Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · Aug 5

“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”

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.

www.cbsnews.com

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Paul Offit @pauloffit.bsky.social · Jul 15

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

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

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KFF @kff.org · Jul 11

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

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.

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Brian Leas @brianleas.bsky.social · Jul 2

INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST AHRQ

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Jun 16

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...

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

www.science.org

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Prof Gavin Yamey @gavinyamey.bsky.social · Jun 12

‼️ 🚨🔔 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.”

Mallory Harris, PhD @malar0ne.bsky.social · Jun 12

Martin Kulldorff - "one of the new vaccine advisers picked by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has earned thousands of dollars as an expert witness in litigation against Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, court records show."

www.yahoo.com/news/exclusi...

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Jun 4

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

h/t @melaniemitchell.bsky.social

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

Diabolus Ex Machina

This Is Not An Essay

amandaguinzburg.substack.com

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STAT @statnews.com · May 28

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

Race doesn’t affect the onset or progression of disease — racial bias does

Confounding race with genetics causes doctors to miss treatable ailments.

buff.ly

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Darius Tahir @dariustahir.bsky.social · May 16

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

Sarah Karlin-Smith @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social · May 16

Rep. Jake Auchincloss worries current admin is going to try to turn our pharma industry into one big GNC store... that punishes the real innovators, he says at FDLI.

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · Apr 30

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

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.

arstechnica.com

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · Apr 23

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 👨‍🍳💋

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · Apr 22

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...

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”

www.science.org

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STAT @statnews.com · Apr 16

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

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.

buff.ly

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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · Apr 1

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.

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,

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · Mar 31

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

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · Mar 28

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.

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Mar 27

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.

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Mar 27

“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.

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.

www.wsj.com

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Michael L. Barnett @mlbarnett.bsky.social · Mar 27

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...

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Sarah Karlin-Smith @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social · Mar 27

“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...

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”

www.statnews.com

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Brian Leas @brianleas.bsky.social · Mar 27

They're saving Wakefield to run ACIP.

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Mar 26

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...