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Decision to axe advisory groups could spell trouble for US food safety
By Shannon Kelleher
A Trump administration move to axe key food safety advisory committees could leave the public more vulnerable to food-borne illnesses, critics fear, particularly alongside current legislative efforts to undermine proposed safety regulations on food processors.
The decision to cut the committees, which brought together academics, industry researchers and consumer advocates to advise agencies on food safety, comes after hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne illnesses more than doubled last year, with most illnesses attributed to the same harmful pathogens that the groups were working to address. And it comes less than a month after Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would block the implementation of a proposed new regulatory framework for reducing Salmonella contamination in raw poultry that was introduced under former President Joe Biden.
“It doesn’t appear that this administration at the highest level seems to care about food safety,” said Michael Hansen, a senior staff scientist for the group Consumer Reports who was serving on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).
The USDA announced March 6 that it was terminating NACMCF, which provided scientific advice and recommendations to the USDA, the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a broad range of issues related to pathogens and public health. The USDA said all work should stop immediately, citing President Donald Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order to pare down the federal bureaucracy.
The agency also terminated the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI), which advised the USDA on the safety of meat and poultry inspection programs.
Elaine Scallan Walter, the co-director of the Colorado Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence at the Colorado School of Public Health who has not served on either committee, said she was “dismayed” by the decision to eliminate them.
Americans to face more disease and death due to Trump’s air quality rollbacks, health experts warn
By Dana Drugmand
American families will face increasing rates of environmental-related illnesses and premature deaths, including lung and cardiovascular diseases, due to the Trump administration’s sweeping rollbacks of air quality regulations, health professionals warn.
The moves to slash roughly two dozen environmental and public health protections weaken rules dealing with a range of health threats, including mercury emissions from power plants and tailpipe pollution from vehicles.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced March 12 what the agency is labeling the biggest and greatest deregulatory push in US history.
“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the US and more,” Zeldin said in the announcement.
Industry trade groups applauded the EPA actions. The American Petroleum Institute said the Trump administration is “answering the call” for more “affordable, reliable and secure American energy,” while the American Chemistry Council said EPA’s plan to revisit soot standards will help “foster continued industry growth.”
Public health and environmental experts, however, said the Trump administration is ignoring the enormous health and economic benefits that clean air and climate protections provide.
“If Zeldin’s deregulatory jihad succeeds, he will leave America a sicker and poorer place,” Joseph Goff, former assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said in a statement.
Judge orders wildlife service to do more to protect imperiled species from pesticides
By Douglas Main
A federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must finish assessing the impact of five pesticides on endangered and threatened species, and that the agency had violated federal law with its “unreasonable” delay in completing the required analyses.
The five chemicals include the weed killers atrazine and simazine, and the insecticides chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and carbaryl.
The ruling ought to force the Trump administration to “protect imperiled wildlife from harms caused by pesticides,” said Jonathan Evans, environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the suit.
“We’re glad the court found the federal government still has to follow the law,” including the Endangered Species Act (ESA), to protect imperiled wildlife, Evans said.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has completed initial evaluations for all the chemicals, finding that they present serious risks to threatened and endangered species. For example, the EPA concluded that chlorpyrifos is “likely to adversely affect” 1,778 threatened or endangered plants and animals, a whopping 97% of all protected wildlife.
The EPA likewise reported that diazinon is likely to harm 78% of these species; carbaryl, 91%; and atrazine and simazine, 56% and 55%, respectively.
“Chaos and panic” as US slashes funds for small farmers and food assistance
By Carey Gillam
Farmers and food assistance groups around the country are reeling this week amid a series of moves by the Trump administration to cut funding for programs that support small and disadvantaged farmers and provide food for low-income families.
The loss of funding, which totals more than $1 billion, was sending shock waves through a system set up to provide reliable markets and consistent income for farmers who supply healthy, unprocessed, locally grown fruits and vegetables and other foods to hunger assistance organizations and public schools.
Funding was spread through every US state but some of the largest amounts of program money were earmarked for farmers in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Michigan and Georgia.
“This is a huge deal for small farmers,” said Ellee Igoe, co-owner of Solidarity Farm in southern California and director of operations for Foodshed, a San Diego County network of regenerative and organic farms supplying food to families in need.
“We’re growing healthy food and providing it to local communities. And they are cancelling contracts without real reason. Out here, it feels like it is very politically motivated.”
Igoe said she and others believe the cuts are related in part to President Donald Trump’s decision to eliminate programs that carry “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) objectives because when applying for program funding under the Biden administration, applicants were asked to list how the funding would help minority/disadvantaged farmers.