Latest news with #U.S.PublicHealthService
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Measles resurgence highlights the toll of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine policies
After the U.S. surpassed 1,000 reported measles cases nationwide, it's clear the Trump administration is failing to protect our health and well-being. The measles outbreak in Texas is now the largest since 2000, when the country eliminated measles. And it's not yet over, threatening to make measles endemic in America again, where the risk of infection comes from within our country. Furthermore, two unvaccinated school-aged children in Texas died from measles, the first American children to die from the viral infection since 2003. Normally, a preventable infection causing avoidable deaths of children would lead to prompt government action. In 1991, I was a medical student with the U.S. Public Health Service in Philadelphia during a large measles outbreak. Over 1,000 people were infected, and nine children died. Government and public health leaders required home visits of infected children, mass immunization, education efforts and even court-mandated vaccinations. The outbreak was stopped. In Dec. 2014, a measles outbreak began at Disneyland and spread in communities with low vaccination rates. Public health action stopped this large outbreak at 125 cases. To prevent further outbreaks in California, I authored Senate Bill 277, which eliminated non-medical exemptions for school vaccines. And with further U.S. measles outbreaks in 2019, I authored Senate Bill 276 to crack down on fraudulent medical exemptions. These laws — championed by California parents demanding safe schools for children — raised statewide vaccination rates and shielded our communities. As Congress waits, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is dismantling decades of public health achievement that will make America sicker. Kennedy reduced vaccine outreach, removed key public health officials, spread disinformation from his official post and suppressed data while elevating conspiracy theorists to top positions. Kennedy and the Department of Government Efficiency fired a quarter of Health and Human Services staff, gutting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health teams vital to outbreak response. He installed anti-vaccine extremists as advisors, including David Grier, a discredited researcher disciplined for unethical experiments on children with autism, to 'research' if vaccines cause autism, despite decades of research debunking this myth. The CDC has been muzzled: An analysis showing high rates of measles in low vaccination areas was suppressed, and dozens of Texas vaccination clinics were forced to close. When Kennedy dismantled the CDC's communication team, his former anti-vaccine organization, Children's Health Defense, filled the void with disinformation by publishing a fake CDC-branded vaccine 'safety' website that falsely linked vaccines to autism. The site mimicked official CDC design and branding, deliberately misleading the public. After news reports exposed the deception and forced the site's removal, no federal action has been taken to investigate or prosecute this unlawful impersonation of a federal agency. Furthermore, Dr. Peter Marks, the nation's top vaccine regulator who led President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, refused a demand for false data on brain swelling and death caused by the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine, of which there are no credible cases. Kennedy forced him to resign. In his resignation letter, Marks wrote, 'it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.' And what of the dead children from measles? Kennedy dismissed the first measles death, saying 'it's not unusual.' He blamed measles on poor nutrition, called vaccines a 'personal choice' that could cause 'adverse events' and claimed Vitamin A and cod liver oil treated measles. Subsequently, many Texas children hospitalized with measles also had Vitamin A toxicity. At his first Congressional hearing, Kennedy testified, 'I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.' He then refused to answer whether he would vaccinate a child against polio. As Health and Human Services secretary, he cravenly refuses to save Americans in a public health crisis. How many children must get sick — and even die — before Congress demands that Kennedy and the Trump administration answer for these preventable deaths and the continued spread of a preventable disease? This flu season, as flu vaccination declined, 226 children died from influenza — the highest since the 2009-10 pandemic. Other preventable and deadly diseases, including polio and whooping cough, will also return when vaccination is hampered and discouraged. Our state has made progress in raising vaccination rates, but we are not immune to Kennedy's dangerous vaccine disinformation; California has communities with enough unvaccinated people to fuel a serious outbreak. Measles outbreaks in other states makes it imperative that California strengthen our public health defenses against sparks of infection. And California needs Congress to hold President Donald Trump and Kennedy accountable for not stopping preventable disease in America. Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician and former California state senator who authored landmark legislation to eliminate non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements in response to major measles outbreaks.
