Ben & Jerry's co-founder arrested after US Capitol Gaza protest
Ben Cohen of the famous ice cream company was one of seven people said to have been arrested at a committee hearing on Wednesday while US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr was speaking, US news outlets are reporting.
Advertisement
Kennedy came under fire during the hearing from lawmakers who said he has made false statements over vaccine testing and safety since taking the nation's top health job.
Some protesters shouting opposition to Kennedy's positions were dragged out by police, including Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
"You're killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here," shouted Cohen, who had attended a pro-Palestine event with Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib earlier on Wednesday, referring to Medicaid cuts proposed in the Republican spending bill and US support for Israel's war in Gaza.
Afterwards, Cohen tweeted out a video of the incident, saying: "I told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US.
Advertisement
"This was the authorities' response."
The committee hearing was Kennedy's first appearance in the US Congress since his confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary in February, facing questions over everything from his mass layoffs at federal health agencies to his handling of a worsening US measles outbreak.
Some of the most heated exchanges centered on his remarks on vaccines. Kennedy has for years sown doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, but pledged to maintain the country's existing vaccine standards to secure his appointment in the Trump administration.
Republican US Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana who helped pave the way for Kennedy's confirmation, corrected the secretary's assertion that the Covid-19 vaccine is the only shot tested against a placebo in clinical trials.
Advertisement
"The Secretary said no vaccines, except for Covid, have been evaluated against placebo. For the record, that's not true," said Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's, was detained by police. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty
"Coronavirus, measles, and HPV vaccines have been, and some vaccines are tested against previous versions, just for the record," said Cassidy, who chairs the Senate HELP Committee.
Democratic Senator Christopher Murphy of Connecticut said Kennedy had not lived up to his commitment to Cassidy and the committee during his confirmation hearing.
"As soon as you were sworn in, you announced new standards for vaccine approvals that you proudly referred to in your own press release as a radical departure from current practice, and experts say that departure will delay approvals," said Murphy.
Advertisement
"You also said, specific to the measles vaccine, that you support the measles vaccine, but you have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine," Murphy said. "You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly... and said that the measles vaccine was never properly tested for safety. You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine."
"All true," Kennedy shouted back as Murphy listed his comments. "I'm not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know that there's issues," he said.
The measles vaccine has been shown to be safe and highly effective at preventing infection and does not contain fetal debris.
Kennedy has drawn condemnation from health officials for what they say is a weak endorsement of measles shots during an outbreak that has infected more than 1,000, mostly unvaccinated, people and killed three.
Advertisement
Audience members at the HELP hearing wore stickers saying "When Bobby lies, children die," and "anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America" in reference to Kennedy's vaccine views.
'Up to me'
Kennedy has said his top priorities as health secretary include identifying the environmental contributors to autism and tackling rising rates of chronic disease.
He has vowed to remake the nation's health agencies, including cutting 10,000 jobs at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
Wednesday's Senate hearing and one before a House Appropriations subcommittee earlier in the day were meant to review Kennedy's health-related spending plans under president Donald Trump's budget proposal, including an $18 billion cut to NIH funding and $3.6 billion from the CDC.
Democrats and other critics have portrayed the cuts as a gutting of the country's public health infrastructure. Kennedy told the Appropriations Committee they would save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year and make the department more efficient.
"Our reductions have focused on aligning HHS staffing levels to reflect the size of HHS prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw around a 15 per cent increase in the number of employees," Kennedy said in his opening statement to the House subcommittee.
World
'No way' Israel will halt war in Gaza until Hamas...
Read More
The cuts and firings were his decision, not edicts from Elon Musk, Kennedy said when asked about the billionaire Trump ally's involvement. Musk is leading the DOGE initiative to cut government funding and reshape the federal bureaucracy.
"Elon Musk gave us help in trying and figuring out where there was fraud and abuse in the department," Kennedy testified. "But it was up to me to make the decision, and there are many instances where I pushed back."
