Federal HHS Cuts Worry Experts on Childhood Lead Poisoning: ‘We’re at Risk in Pa.’ + More
Source: Children’s Health Defense
Federal HHS Cuts Worry Experts on Childhood Lead Poisoning: ‘We’re at Risk in Pa.’
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported:
Canceled grants in Pa. amount to more than $500 million dollars, according to the Shapiro administration. Public health advocates are concerned about the effect of federal budget cuts and layoffs on efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning in Pennsylvania.
“We’re at risk in Pennsylvania,” said Rosemarie Halt, chair of the Lead Free Promise Project of Pennsylvania. “Having this funding interrupted will interrupt a lot of really good programs.” Layoffs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) eliminated the federal Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program staff in its entirety, said Halt.
Cuts to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention also froze some funding to state and local governments, she said, such as a $500,000 grant that had just been awarded to the city of Chester, Pa., for lead poisoning prevention efforts in the community.
The cuts were part of what HHS described as a “dramatic restructuring” as part of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency Workplace Optimization Initiative. In a March 27 press release announcing the cuts, HHS said that the reduction of about 10,000 full-time employees would save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year.
Montana Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Phase out Styrofoam Use in Food Industry
Gov. Greg Gianforte went beyond the regular duties of his office — sending a letter to lawmakers informing them of the reasons he vetoed a bill — and shared a video on social media explaining why he didn’t sign a measure that would have phased out the use of styrofoam in the food industry.
“This bill would create a new government program costing $300,000,” said Republican Gianforte in the video on May 5, the day he vetoed the bill. “The state banning styrofoam is costly government overreach, and like many Montanans, I enjoy hot coffee in a styrofoam cup, because it keeps it hot. And this bill is a hot mess.”
But the sponsor of House Bill 477, Rep. Marilyn Marler, D-Missoula, said she didn’t think the governor understood what the law actually intended — protecting human health and the environment. “What he said was wrong. He was trying to be bombastic,” Marler told the Daily Montanan. “He put more effort into his silly video than in trying to understand the bill.”
House Bill 477 would have created a five-year phaseout of expanded polystyrene foam — commonly called “styrofoam” — containers used in serving or packaging food from restaurants and food establishments. The phase out, which would have applied to roughly 7,500 establishments in Montana, would have included coffee cups, plates, trays and other food and drink containers.
Gov. JB Pritzker Signs Order Protecting Autism Data in Response to Federal Research Plan Under RFK Jr.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday signed an executive order that formally restricts the unauthorized collection of autism-related data by state agencies. Pritzker’s order responds to federal efforts under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to create databases of personal information for those with autism “without clear legal safeguards or accountability,” according to a news release from Pritzker’s office.
“Every Illinoisan deserves dignity, privacy, and the freedom to live without fear of surveillance or discrimination,” Pritzker said. “As Donald Trump and (the Department of Government Efficiency) threaten these freedoms, we are taking steps to ensure that our state remains a leader in protecting the rights of individuals with autism and all people with disabilities.”
Kennedy said in a news release Wednesday that he aims to build a database using Medicare and Medicaid data to enable research on the “root cause” of autism. According to the release, the database falls under President Donald Trump’s larger efforts to research “chronic conditions” and will proceed “in a manner consistent with applicable privacy laws to protect Americans’ sensitive health information.”
Privacy Concerns Swirl Around HHS Plan to Build Medicare, Medicaid Database on Autism
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday unveiled a pilot program for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to tap into Medicare and Medicaid data in its search for the root causes of autism.
The database — which HHS said will draw from insurance claims, medical records and data from wearable technology such as smartwatches — is one of the first steps in HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid to find the causes of autism “by September.”
Early signals from health officials that they would build a database to track autism were met with swift rebuke from advocacy organizations and doctors.
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s initial description last month of a “new autism registry” with “broad coverage” of the U.S. population raised red flags and questions about privacy, the Autism Science Foundation said in a statement shortly after the news. The Autism Self Advocacy Network lambasted the project as an example of how the administration has “completely frozen out autistic people.”
HHS nodded to those concerns in its announcement Wednesday. It said the NIH and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will start with a data use agreement focused on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and then establish a “secure tech-enabled mechanism” that will share data with “timely, privacy and security compliant data exchange.” The agencies will eventually build out the pilot database to share data on chronic illnesses and their economic burden, HHS said.
CDC Disease Detectives Exempted From Trump Hiring Freeze, Averting Cut to Program
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has granted an exemption to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to hire a new class of its disease detectives, multiple CDC officials said, averting a feared halving of the highly selective fellowship. Each year, the CDC usually hires a new class of its Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers to replace those graduating from the agency’s two-year program.
Nicknamed the CDC’s “disease detectives,” officers are often dispatched around the country to support the agency’s response to investigating outbreaks and other health emergencies, or assigned to work with CDC teams or health departments.
“HHS granted the CDC an exemption to onboard and train newly selected EIS officers. EIS officers continue to investigate outbreaks, analyze public health data, respond to emergencies, and support health departments worldwide,” an HHS spokesperson said in a statement.
The fate of the program had worried CDC officials, amid a sweeping federal hiring freeze that has halted most efforts to add new staff to the agency. Most officers need to move to a new location to serve in the program, ahead of a June 30 start date.
