disposed of in the United States in 2018, with no significant recycling or composting, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Diapers take hundreds of years to naturally break down. That means the very first disposable diaper ever used is still in a landfill somewhere. To tackle this, Hiro Technologies turned to fungi. These organisms - which include mushrooms, molds, yeasts and mildew - derive nutrients from decomposing organic matter. In 2011, Yale University researchers discovered a type of fungus in Ecuador that can feed on polyurethane, a common polymer in plastic products. They figured the fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, would be capable of surviving on plastic in environments lacking oxygen, like landfills. Hiro Technologies co-founder Tero Isokauppila, a Finnish entrepreneur who also founded medicinal mushroom company Four Sigmatic, said there are more than 100 species of fungi now known to break down plastics. "Many, many moons ago, fungi evolved to break down trees, especially this hard-to-break-down compound in trees called lignin. ... Its carbon backbone is very similar to the carbon backbone of plastics because essentially they're made out of the same thing," Isokauppila said. Three sealed jars at Hiro Technologies' lab show the stages of decomposition of a treated diaper over time. By nine months, the product appears as black soil - "just digested plastic and essentially earth," Isokauppila said. The company says it needs to do more research to find out how the product will decompose in real-world conditions in different climates and hopes to have the data to make a "consumer-facing claim" by next year. It also plans to experiment with plastic-eating fungi on adult diapers, feminine care products and other items. For now, it is selling "diaper bundles" for $35 a week online. Co-founder Miki Agrawal, who was also behind period underwear company Thinx, said the MycoDigestible Diapers had been generating excitement from consumers and investors since launching about a month ago, declining to give details. Agrawal said the company had chosen to focus on diapers as the top household plastic waste item. "There is a deleterious lasting effect that we haven't really thought about and considered," Agrawal said. "Because when you throw something away, no one's asking themselves, 'Where's away?'"
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
This airborne toxin was discovered in the US for the first time
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. A new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder included a shocking revelation. According to this new paper, published in ACS Environmental Au, researchers detected an unexpected airborne toxin in US air for the first time. The toxins in question are known as Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs). These toxins are considered toxic organic pollutants, and this is the first time they've been discovered in the air in the Western Hemisphere. The reason these toxins are considered organic is because they tend to be found around wastewater. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 As a result, these airborne toxins can end up being released when wastewater is removed from liquid in a treatment plant. It can also end up in biosolid fertilizer, which is likely the reason that the researchers detected it, as they were set up near fields that utilize the fertilizer to help grow its crops. The researchers say they can't guarantee that is where the toxins came from. However, they believe that it is a reasonable explanation for why the MCCPs are ending up in the air. Because as the 'sewage sludges,' which is how the researchers referred to the biosolid fertilizers, are spread across the fields, the toxins could very easily be released into the air. The smaller cousins of these airborne toxins, known as Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs), are currently policed by the Stockholm Convention, and the EPA in the United States since 2009, though it's unclear how much longer the EPA will continue to police these types of toxins following massive changes under the Trump administration. The toxins are known to travel long distances and remain in the atmosphere for long periods of time, making them harmful to human health. The researchers believe that by regulating the SCCPs, though, we may have inadvertently increased the amount of MCCPs in the environment. It is currently just a hypothesis, but the researchers note that regulating one thing often ends up with another product filling that space, as the item is still needed in products where it was useful. The researchers detailed their findings in the new study, highlighting that they measured the air near the fields 24 hours a day for one month. They found that there were new patterns that looked different from the standard chemical compounds found in the fertilizer. With some additional research, they discovered they were airborne toxins known as chlorinated paraffins. MCCPs are similar in makeup to PFAS, which are often known as 'forever chemicals' because of how long they take to break down. Now that researchers have measured MCCPs in the wild, it's time to dig deeper and see just how widespread the toxins have spread, and whether or not the concentration within the air changes each season. The researchers say that despite identifying them and knowing they exist, we still don't know much about what MCCPs do when in the atmosphere, or even how they might affect human health long-term. More research will be needed to figure out just how dangerous these airborne toxins are. More Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free See the