Kennedy said he was willing to work with Democrats on lowering prescription drug prices in response to a question from Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who votes with Democrats.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing drugmakers to lower their prices to align with what other countries pay that analysts and legal experts said would be difficult to implement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Top medical body concerned over RFK Jr's reported plans to cut preventive health panel
A top US medical body has expressed 'deep concern' to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures including cancer screenings should be covered by insurance companies. The letter from the the American Medical Association comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Kennedy plans to overhaul the 40-year old US Preventive Services Task Force because he regards them as too 'woke', according to sources familiar with the matter. During his second term, Donald Trump has frequently raged against organizations and government departments that he considers too liberal – often without any evidence. The US president, and his cabinet members such as Kennedy, have also overseen huge cuts and job losses across the US government. The taskforce is made up of a 16-member panel appointed by health and human services secretaries to serve four-year terms. In addition to cancer screenings, the taskforce issues recommendations for a variety of other screenings including osteoporosis, intimate partner violence, HIV prevention, as well as depression in children. Writing in its letter to Kennedy on Sunday, the AMA defended the panel, saying: 'As you know, USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians' efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services.' 'As such, we urge you to retain the previously appointed members of the USPSTF and commit to the long-standing process of regular meetings to ensure their important work can be continued without disruption,' it added. Citing Kennedy's own slogan of 'Making America healthy again,' the AMA went on to say: 'USPSTF members have been selected through an open, public nomination process and are nationally recognized experts in primary care, prevention and evidence-based medicine. They serve on a volunteer basis, dedicating their time to help reduce disease and improve the health of all Americans – a mission well-aligned with the Make America Healthy Again initiative.' According to the Affordable Care Act, public and private insurance companies must cover any services recommended by the Preventive Services Task Force without cost sharing. In a statement to MedPage Today, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon did not confirm the reports, instead saying: 'No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS' mandate to Make America Healthy Again.' Reports of Kennedy's alleged decision to overhaul the taskforce come after the American Conservative published an essay earlier this month that described the taskforce as advocating for 'leftwing ideological orthodoxy'. It went on to accuse the panel of being 'packed with Biden administration appointees devoted to the ideological capture of medicine', warning that the 'continued occupation of an important advisory body in HHS – one that has the capacity to force private health insurers to cover services and procedures – by leftwing activists would be a grave oversight by the Trump administration'. In response to the essay, 104 health organizations, including the American Medical Association, issued a separate letter to multiple congressional health committees in which they urged the committees to 'protect the integrity' of the taskforce. 'The loss of trustworthiness in the rigorous and nonpartisan work of the Task Force would devastate patients, hospital systems, and payers as misinformation creates barriers to accessing lifesaving and cost effective care,' the organizations said. In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel of vaccine experts. Writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he accused the committee of having too many conflicts of interest. Kennedy's decision to overhaul the immunization panel was met with widespread criticism from health experts, with the American Public Health Association executive director Georges Benjamin calling the ouster 'a coup'. 'It's not how democracies work. It's not good for the health of the nation,' Benjamin said.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
I'm one of the increasing number of young people to have a stroke and was paralyzed at 19... how I made a comeback
Sophia Gedgaudas was just 19 years old when she suffered a life-changing stroke and was given a 15 percent chance of survival. In 2019, Gedgaudas had moved from Kenosha, Wisconsin, to San Francisco to become a pilot with dreams of also joining an NFL team as a cheerleader. However, on February 5, two days after the Super Bowl, Gedgaudas and her family were at her home when she suffered a stroke. According to Gedgaudas's mother Lily, her parents found her laying on the ground completely paralyzed with her mouth drooping. Gedgaudas told 'My entire family had flown in to watch the game and spend the week together.' The aspiring pilot was immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors told her that she had suffered a stroke due to extremely high cholesterol from a hereditary condition known as high lipoprotein (a). Lipoproteins are protein molecules that transport fat in the body, including cholesterol and triglycerides. Elevated levels of these can pose a risk to cardiovascular health. High Lipoprotein (a) is a genetic condition that creates a new form of cholesterol in the body that is similar to LDL (bad) cholesterol but has an additional protein. This new kind of cholesterol causes a buildup of plaque in arteries, triggering inflammation and increased blood clotting, ultimately hindering blood flow to the heart. As a result, people with this condition have a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes - even if they take precautionary measures such as eating health and not smoking. About one in five Americans, or around 64 million people, suffer from high lipoprotein(a). In Gedgaudas's case, her condition created a blood clot in her brain that resulted in a stroke. According to the CDC, about 800,000 Americans experience a stroke each year while an estimated 138,000 Americans die from it. While usually associated with older populations, recent data indicates a concerning increase in stroke rates among individuals aged between 18 and 44. About 120,000 Americans under the age of 50 and 1.5 million young adults worldwide suffer a stroke each year. Sedentary lifestyles, poor diet, substance abuse (including smoking and excessive alcohol consumption), and stress are increasingly recognized as major contributors to stroke in young adults. She told the website: 'It was a complete shock. I've been an athlete my entire life—a state champion gymnast, a black belt in karate, and a competitive dancer and cheerleader. No one ever expected someone like me to have high cholesterol. 'But because of my genetics, my lipoprotein(a) level raised my cholesterol to dangerous levels and that's ultimately what caused my stroke. 