Micah Berman

Every day it's something new. Another terrible precedent in the ongoing politicization of the FDA.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/21/t...

Horrific

There is no difference between Trump destroying the East Wing and using a wrecking ball on the Washington Monument or Smithsonian. Just because he (temporarily) lives there doesn't give him the right to demolish the White House without Congressional approval.

Anti-science bills hit statehouses, attacking longstanding public health protections More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year.

An AP investigation found that more than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses this year, part of a campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law. https://to.pbs.org/43dxCkD

Bay Area city moves to ban sale of tobacco products California already has some of the strictest smoking laws in the country, but this North Bay town will become just the third city — after Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach — to go this far.

"Tiburon could become just the third municipality in the country to ban all sales of tobacco products. The idea originated from a group of high school students in town."
www.ktvu.com/news/tiburon...

Inside FDA, career staffers describe how political pressure is influencing their work Current and former FDA staff said the level of involvement of political officials in nitty-gritty regulatory matters is unprecedented.

Inside FDA, career staffers describe how political pressure is influencing their work www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/f... via @statnews.com

CDC committee votes on COVID-19 shots amid widespread criticism After a contentious discussion that at times referenced discredited theories, low-quality data and desperate pleas from physicians and patients to rely upon sound science, a key committee of the U.S.

“What we’re seeing is what happens when individuals who have don’t have a basic understanding about how vaccines are delivered are making these crucial policy decisions for the American public. They don’t know what they’re doing” -Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of AAP’s Committee on Infectious Diseases

Very well said -- with lessons for other fields as well.

If you believe free speech rights aren't important when the government is moving towards authoritarianism, you never actually believed free speech rights were important.

RFK Jr.’s Crusade Against Vaccines Hits Its Action Phase His anti-vax–stacked advisory committee is expected to revise rules for life-saving hepatitis B vax.

Hepatitis B can lead to cirrhosis, cancer, death

We have reduced its incidence among children by 99% — a huge achievement

Today RFK Jr’s hand-picked vaccine committee could unravel it www.thebulwark.com/p/rfk-jr-ken...

She’s a public health professor by day; a COVID-19 truther by night • Ohio Capital Journal “You can debate methods of dealing with the issue at hand, but to deny there is an issue at hand is just negligence to me."

One of the newly-announced ACIP members...

ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/02/22/s...

The professor has been fired and senior administrators removed from their post. No mention of this in the New York Times, The Free Press, The Atlantic or other outlets who drove the campus speech moral panic.

It should not be up to John Oliver to be publicly making the argument that university presidents should be making loudly & collectively on the news & in front of the US Capitol every day.

OMG

As a lawyer, I'll tell you that there's nobody who knows this law better than Ryan and Brian. Sure looks like murder or war crime to me. But as a human, I'll tell you that the Rubio statement -- we could have stopped the boat but we blew it up to send a message -- is sickening and depraved.

Truly no words to describe how stunningly irresponsible and dangerous this is.

To use or not use private school vouchers — how two Ohio families made that decision • Ohio Capital Journal The Ohio Capital Journal talked to two parents who send their children to private school, one who uses private school vouchers and the other who refuses to use vouchers.

The Ohio Capital Journal talked to two parents who send their children to private school — one who uses school vouchers and the other who refuses to use vouchers.

@ohiocapitaljournal.com bit.ly/3JVzlE1

In his resignation letter, Daskalakis wrote, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponizing of public health.” Houry’s resignation letter spoke about the continued spread of misinformation around vaccines. “Recently, the overstating of risks [of vaccines] and the rise of misinformation have cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of US measles cases in 30 years and the violent attack on our agency,” Houry wrote.

Resignations of CDC staff directly related to misinformation, weaponizing of public health, which is coming from RFK Jr. Untenable situation for them to serve under these conditions.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

Improving the Health of Americans Together: An evidence-based framework for addressing the root causes of illness in the U.S | Defend Public Health As an alternative to HHS Sec. Kennedy's flawed and dishonest "MAHA Report," Defend Public Health offers some key policies that would truly improve Americans’ health. This report is certainly not exhau...

