As the government shutdown has dragged on for 20 days, President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought have fine-tuned a regimen of pain designed to break the parts of the federal government they see as aligned with Democratic priorities. In particular, they have attempted to implement draconian public health cuts, some of which have been stayed by the…
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For more than three years, I’ve lived with long COVID. The dizziness never leaves. I can’t drive more than half an hour without starting to get nauseous. Any strenuous activity — mental or physical — leaves me with post-exertional malaise that feels like a hangover the next day. I’ve learned to adapt and find gratitude for many things, but life remains an exhausting calculus of rationing…
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This spring, scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency completed a report on the toxicity of a “forever chemical” called PFNA, which is in the drinking water systems serving some 26 million people. The assessment found that PFNA interferes with human development by causing lower birth weights and, based on animal evidence, likely causes damage to the liver and to male reproductive systems…
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Trump and RFK’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) commission has come for us, and public health in the U.S. is already suffering. A closer look at the recent debacle in which the Trump administration baselessly claimed that autism is caused by taking acetaminophen during pregnancy offers a microcosm through which to understand the Trump administration’s larger public health agenda — a…
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The Trump administration has carried out mass layoffs of federal public health officials that experts warn will leave the US dangerously unprepared to handle disease outbreaks. As reported by The New York Times, the layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) carried out on Friday night were deep and wide-ranging, and included employees and leaders “in offices addressing…
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