'At the time, I was completely paralyzed and could only respond with one word: "yeah." That's all I could say.' Gedgaudas's doctors initially prescribed her a tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) - a medication used to treat heart attacks by dissolving blood clots. However, due to the large size of the clot, the medication failed to work and she was forced to undergo a thrombectomy, a procedure where doctors insert a catheter into an artery through the groin to remove the clot. But while doctors were able to successfully remove the life-threatening clot, she was left partially deaf as the stroke damaged parts of her brain responsible for hearing. The intensive surgery combined with the paralysis she suffered left Gedgaudas struggling to recover for three years, relearning how to walk, talk, eat and read. During this time, she watched numerous wrestling matches and decided she wanted to pursue the sport rather than becoming a pilot and cheerleader. The now 25-year-old said: 'My dad would sit with me in the ICU and put wrestling on the TV. My mom says the first time I smiled after the stroke was while watching wrestling. 'Later, my brother took me to a live show, and after we left, I said, "That's what I'm going to do." 'There were days I didn't want to get out of bed. I was angry, I was depressed. But watching wrestling made me believe I could do something again. It gave me hope and purpose.' Once being given the green light by her entire medical team in 2022, she began training to be a professional wrestler. In 2023, she made her debut and quickly became a standout. Now, Gedgaudas is the reigning women's champion at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky - where wrestling legends John Cena, Dave Batista, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton started their road to stardom. She told 'Being part of OVW means everything to me. There's so much history here and amazing wrestlers that have come through, and I want to be one of the names. I want to show people a disability shouldn't stop anyone from reaching the top.' Gedgaudas continued: 'For a long time, I was embarrassed that I was partially deaf. I saw it as a weakness and didn't want anyone to think I was limited. But over time, I realized it's just part of who I am - and there's nothing to be ashamed of. 'Now, I embrace it. I've learned to adapt in ways that work for me. I've gotten good at reading lips, and in the ring, I naturally turn my good ear toward the sound so I can hear what I need to. Most importantly, I stay super focused. 'By staying locked in, I'm able to catch cues and respond without missing a beat. It's not always easy, but I've found ways to make it work - and even turn it into a strength. 'I have to read matches differently, and I rely on instincts and body language. It forces me to be completely in the moment, and I think it makes me a better performer.' To stay healthy and prevent another stroke, Gedgaudas workouts and follows a special diet comprised of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins including chicken and fish. For the future, Gedgaudas has global ambitions and hopes to one day wrestle internationally. But for now, her mission is personal. 'I want to wrestle in the UK, Japan, anywhere. But more than that, I want to keep helping people.
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
Israel-Hamas war: 'Vast amounts of aid needed to stave off catastrophic health crisis in Gaza,' UN warns
Israel has agreed to support a "one-week scale-up of aid" in Gaza - but the United Nations has warned more action is needed to "stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis". UN aid chief Tom Fletcher made the remarks as Israel began limited pauses in fighting across three areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day to address the worsening humanitarian situation. Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza's population from the start of March. It then reopened aid centres with new restrictions in May, but said the supply had to be controlled to prevent it from being stolen by Hamas militants. On Saturday, reports referencing US government data said there was no evidence Hamas had stolen aid from UN agencies. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have led to widespread criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza, including by allies who are calling for an end to the war. Mr Fletcher said one in three people in Gaza "hasn't eaten for days" and "children are wasting away". He added: "We welcome Israel's decision to support a one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys. "Some movement restrictions appear to have been eased today, with initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads were collected. "This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis. Across the UN agencies and humanitarian community, we are mobilised to save as many lives as we can." The Israel Defence Forces said yesterday that it is halting military operations in Muwasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza City daily from 10am to 8pm local time (8am to 6pm UK time) until further notice. Combat operations have continued outside of this 10-hour window. Health officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 41 Palestinians overnight into Sunday morning, including 26 seeking aid. In a statement, the IDF said it would also establish secure routes to help the UN and aid agencies deliver food and other supplies. Israel's announcement of what it calls a "tactical pause" in fighting comes after it resumed airdrops of aid into Gaza. While the IDF reiterated claims there is "no starvation" in the territory, it said the airdrops would include "seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food to be provided by international organisations". Palestinian sources confirmed that aid had begun dropping in northern parts of the territory. Sabreen Hasson, a Palestinian mother who travelled to an aid point near the Zikim crossing to collect supplies, said: "I came to get flour for my children because they have not tasted flour for more than a week, and thank God, God provided me with a kilo of rice with difficulty." But Samira Yahda, who was in Zawaida in central Gaza, said: "We saw the planes, but we didn't see what they dropped... they said trucks would pass, but we didn't see the trucks." Another Palestinian told the AP news agency that some people feared going out and having a box of aid fall on their children. 1:19 Gaza is expected to be a focus during talks Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump in Scotland today. Downing Street said Sir Keir will raise "what more can be done to secure the ceasefire [in the Middle East] urgently", during the meeting at the US president's Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire. Reports also suggest the prime minister is planning to interrupt the summer recess and recall his cabinet to discuss the crisis on Tuesday. Talks in Qatar over a ceasefire ended on Thursday after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams. 2:02 Mr Trump blamed Hamas for the collapse of negotiations as he left the US for Scotland, saying the militant group "didn't want to make a deal... they want to die". Meanwhile the exiled head of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al Hayya, has warned ceasefire negotiations with Israel were "meaningless under continued blockade and starvation". In a recorded speech, he added: "The immediate and dignified delivery of food and medicine to our people is the only serious and genuine indication of whether continuing the negotiations is worthwhile." 0:51 During a meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, Mr Trump emphasised the importance of securing the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza. He said: "They don't want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision. 1:17 "I know what I'd do, but I don't think it's appropriate that I say it. But Israel is going to have to make a decision," he said. Mr Trump also repeated claims, without evidence, that Hamas was stealing food coming into Gaza and selling it.