At @defendpublichealth.bsky.social, in anticipation of the next MAHA report, we wrote on what it would actually take to maker Americans healthy. It demands that we examine the root causes of illness, malnutrition, etc. & invest in health-promoting programs. www.defendpublichealth.org/resource/imp...

CDC director tells staff 'misinformation can be dangerous' in agency meeting “We need to rebuild the trust together,” Susan Monarez said Tuesday, just days after a shooter fired close to 200 rounds that struck six buildings and killed an officer at the agency's campus.

Perhaps there is more context, but numerous outlets reporting that CDC Director Monarez told CDC staff that "misinformation can be dangerous" without clarifying WHAT misinformation and WHO is spreading it.

www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

Commentary: RFK Jr.'s cancellation of mRNA vaccine research is even worse than it first seemed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used discredited and misrepresented studies to justify canceling research into life-giving vaccines.

The data package HHS offered to defend Kennedy’s decision is not the work of U.S. government scientists… “The compilation originated as material for a book titled “TOXIC SHOT: Facing the Dangers of the COVID ‘Vaccines’,” an anthology of essays by prominent anti-vaxxers.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

Disgraceful.

Monarez did not provide any additional information about the suspect's motives during the call. However, a briefing some CDC employees received Saturday from senior agency leaders said the gunman left a note, according to one employee who attended. "We were told very clearly that this was targeted, directed at CDC," the employee said. "But we were also told that this was an isolated event." There has been speculation among CDC employees that officials may have known about possible threats. When Monarez was at the CDC this week - her first week on the job - she was accompanied at all times by armed security guards, the employee said.

During Monarez's call with staff Saturday, another CDC senior leader, Daniel Jernigan, who heads the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, or NCEZID, estimated there were about 40 bullet holes in CDC buildings on campus. He did not mean it as a complete account, but rather an indication that "it will take a bit before the buildings are 'fixed' again," said an employee who listened to the call and, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive information. The shooting was "way worse than what was initially reported," the employee said, adding that gunfire continued for about 15 minutes and that "it's a miracle more people weren't hit."

Feel like this needs a spotlight: employees were told that the shooting at CDC, which left an officer dead and buildings riddled with bullets, was targeted at agency, @lenasun.bsky.social, @laurenweberhp.bsky.social and @tobiaraji.bsky.social report

Years of anti-CDC rhetoric has consequences

Textbook democratic erosion. No one fears challenging the government in a functioning liberal democracy.

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

Again, they’re not just canceling this funding going forward but revoking already-awarded grants for things like vaccines against H5N1 bird flu

Big “enlightenment reverts to mythology” hours

Opinion | How Trump's ‘antisemitism’ deal with Brown University actually endangers Jewish students The agreement, the latest between the Trump White House and major universities, raises pertinent issues about who is protected and who is not.

Good piece by @emilyctamkin.bsky.social on the incoherence of the Trump administration's strategy of effectively requiring DEI for Jews and banning it for other minority groups. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

#Ohio -- where the legislature has tried preempt ALL local tobacco regulation -- is unsurprisingly one of the states with the highest number of tobacco lobbyists.

Thanks to @ash.org for their important work compiling this data.

ash.org/tobacco-money/

Exclusive | RFK Jr. to Oust Advisory Panel on Cancer Screenings, HIV Prevention Drugs The task force determines which preventive services insurers must cover at no cost to patients.

The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is a direct threat to public health.

"Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover."

In short, the agreement gives legal form to an extortion scheme _the first of its kind!-that defies the relevant statutes as well as the constitutional separation of powers and the First Amendment.

Fantastic and timely intervention by the indispensable Dave Pozen on the true meaning of the Columbia shakedown for higher ed: replacing the rule of law with regulation by deal, which ultimately undermines both regulation and education.

balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...