Gulf Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Global Tobacco Use Is Steadily Declining
More than 60 years ago, on January 11, 1964, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, Luther L. Terry, M.D., published the first comprehensive report on the effects of smoking on health. A committee was appointed to review and evaluate existing research on the topic in order to 'reach some definitive conclusions on the relationship between smoking and health in general.' And, as Statista's Felix Richter reports, while it may seem absurd from today's point of view that the adverse effects of smoking were ever in doubt, 60 years ago the 'tobacco-health controversy' was exactly that: a controversy. After consulting more than 7,000 articles about the relationship between smoking and disease, the committee did come to a definite conclusion, however, making its report 'Smoking and Health' a landmark study in the fight against smoking. ' On the basis of prolonged study and evaluation of many lines of converging evidence, the Committee makes the following judgement: Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action. ' (Smoking and Health, 1964) The report found that smoking is a cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men, a probable cause of lung cancer in women, the most important cause of chronic bronchitis and a contributing factor to cardiovascular diseases, resulting in a higher death rate from coronary artery disease among male cigarette smokers. After its release, it dominated newspaper headlines for days and was later ranked among the top news stories of 1964. And while some tobacco control measures, such as warning labels on cigarette packs, were implemented promptly, cigarette sales in the U.S. continued to rise until the early 1980s, which is when they peaked at more than 630 billion cigarettes per year. Over the past four decades, measures to discourage smoking and protect the public from second-hand smoke have become more and more strict and wide-ranging, resulting in falling tobacco use prevalence in the United States and large parts of the world. Looking at the U.S., the CDC considers the antismoking campaign a 'public health success with few parallels in history', as it achieved its goal despite 'the addictive nature of tobacco and the powerful economic forces promoting its use.' According to WHO estimates, 21.7 percent of all people aged 15 and older used tobacco in 2020, down from 32.7 percent at the turn of the millennium. As the cvhart above nicely illustrates, the tobacco use rate is highest among 45- to 54-year-olds at 27.5 percent, while it's just 13.8 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds and 13.5 percent among those aged 85 and older.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pictures: Memorial Day 2025
Scenes from Memorial Day weekend 2025, including at the the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — U.S. Army infantry veteran Duane Hunt gets a happy greeting from Jora, a therapy dog from Orlando International Airport's Paw Pilots program during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Hunt served three years in Vietnam. Jora comes to Orlando from the Wyoming-based Alliance of Therapy Dogs — a international registry of certified therapy dog teams — that supports airports, hospitals, schools and assisted-living facilities. Jora's handler is volunteer Elena Hoelscher. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Members of the U.S. Public Health Service present a wreath at the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Members of the U.S. Public Health Service salute while presenting a wreath at the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Ruben Martin from American Legion Post 331 Honor Guard stands at attention during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Members of the U.S. Public Health Service salute while presenting a wreath at the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Veteran Ruben Martin from American Legion Post 331 Honor Guard carries the American flag during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Members of the U.S. Public Health Service salute during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Chaplain David Coggins holds an American flag during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — U.S. Army infantry veteran Duane Hunt gets a happy greeting from Jora, a therapy dog from Orlando International Airport's Paw Pilots program during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Hunt served three years in Vietnam. Jora comes to Orlando from the Wyoming-based Alliance of Therapy Dogs —a international registry of certified therapy dog teams— that supports airports, hospitals, schools and assisted-living facilities. Jora's handler is volunteer Elena Hoelscher. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — From left, Julie Lushetsky, Kasey Borders and Tim Gifford, of VFW Post 2093, perform during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Congressman Max Frost delivers remarks during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — U.S. Army infantry veteran Duane Hunt speaks to Congressman Max Frost during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Hunt served three years in Vietnam. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) HONORING VETERANS — Keynote speaker Cindy Van Bibber, director of the Cape Canaveral National Cemetary, delivers remarks during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Opening on Memorial Day weekend, fireworks launch over the new Universal Epic theme park, Wednesday. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Opening on Memorial Day weekend, fireworks launch over the new Universal Epic theme park, Wednesday. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Show Caption1 of 16HONORING VETERANS — U.S. Army infantry veteran Duane Hunt, left, watches as members of the U.S. Public Health Service present a wreath during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, Friday, May 23, 2025. Hunt served three years in Vietnam. Military leaders and elected officials gathered at the VA for the ceremony with several hundred veterans to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)Expand
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion: Tooth be told — should fluoridated water be a thing of the past?
