Good video by @kateschweitzer.bsky.social, who I spoke with about the safety, efficacy, and regulatory gray area of IV hydration spas.

CSPI President @drpeterlurie.bsky.social spoke to @jama.com about the new trend of IV hydration spas and the concern about the risks of this growing markets that slips between the cracks of state and federal regulation and has the potential for significant adverse effects 👇

Tune in now to @the1a.org on NPR to hear me speak about RFK, Jr., supplement regulations, and more 👇

My latest in JAMA with @gostin.bsky.social. While the MAHA Commission’s goal of reducing chronic diseases is vital, its proposals are weak and unproven.

💬 Viewpoint: The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission’s strategy to address chronic diseases in children relies on weak, voluntary, and unsupported initiatives while neglecting proven, evidence-based public health interventions. ja.ma/4nXOPXr

As I say to @owermohle.bsky.social here, Means is monumentally unqualified for the job as Surgeon General. Even if she were qualified on paper, Means has taken some breathtakingly misinformed positions on matters of public health, including on birth control pills, raw milk, and the causes of autism.

RFK has mounted a full assault on @CDCgov-- slashing funding & staff, & and turned the agency into a political tool that can no longer be fully trusted on public health recommendations, especially vaccines. Out today in JAMA Health Forum Peter Lurie CSPI jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The CDC is being severely weakened by the Trump administration, and with tightening political control, public trust in the CDC is diminishing. Read my latest in @jamahealthforum.com with colleague Larry Gostin.

America's strip malls and Main Streets are filling up with these "hydration spas," with little evidence that they have any health benefits as well as little regulation at the state/federal level.

Like the previous report, this should not be taken seriously as science. But as a political document, we have not seen the last of it.

Secretary Kennedy is right that conflict of interest is an important issue, but he is wrong that it is present at substantial levels on HHS vaccine advisory committees.

At RFK, Jr.'s disastrous hearing yesterday, Senator Bill Cassidy cited a study co-authored by CSPI president @drpeterlurie.bsky.social and USC's @profgenkanter.bsky.social regarding conflicts of interest. Is RFK, Jr. right when he says that 97% of members of vaccine panels had conflicts of interest?

Secretary Kennedy has chosen to foist his own personal pet theories onto the whole country with his reckless campaign to undermine vaccines and public trust in them. Read my statement on the news coming out of the CDC 👇

Nobody would put these panels forward as representing the general scientific opinion.

CSPI President @drpeterlurie.bsky.social appeared on CNN yesterday to discuss RFK Jr.'s stunning decision to pull $500 million in funding away from development of mRNA vaccines - a decision that will have far-reaching impacts beyond just vaccines for COVID. Video source: CNN

The job of Surgeon General of the United States is not an entry-level position.

RFK, Jr. continues the trend of plucking new hires from unscientific spaces and placing them in positions where they can spread their fringe ideas on a national scale. So-called medical journals like the "Journal of the Academy of Public Health" are the canary in the coal mine here.

“Restoring Gold Standard Science” is a move from the same toolbox as RFK, Jr.’s “radical transparency.” That is to say, it will do the exact opposite of what it says it will do. Excellent piece from @drdavidmichaels.bsky.social and Wendy Wagner.

Just four months into his role as secretary, RFK, Jr. has already cast doubt on established science, fired staff across HHS, slashed funding for research, and pursued fringe health policies while showing no signs of producing and following scientific evidence that would improve the public's health.

The FDA routinely allows substances to remain in foods long after evidence of harm emerges, but the Food Chemical Reassessment Act would ensure the FDA completes those evaluations in a timely manner and begins with chemicals that already have evidence of harm.

More sleight of hand on “radical transparency” at HHS. FDA today published complete response letters for 200 drugs, citing my research when I was at FDA. But they are only disclosing the CRLs for drugs that were subsequently approved – and these are already available on the FDA website. (1/2)

Usually these overrides are meant to be less restrictive, making a product available when reviewers are more cautious. It's hard not to think that antipathy towards COVID vaccines is playing a large role in this override.

The MAHA Report is rightly concerned about industry-funded research, but ceding ground to industry won’t help. It’s self-evident that cutbacks in federal funding will leave the field open to the very corporate funding RFK Jr. has decried.

The NIH grant terminations were arbitrary and capricious, and have now been ruled unlawful. Judge Young’s ruling thankfully starts researchers getting back to work delivering progress on cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, HIV, and other health challenges facing our diverse population.

RFK: Let's question Pharma drugs, which have actual evidence, and open the market to experimental therapies sometimes made by "charlatans."   www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/h...

