hhs

March 19, 2025

US baby formulas often contain contaminants, study finds

By Douglas Main

A new investigation that tested 41 types of powdered baby formula sold in the US found that about half of the products contained concerning levels of contaminants, including lead, arsenic, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), bisphenol A (BPA) and acrylamide.

“Millions of parents rely on infant formula during the first important months of their babies’ lives and deserve access to safe, healthy and nutritious products,” said James Rogers, director of product safety testing at Consumer Reports, the nonprofit organization that performed the investigation, in a statement.

Apparently in response to the report, the FDA announced Tuesday that the agency would be “taking steps to enhance its efforts to ensure the ongoing quality, safety, nutritional adequacy, and resilience of the domestic infant formula supply.”

“The FDA will use all resources and authorities at its disposal to make sure infant formula products are safe and wholesome for the families and children who rely on them,” said Health and Human Services secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., in the statement.

That announcement follows the Trump administration’s recent decision to disband two food safety advisory committees that provided scientific advice and recommendations to the FDA and other federal agencies. One of the committees, the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), had been preparing to release a report prompted by a bacterial outbreak in powdered infant formula from September 2021 to February 2022, with recommendations on how to avoid future outbreaks.

Arsenic, a carcinogen, was one of the contaminants most commonly found in the products tested by Consumer Reports. The investigation found the highest inorganic arsenic level in Abbott Nutrition’s EleCare Hypoallergenic, at 19.7 parts per billion (ppb), and the second highest in Similac Alimentum at 15.1 ppb, also made by Abbott, one of the top companies in the infant formula market.

January 29, 2025

“Epidemic of chronic disease” spotlighted in Kennedy confirmation hearing

By Carey Gillam

America’s “epidemic of chronic disease” was spotlighted Wednesday in a contentious senate confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, was grilled on multiple issues in the Senate Committee on Finance, but Kennedy and supporting senators repeatedly focused their comments on the range of diseases plaguing the US population, particularly children.

“President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again,” Kennedy said in a tense exchange with one senator who asked him if he was going to be a “rubber stamp” for Trump’s policies. “That is what I’m doing. If we don’t solve that problem senator, all the other disputes we have…. All of those are moving deck chairs around on the Titanic. Our ship is sinking.”

Kennedy said rising levels of chronic disease pose an “existential threat”.

“No other nation in the world has what we have here. We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world,” he said.

Kennedy said a key culprit “poisoning the American people” is the “highly chemical intensive processed foods” regularly consumed in the US.

Scientific research is needed to more deeply understand the connections, he said.

“We don’t have good science on all these things and that is deliberate… not to study the things are truly making us sick.”

January 28, 2025

Upcoming Kennedy hearings to spotlight hotly debated public health issues

By Carey Gillam

Advocates for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda were gathered in Washington this week ahead of a senate committee hearing on Kennedy’s nomination to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – an event expected to put a spotlight on a number of hotly debated public and environmental health issues.

Kennedy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday and then will appear for questioning by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday. Senators are expected to press the nominee on his views on a wide range of issues that deeply divide Americans, including vaccines, farming practices, and food policies.

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat from California who ran against Biden and Trump for president as an independent, has been among Trump’s most controversial nominations, drawing opposition from both parties and from an array of powerful corporate and public health interests.

Critics say Kennedy lacks the credentials to lead HHS, which has sweeping authority over many key health and science agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And they say his positions on certain issues discount scientific research and would endanger public health.

But proponents insist that Kennedy is more than qualified given his long history as an environmental lawyer who was named one of Time Magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his work cleaning up and protecting waterways, and as the founder of a group called Children’s Health Defense, which has the stated mission of “ending childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure” and holding “responsible parties accountable.”

Both sides were trying to make their voices heard in advance of Wednesday’s hearing, which was declared the “most important hearing of all Trump’s Cabinet picks” by Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, according to NBC News.

September 14, 2023

New scientific integrity policy lacking teeth, critics warn

A draft policy meant to curtail improper interference in federal scientific work falls far short of what is needed, according to a warning issued this month by a group of public health and science advocacy groups.

The draft issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the first to come from a key federal agency in answer to a call by President Joe Biden for federal agencies to strengthen policies meant to protect the integrity of their research. HHS is expected to release its final policy by February 2024.

The HHS oversees government entities that play critical roles in evaluating harmful chemicals, tracking and analyzing data on important public health threats, and conducting research into human health and disease, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The HHS works to “enhance the health and well-being of all Americans depends on the development and use of accurate, complete, and timely scientific and technical information,” HHS states in the draft policy.

But according to a letter sent to HHS this month by 11 advocacy organizations, the draft policy would do little to stem what has become a systemic problem in key federal agencies whose work is supposed to protect the public but too often is swayed by political and/or corporate interests.

“Under this proposed policy, every aspect of enforcing scientific integrity principles would remain a captive of the political process inside the agencies,” Jeff Ruch, the Pacific director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), said in a press release.