The practice of adding small amounts of fluoride to community water sources started in the U.S. in 1945 and — according to the CDC — since then has been a 'cornerstone strategy for preventing cavities.' The CDC estimates that fluoridated water reduces the cavity burden by up to 25%, thus being a cost-effective way to improve oral health regardless of socioeconomic status. Oral health has changed substantially since the 1940s with the increased availability of dental care and fluoridated dental hygiene products, like toothpaste. However, these resources are not always available to people of low socioeconomic status, and adding fluoride to water can make a significant difference in their oral health. The benefits of fluoridated drinking water are well known, but there are concerns about potentially harmful effects. The U.S. Public Health Service and World Health Organization (WHO) recommend 0.7 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L, respectively, as the safe limit for fluoride in drinking water. The WHO does state that fluoride levels above 1.5 mg in community water increases risk of dental and skeletal fluorosis — mottling/discoloration of teeth and bone deformities, respectively. The WHO has stated that they have encountered no new evidence since they reviewed their guidelines in 1993 to suggest they need to revisit this guideline number. In 2016, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) conducted a meta-analysis of studies across the world looking at the association of neurocognitive development and fluoride and 'concluded, with moderate confidence, that higher levels of fluoride exposure, such as drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, are associated with lower IQ in children.' It is important to note that this study looked at overall fluoride levels in individuals as opposed to drinking water. The overall levels of fluoride in the body have more to do with environmental exposure. Therefore, communities should be able to appropriately add fluoride to community water to improve public oral health. While this has been an ongoing public debate, it has made headlines recently with the start of the Trump administration as the new U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is an outspoken anti-fluoridation advocate. Utah became the first state to ban fluoridation of drinking water on March 27, 2025, although anti-fluoridation bills have been submitted in North Dakota, Tennessee and Montana. Utah Governor Spencer Cox has not publicly stated his view on the health concerns surrounding water fluoridation but instead states that there has not been 'drastically different outcomes' in Utah between those who drink fluoridated water and those who do not. The individuals who stand to lose the most from unfluoridated water are those who cannot afford dental checkups or fluoridated dental products. In 2011, Calgary City, Canada, took fluoride out of their drinking water and saw negative effects in real time. City Councilman Gian-Carlo Carra spoke about his experience both removing and reinstating the fluoridation and admitted to not really knowing what fluoridation did for public health, only that his voters wanted it removed from the water. He went on to say, 'What we know (now) is that the rate of dental (cavities) has increased significantly more than … before (fluoride was removed).' Carra stated the removal was to save on the city budget, but it has been a complex process to get this system reinstated. They initially started the movement to refluoridate water in 2021 but are still working on getting it included in the city budget in 2025. Calgary is a clear example of what happens when community water is defluoridated. Acting without fully understanding the impact of the removal, the city of Calgary has realized the consequences of their actions and are spending more money to get it back. This could become a public health crisis in the U.S. for the exact same reasons. Fluoridation of water has come under fire primarily for concerns about its effect on child neurocognitive development, with concerns being largely founded on studies examining overall fluoride levels in a patient accumulating from their overall environmental exposure. Utah was the first state to ban the fluoridation of water, but it is imperative that we stop this movement as soon as possible to avoid the well-known adverse health outcomes.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
HHS Lays Off All Full-Time Cruise Ship Health Inspectors Amid Illness Outbreaks: Report
A federal team tasked with preventing, investigating and responding to public health illnesses on cruise ships has reportedly been dramatically slashed amid budgetary cuts by the Department of Health and Human Services. All full-time employees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) have been laid off, leaving just 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers left to handle current and future ship inspections, CBS News reported Thursday citing multiple officials. According to the CDC's website, every vessel that has a foreign itinerary and carries 13 or more passengers is subject to these random inspections at least twice a year to ensure they are operating with and maintaining public health standards. Nearly 200 of these inspections were carried out last year, according to online records. There have been 12 illness outbreaks on cruise ships so far this year, the vast majority of which were norovirus outbreaks. Some VSP inspectors were responding to two of these outbreaks when they were laid off, according to CBS News' report. An HHS official reached for comment Friday told HuffPost that the VSP's 'work has not stopped' despite the cuts and that the team is now primarily staffed by the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, or USPHS Commissioned Corps, 'who were not subject to the reduction in force.' The VSP 'continues to monitor and assist with gastrointestinal outbreaks and track and report these illnesses,' a spokesperson said. The HHS did not respond to questions about the total number of VSP employees laid off, the number of USPHS commissioned officers left handling the VSP's work, or on the amount of money the cuts save. Though some of the VSP's funding comes from the CDC's overall budget, ship owners also pay a fee to cover the costs of the ship inspections. Last September, the CDC announced an increase in these fees, reasoning that more inspectors were needed due to increasing ship sizes and more complex features. In addition to these inspections, the VSP reviews ship design and construction plans for compliance with public health standards. It monitors data on illnesses and investigates and responds to outbreaks. It also trains cruise ship leaders, staff and designers on public health practices, and collects evidence to support environmental public health practices on cruise ships, according to the CDC's website. The job cuts follow HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announcing late last month that approximately 10,000 full-time employees within his department would be laid off in a bid to save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to reduce government spending. He partially reversed this decision days later, while announcing the rehiring of thousands of workers who he said 'should not have been cut.' He claimed this 'was always the plan,' however. Last month, the CDC also asked about 180 fired employees to come back to work after they were laid off amid Trump's sweeping cost-cutting efforts. RFK Jr. Says We'll Soon Know What's Fueling The Autism Epidemic. His Prediction Is Wild. RFK Jr. Says He Plans To Tell CDC To Stop Recommending Fluoride In Drinking Water RFK Jr. Kinda-Sorta Pushes MMR Vaccine As Second Child Dies From Measles RFK Jr. Says He's Rehiring Thousands Of People He Mistakenly Fired
