"One FDA employee’s assigned work station turned out to be a storage closet in a district courthouse. They were told last week not to mind the noise upstairs. It was just the U.S. Marshals Service checking in on people in jail cells."
@STAT's #FDA reporter Lizzy Lawrence on return-to-office problems at the FDA:
@thexylom What was the most jarring to me in the reporting process was how differently local elected officials responded to the rallies. Mind you, the Washington State Capitol is in Olympia, an hour's drive from Seattle, while Atlanta City Hall is a block away from Liberty Plaza!
“Now what we’re seeing is a full-on assault on our state’s immunization program. Activists felt like they could take advantage of the [COVID-19 pandemic] and exploit it and start going after laws that have been on the books for decades.” https://www.texasobserver.org/measles-outbreak-anti-vax-legislation/
The #Trump administration wants to address #chronicdisease but just cut funding to a 30-year-long diabetes study.
It found non-pharmaceutical ways to cut the likelihood of getting diabetes by 58% and now is studying #Alzheimer's + #diabetes—all priorities for RFK Jr.
Why pull the funding now? Elaine Chen
@STAT has more:
Let's see, where's the latest measles exposures...
Houston, Texas
Edmonton, Alberta
https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2025/03/17/ahs-warns-of-possible-measles-exposers/
Heat can age you as much as smoking, a new study finds
Exposure to heat can alter the way your DNA works, according to a new study. The effects could lead to long-term health outcomes
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5325273/heat-accelerates-aging-new-study-finds
Brief health vent
I’m so done sitting around here without energy. Six fucking years.
You have agency. Use it.
When you don’t speak up for yourself, your community, your audience and the truth — someone else will. We know how that has gone."
Thank you to E&P for the recognition and to their staff, Mike and Robin Blinder, for publishing my full response, which you can read below. I deeply appreciate the nominations from our Managing Editor Rhysea Agrawal and friend Emily Sachar. We got more work to do!
"In the words of historian Timothy Snyder, 'Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.'
"You don’t have to be a stenographer for the wealthy and powerful."
This month, I was honored to be selected to the Editor & Publisher (E&P) Magazine 2025 Tomorrow's News Trailblazers for my work at @thexylom.
I was asked for a lesson I’ve learned early in my career that I think future news trailblazers should know. I have some strong thoughts, considering my upbringing in Hong Kong and current events stateside:
"National Institutes of #Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to #mRNA vaccine #technology from their grant applications... in a move that signaled the agency might abandon a promising field of medical #research...
#Scientists relayed their experiences on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation by the #Trump administration...
“Kennedy’s war on vaccines has started”"
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-grants-mrna-vaccines-trump-administration-hhs-rfk/
I don't know why the #Trump administration has decided that #mRNA research is suddenly "bad" when it has proven so very useful and effective in prevention and treatment of #disease. As Kevin Collins says:
"Scientists have just cured pancreatic #cancer in some patients with personalized mRNA vaccines. Pancreatic cancer. And this Trump administration wants to throw it all away.
They’re throwing away a cure for cancer."
https://bsky.app/profile/kwcollins.bsky.social/post/3lkjy6ns6fs2x
National Cancer Institute (#NCI) Employees Can’t Publish Information on These Topics Without Special Approval
#Vaccines. #Fluoride. #Autism. Communications involving these and 20 other “controversial, high profile, or sensitive” topics will get extra scrutiny under #Health Secretary Robert F. #Kennedy Jr. https://www.propublica.org/article/national-cancer-institute-flagged-topics-vaccines-autism-rfk-jr
Indirect links between climate change and tuberculosis, both of which impact developing countries most, are beginning to gain attention
Modelling studies and reviews are pointing to tuberculosis as a climate-sensitive infection
Experts say people at risk due to climate change and tuberculosis are among the most vulnerable sections of society in both the Global South and North
A recent review revealed that climate change has the potential to aggravate almost 60% of known human pathogens.
Warming effects, changes in precipitation levels and floods are the most prominent climate hazards that stimulate vector-borne, waterborne and airborne diseases,
NEW: In an essay, Ann Nguyen writes about her decades-long, torturous relationship with her Vietnamese mom and food.
"The thinner I was, the closer we became, bonded by our body dysmorphia and desire to hit the forever-moving bullseye of the abstract concept of “the perfect body” imagined by a society that knew it did not truly exist."
https://www.thexylom.com/post/perspective-forgiving-my-almond-mom
Pakistan emerges from smog season
Tens of millions of Pakistanis spent at least four months breathing toxic air pollution 20 times above safe levels, in the worst winter smog season for several years, according to data analysed by AFP
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2534689/pakistan-emerges-from-smog-season
Burden of cardiovascular disease caused by extreme heat in Australia projected to more than double by 2050
Hot weather is responsible for an average of almost 50,000 years of healthy life lost to cardiovascular disease every year among people in Australia, according to research published in the European Heart Journal. This equates to around 7.3% of the total burden due to illness and death from cardiovascular disease
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-burden-cardiovascular-disease-extreme-australia.html
How could you resist clicking on a story with this headline?: “This article is scientifically proven to improve your willpower.” @sciencefocus tells us how scientists are discovering some mind tricks that can take your powers of self-control to the next level:
One of us who works at the tech desk may have eaten five pieces of pizza last night — without any awareness of the total calories. It might have been a good opportunity to use Cal AI, an app where users can upload a photo of their meal and receive a calorie count that has a purported 90% accuracy. Cal AI isn’t the first digital calorie counter, but it has a 4.8-star rating on the Apple App Store and over 1 million downloads on Google Play. @Techcrunch has more on this app developed by a pair of teenagers.