A shocking (or perhaps not so shocking) development for an already questionable report that selectively cherry-picked the literature to support the idiosyncratic biases of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

NEW: Citations in the MAHA Report have telltale signs of AI chatbot use -- we reviewed all 522 of the listed citations, and at least 37 of the footnotes appear multiple times in the citations with another 21 having dead links w/ @laurenweberhp.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

My latest in @jama.com: recent SCOTUS decisions make it clear that the courts will defer to the FDA less often for regulatory interpretation. Laying out clear justification for agency action in guidance documents will likely be critical for its ongoing role in food and drug regulation.

As we feared, the report of the MAHA Commission selectively cherry-picks the literature to support the idiosyncratic biases of RFK, Jr. rather than focusing on the root causes and well-studied solutions to chronic disease. 🧵 (1/8)

Our vision for a healthier America pushes for health equity to address the root causes of health disparities and would make it easier for people to eat foods that protect our planet as well as our health. We won’t back down.

HIV prevention is a topic of great personal and professional importance to me. Now, that research has been suspended at a great loss to public health.

Had a wonderful time at the TIME100 Health Impact Dinner on Tuesday night. It's a privilege to be a TIME100 honoree and I very much enjoyed meeting my fellow peers who are doing such important work in this space.

Leaked budget documents indicate that CDC leadership is considering plans to eliminate the lead poisoning program permanently. We joined together with several other organizations to submit a letter today calling for the restoration of this critical division division. 🧵 (1/5)

The job of Surgeon General of the United States is not an entry-level position, and Dr. Casey Means is unqualified to serve in this regard.🧵 (1/5)

I'm honored to be included here among people like WHO director general @drtedros.who.int, vaccine expert @pauloffit.bsky.social, and @americanheart.bsky.social CEO Nancy Brown. I'm very proud of what CSPI has accomplished, and I look forward to the fights ahead.

In case you missed it before, here's a good thread by @protectdemocracy.org on the lawsuit against NIH with them @aclu.org, @aclum.bsky.social, @britshmit.bsky.social, and others 👇

New op-ed with @drjoshs.bsky.social and Peter Lurie about the agenda-driven reality of 'radical transparency' -- www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Just how transparent is “radical transparency”? (Spoiler alert: Not that transparent).

In his inaugural speech upon taking over as secretary HHS, RFK, Jr. declared that his plans include “radical transparency.” He has repeated that phrase many times, but what it actually means is far from clear. Read my latest with colleagues @akesselheim.bsky.social and @drjoshs.bsky.social. 👇

Kennedy, HHS have no “agreement” with industry to eliminate food dyes; only an “understanding” Statement of @cspi.bsky.social President Dr. Peter G. Lurie www.cspinet.org/statement/ke... #fooddyes #fooddye

It's disappointing that Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Makary would hold a press conference to announce the elimination of food dyes—only for reporters to learn that there will be no rulemaking of any sort to remove the remaining six numbered dyes.

Even with today's signaling by FDA of their intent to phase out synthetic dyes from the food supply, the brutal staff cuts imposed by RFK, Jr. and Elon Musk’s DOGE will make it much harder for FDA to perform just about any function than it was four months ago. My full statement 👇

HHS has stated that the recent job cuts at the FDA are all about "streamlining operations and centralizing administrative functions," but CSPI President @drpeterlurie.bsky.social isn't convinced. Read more from Peter in the latest from @jenabbasi.bsky.social and @ritarubin.bsky.social 👇

Today I joined a lawsuit filed by the @aclu.org, the American Public Health Association, colleagues like @britshmit.bsky.social, and others to challenge the NIH's recent and abrupt cancellations of billions of dollars in research grants. (1/2)

Today, workers across the Food and Drug Administration received termination notices as part of massive layoffs announced by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary RFK, Jr., last week. (1/3)

The new MAHA Commission's focus on chronic diseases is sensible, but beggars belief that this commission will discover long-ignored solutions on a vast array of social problems in a scant 180 days. Read more in my latest Viewpoint in @jama.com, with Lawrence Gostin and Sarah Wetter.

Our food system needs a lot of work, but diet alone isn't the sole cause of chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease, and fixing America's diet isn't the only solution. As I said to @joannekenen.bsky.social in her latest, we can't focus solely on prevention at the cost of treatments.

Will the nominee for next commissioner of the FDA be in charge of the agency? Or will it actually be Elon Musk and his unaccountable team of technocrats? If Dr. Marty Makary is confirmed, job number one is going to be to stop the bleeding of staff with the scientific expertise. Mu full statement 👇

Jones and his food team had been struggling to address some of the very issues raised by the so-called MAHA movement, but indiscriminate mass firing of the newest FDA staff is going to make things worse, not better. If you go into surgery with a hatchet instead of a scalpel, the result is carnage.

The cuts to HHS make a mockery of the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan by arbitrarily decimating new staff in key public health agencies who might actually implement the slogan. Read my full statement 👇