Brian Leas

Florida officials warn about risks of drinking raw milk after 21 people sickened Florida health officials say 21 people, including six children, were sickened by E. coli and campylobacter bacteria linked to raw milk, and seven were hospitalized.

“The Florida Department of Health is warning about the risks of drinking raw, unpasteurized milk after 21 people, including six children under the age of 10, were sickened by E. coli and campylobacter bacteria linked to raw milk from the same farm. Seven people have been hospitalized”

Mercury Rising A CDC Advisory Committee just made the same mistake it did 25 years ago. And it’s only the beginning.

open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi...
The CDC just made the same mistake they made 25 years ago.

Bar chart from KFF titled 'More Than Four in Ten Undocumented Immigrants Say They Use a Community Health Center as Their Usual Source of Care'. It shows the percentage of immigrant adults using various healthcare facilities in the U.S. Categories include Private Doctor's Office, Clinic or Community Health Center, Some Other Place, and Does Not Have a Usual Place/Emergency room. Data is broken down for total immigrant adults, naturalized citizens, lawfully present immigrants, and likely undocumented immigrants.

HHS has expanded the list of public benefits — including community health centers — that several groups of immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, will be ineligible for.

KFF polling shows these centers are a key source of care for many immigrants: on.kff.org/4kECc0Z

INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST AHRQ

The members of RFK Jr.’s new vaccine committee have published little on vaccines Purge at immunization panel represents a major loss of expertise, as measured by scientific papers

An analysis comparing the number of scientific papers on vaccines published by recently fired #ACIP members to those published by the 8 people Sec. Kennedy chose to replace them shows a stark difference in depth of expertise in the field. www.science.org/content/arti...

‼️ 🚨🔔 WOW. Martin Kulldorff, who RFK Jr picked to be on ACIP, has been making $$$$ testifying against the HPV vaccine (he lost the case in NC). This is a HUGE conflict of interest. ACIP rules BAN being “a paid litigation consultant or expert witness in litigation involving a vaccine manufacturer.”

Diabolus Ex Machina This Is Not An Essay

Possibly the best thing I've read about ChatGPT yet.

h/t @melaniemitchell.bsky.social

amandaguinzburg.substack.com/p/diabolus-e...

Race doesn’t affect the onset or progression of disease — racial bias does Confounding race with genetics causes doctors to miss treatable ailments.

Confounding race with genetics causes doctors to miss treatable ailments. buff.ly/d1Iqvum

Lot of supplements folks in the admin. My report from earlier in the year: kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory In his 2021 book vilifying Anthony Fauci, RFK Jr. lays out support for an alternate theory.

RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory. arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

The line about white men who "continue to enjoy the presumption of expertise even when they are far outside their depth" in responding to a white, male business school faculty member writing about topics far afield from his area of expertise is just 👨‍🍳💋

Trump administration targets academic journals with attorney letter, proposed funding cuts Budget plan would kill two CDC journals, while U.S. prosecutor accuses some nongovernmental publications of being “partisans”

Anyway, this is bullshit. It’s using intimidation to derail a merit-based process & exert political control over scientific findings, partly because some butthurt contrarians had papers rejected.

Journals must fight back against scientific censorship.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Leaked budget document outlines how Kennedy may cut up HHS to build new AHA An internal budget proposal gives the clearest sense yet of how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would build his new Administration for a Healthy America.

An internal budget proposal gives the clearest sense yet of how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would build his new Administration for a Healthy America.

Copy of RIF email. I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action. Please find attached a notice memorandum explaining the RIF and next steps. This RIF action does not reflect directly on your service, performance, or conduct. It is being taken solely for the reasons stated in the memorandum. After you receive this notice, you will be placed on administrative leave and will no longer have building access beginning Tuesday, April 1, unless directed otherwise by your leadership. Additionally, please save this email and its attachments, or forward them to a personal email address, for your records. Leadership at HHS appreciates your service Sincerely,

These HHS RIFs are reckless and cruel. In a typical RIF, employees aren’t locked out immediately—they stay to wrap up work and ensure a smooth transition. Instead, this admin abruptly shut everyone out, creating chaos that harms both workers and the people they serve.

