Micah Berman

State of Florida's new mandate for public college Intro Sociology curriculum:

"The following should not be included in any course content...

"Discussions arguing a causal association between institutional sexism and unequal outcomes between men and women"

Indoctrination, not education nor science

Yes, all this and more, including the wonton destruction of CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.

Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren

I fear this is being treated as background noise rather than the 5 alarm emergency it is. Absolutely terrifying.

Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...

💯

I Tried to Be the Government. It Did Not Go Well. My five-month quest to monitor the weather, track inflation, and inspect milk for harmful microorganisms

Spot on, from @petridishes.bsky.social: "For a while...we, as a nation, thought to ourselves: Life is too short for everyone to inspect their own food. Let the government handle this. But then along came the Trump administration to wonder: What if we didn’t?"

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Nearly half of CDC surveillance databases have stopped updating ‘The consequences will be dire,’ former NIAID director Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo warns

ICE observers recording with phones are heroes, and are the reason we know the truth about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

In public health, we make observations by collecting and analyzing data. But RFK Jr. is taking the equivalent of our “phone”. Without data, he can lie with abandon.

So sad that Bill Foege saw the US formally withdraw from the WHO in his final days.

The Fears of the Rich, The Needs of the Poor My Years at the CDC

As relevant as ever —

www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89

A public health icon and a national hero.

William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89 www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

This is, quite literally, our collective duty.

📣 Join us for our next #TobaccoEndgame CRE #Webinar on FDA regulation and nicotine reduction! Prof Micah Berman will present 'Taking the Nicotine Out of Cigarettes: Lessons from the US FDA's Attempt'.
📆02 February
⏰1pm AEST
🔗 tobacco-endgame.centre.uq.edu.au/event/sessio...
@micahberman.bsky.social

Broken Promises to Our Children This year’s report finds, once again, that most states continue to shortchange programs that prevent kids from using tobacco products and help people quit…

New annual tobacco prevention spending report from @tobaccofreekids.bsky.social. www.tobaccofreekids.org/what-we-do/u...

#Ohio now ranked 43rd, spending $6 million on tobacco prevention & cessation annually. This is less than the tobacco industry spends on marketing in Ohio in a WEEK.

Scoop: The leaked protocol of the CDC-funded Hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. “This is another Tuskegee.” The protocol reveals that the trial will withhold the Hepatitis B birth dose from thousands—without placebos, without universal maternal screening, and with endpoints critics call indefensible.

Read the details here. RFK’s Hep B vax “trial” in Guinea-Bissau is not just a Tuskegee-level ethical travesty. It’s also skewed to make the vax (which has been proven to save lives) look unsafe and ineffective. And it funnels money to RFK cronies.

open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

👇🎯💯

US to slash routine vaccine recommendations for children in major change experts say creates doubt Jabs to prevent influenza, rotavirus, RSV and other vaccines are no longer fully recommended

“The goal of this administration is to basically make vaccines optional,” said @pauloffit.bsky.social. “And we’re paying the price.” www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

For her part Machado said on X that the guy who actually won the election — Edmundo González Urrutia — should be the leader

Oh wow — an article about where my family tree overlaps with @stevevladeck.bsky.social’s.

Director of NIH neurological disorders institute is ousted, adding to leadership churn Walter Koroshetz, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, will soon be leaving his role, STAT has learned. His departure

More on the continuing purges at #NIH. Now 13 out of 27 institute directors have been gotten rid of. This is not normal. @jonathanwosen.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/12/27/n...

ugh

It was all so obvious & uninteresting in its clear bad faith & bad intentions, & the willingness of so many senior folks in academia & society to tolerate the clear bad faith & bad intentions over the last 25 years has been incredibly depressing.

All Talc, No Action: Washington Goes Soft on Asbestos Testing The FDA on Nov. 28 withdrew a proposed rule to test talcum powder in cosmetics for traces of asbestos.

This has flown below the radar, but it’s a low-key outrage that Trump’s FDA has withdrawn the rule to regulate asbestos in talc products. It’s the opposite of making America healthy.

www.notus.org/health-scien...

Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.

Praying for his full & speedy recovery.

And so deeply inspired by his example.

Trump Signs Executive Order to Neuter State A.I. Laws

This executive order is a lot of bluster and doublespeak, but the reporting (here and elsewhere) needs to be better.

EOs cannot preempt state laws; EOs can't create new grounds for lawsuits; the funding threats are almost certainly unlawful, etc., etc.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/t...

Do you know an amazing post-doc interested in FDA policy and maybe even with some Delphi experience? Send them our way - we're looking to hire on our new project ASAP!
postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2025-1...

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...