ADHD Drugs Under Scrutiny by RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission + More
Source: Children’s Health Defense
ADHD Drugs Under Scrutiny by RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission
A recent White House executive order is focusing national attention on medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and raising concerns among mental health experts about possible future restrictions.
References to ADHD medications are included in the White House executive order from Feb. 13 establishing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission created to investigate “the growing health crisis in America.” The order calls for the commission to produce a new report on children’s health that offers “fresh thinking” on several factors including the “overreliance on medication and treatments” to address the “childhood chronic disease crisis.”
The order included a mandate for the MAHA commission to “assess the prevalence of and threat posed by” several prescription medications, including stimulants used to treat ADHD in adults and children, within the next 100 days. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is chairing the commission, raised similar concerns about ADHD medications during his confirmation hearings.
What Will Happen to Dr Fauci’s Pardon as Trump Calls Biden’s Last-Minute Clemency Orders Void?
Former president Joe Biden extended a preemptive pardon to Dr. Anthony Fauci, his former chief medical officer who led the White House’s COVID-19 response. Fauci accepted the pardon and asserted that he committed no crime though he was subject to politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution. Republicans hold Fauci responsible for the pandemic and accused him of withholding information about research in China that reportedly developed COVID-19.
Fauci faced public anger because of the mask mandate and the school shutdowns during the pandemic though many believe pardoning him was a disservice to him as it indicated that he did something wrong.
“There is absolutely no basis for these threats. Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me,” Fauci said reacting to the pardon. “The fact is, however, that the mere articulation of these baseless threats, and the potential that they will be acted upon, create immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family.”
NIH Cancels Funding for Landmark Diabetes Study at a Time of Focus on Chronic Disease
The Trump administration has canceled funding for an ongoing 30-year, nationwide study tracking patients with prediabetes and diabetes, researchers said, at a time when top officials have emphasized their determination to curb the incidence of such chronic conditions.
Investigators working on the landmark Diabetes Prevention Program found out last week that the National Institutes of Health has halted funding for the project. While they have not yet received confirmation from the agency on why the grant has been canceled, the decision appears likely related to the Trump administration’s cancellation of federal grants to Columbia University on the grounds that it had failed to adequately address antisemitism on campus.
Since 2022, Columbia has been managing funding for the most recent phase of the program, which is focused on tracking the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among participants. But over 90% of the current funding, which amounts to more than $80 million spanning five years, is ultimately distributed to over two dozen other research sites across the U.S., according to José Luchsinger, a Columbia professor and one of the principal investigators.
Congress Must Reject Taxing Employer-Provided Health Care Coverage
As the new Congress and administration are settling in, all eyes in Washington are focused on the trillion-dollar question: whether and how to pay for the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law in President Trump’s first term.
Among the various revenue-generating proposals emerging from GOP circles — including some of the president’s most trusted advisers — is one that would increase taxes on American workers with employer-provided health care coverage. How to pay for the forthcoming tax bill is a valid debate, but one thing is certain: Burdening hardworking Americans with new taxes on something as fundamental as health care coverage is not the solution voters are looking for.
We have seen proposals and recommendations from the Paragon Health Institute, Heritage Foundation, Republican Study Committee, and the Cato Institute — all of which boast close ties to President Trump — to tax employer-provided health care coverage. The Bipartisan Policy Center also specifically recommended a tax on employer-provided health care to pay for extending the TCJA.
Given how many identical proposals have surfaced from these conservative and bipartisan thought leaders, coupled with a need for federal revenue, employers and unions alike are understandably concerned workers’ benefits could be taxed.
Senate Democrats Call for USDA Funding for Local Food Banks, Schools to Be Restored
Senate Democrats called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to restore funding to local food banks and schools, after it canceled $1 billion in food purchase programs throughout the country.
In a letter Monday, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff (Calif.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) led a group of 31 Democrats in calling on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to reverse the cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program.
In their letter, they wrote that these “successful” programs “allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.”
“At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” they wrote.