In a sign that the professoriate is fighting back against the machines,* apparently the Georgetown bookstore is running low on blue books.**

* i.e., AI chatbots

** the kind students hand-write exams in, not the legal citation guide

Maybe it seems that this is something that I shouldn’t even say, but science is a process, and you have to keep an open mind, always. Your hypothesis might be wrong, as much as you may wish otherwise. As the incomparable @joho.bsky.social wrote, “policy-based evidence making” is not the way.

Control procurement, HR, and IT and they control the money, the people, and the computer systems — the systems that allow NIH to run.

If you’re a scientist in the US it’s time to speak up now. This seems innocuous but it’s devastating for American science. They’re trying to slip this through.

Exclusive | RFK Jr. Plans 10,000 Job Cuts in Major Restructuring of Health Department The changes would reshape the nation’s health agencies and close regional offices.

“Key to the reorganization is a plan to centralize the department’s communications, procurement, human resources, information technology and policy planning”

No no no. We must resist this.

This plan consolidates authoritarian power at the top. It will give Trump easy control.

RFK is planning to merge ASPE and AHRQ into one "Office of Strategy" at HHS. Unlikely to be good news for AHRQ's research mission.

from @wsj.com

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

On NIH director’s first day, the agency tackles one of his priorities — ending ‘censorship’ in science On Jay Bhattacharya's first day as NIH director, the agency directed staff to identify contracts related to “fighting misinformation or disinformation”

“This notion of conflating censorship with basic education and basic public health is very frightening, and very dangerous.” -Carl Bergstrom, a biologist at the University of Washington.

www.statnews.com/2025/03/26/n...

They're saving Wakefield to run ACIP.

Vaccine critic’s apparent selection to head HHS autism study shocks experts The apparent choice of a major player in the anti-vaccine community to conduct an HHS study on autism has shocked vaccine experts.

Even in 2025, some things still shock. Like the apparent selection of a long-time vaccine opponent who was disciplined & fined for practicing medicine without a license to conduct a new HHS study into whether there's a link between vaccines and autism.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/26/r...

Maybe DHS should take it over given their sudden interest in everyone's ancestry

White House considers shutting down 9 CDC expert panels What could that potentially mean for our health?

Ideology rules. Expertise is out. Hail Lysenko. drrubin.substack.com/p/white-hous...

RFK Jr. Falsely Claims Measles Vax Causes Deaths 'Every Year' Vaccine expert debunks recent statements from nation's top health official

RFK Jr. Falsely Claims Measles Vax Causes Deaths 'Every Year' - experts debunk it. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...

This is the small but mighty agency that funds my research. Destroying it will be a huge loss for our health care system.

Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) have been doing the work to inform clinical guidelines, decisions by CMS, FDA and others since 1997. EPCs developed *the* reports on Making Healthcare Safer. EPCs and AHRQ are at risk. #AHRQSavesLives No #MAHA without #AHRQ

Don’t wait out four hard years: speak truth to power The importance of diversity in science is an unshakeable reality that the scientific community must stand by.

“Yet, far from acting in courageous defiance, many scientists and administrators now seem to think that the best response to the war on DEI is to keep their heads low and wait out four hard years.”

Hell yes, Art Caplan. More courageous defiance, less quiet cowardice.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

At Little-Known Health Agency, DOGE Ends Dream ‘To Make A Difference’ When DOGE slashes jobs at agencies like AHRQ and low-profile jobs like the patient safety work of Heather Sherman, it endangers the health of the American public.

www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Excited for Purim tomorrow night, recalling that time when the richest man on earth (a petty, vindictive megalomaniac obsessed with fatherhood and conspiracy theories) paid obscene money to buy the throne from an abusive, unstable insomniac addicted to flattery and immigrant beauty queens