Get the health information and medications you need every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here.
Good morning and happy Friday. I hope you have a great long weekend planned. But first, scroll down and read about the Senate hearings on the NIH, the Supreme Court’s death penalty decision, and two related items about the confusion surrounding sexually transmitted diseases.
Mr Bhattacharya grilled in Senate hearing
When National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharyya appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday, the focus was supposed to be on the institute’s proposed budget for next year. But first, senators asked questions about more pressing concerns.
At the beginning of the meeting, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) announced that the acting director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has resigned from her position. Amid the hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, a lack of leadership raised concerns for the committee. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked, “With less funding, fewer staff, and stagnant research, can we confidently say that we are better prepared for public health threats than we were a year ago?”
For more information on the resignation of NIAID’s acting director, read STAT’s Helen Branswell and Anil Oza. Anil elaborates on other burning questions raised during the hearing.
Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case against intellectually disabled person
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an Alabama death penalty case, ultimately saving the life of Joseph Smith, who was sentenced to death in 1998. In another case in 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment. Mr. Smith has continued to challenge his impending execution ever since, and a lower court recently sided with Mr. Smith against the state.
By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, the main issue centered on how states should assess whether death row inmates qualify as intellectually disabled — an issue that remained unresolved in the 2002 case. A dismissal means the court has decided after the fact that the case should not be reconsidered. In a notable dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that a 2002 decision banning the execution of people with intellectual disabilities was “degrading” to them and should be completely overturned.
This dismissal is not part of a pattern of favoring death row inmates with disabilities. Just last week, the Supreme Court lifted the suspended sentence for Edward Buzbee Jr., the 600th person to be murdered in Texas since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Lower courts had previously halted the execution, citing concerns about potential intellectual disability.
More data on Lilly’s powerful new weight loss drug
Eli Lilly’s next-generation obesity drug produced levels of weight loss in late-stage trials that are close to those seen with bariatric surgery, the company reported yesterday. However, participants experienced a high rate of side effects, with about 11% discontinuing due to adverse events, raising questions about how attractive this treatment is.
STAT’s Elaine Chen has more on the data. The results suggest that if approved, the drug could be the most effective weight loss drug on the market. But as Elaine reported last year, some participants in the drug’s early trials felt they were losing too much weight.
What you need to know about the seed oil panic
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, and grapeseed oil are the most unhealthy oils in the American diet. The latest dietary guidelines have given further institutional legitimacy to this type of anxiety regarding seed oils. In a new first opinion essay, nutritionist Cole Hanson provides a breakdown of the real evidence.
“Some of what is causing the seed oil panic is not wrong,” he writes. “It’s just misattribution.” His argument is slow and influencer-unfriendly, he admits. “The correct answer here does not make good content.” Read more about the science.
Does the public understand how sexually transmitted diseases are spread?
generally? A new study from the Annenberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania finds that while most Americans understand the basics of how sexually transmitted diseases are spread, rarer routes and vaccinations are less commonly known.
More than 1,600 people responded to the survey over two weeks in April. The majority of respondents knew that infections such as gonorrhea, genital herpes, syphilis, chlamydia, and HPV are sexually transmitted diseases. Far fewer people knew that mpox and Zika could also be transmitted sexually.
And most respondents understood the main ways these infections spread. However, 20% thought they could get a sexually transmitted disease by sitting on a toilet after someone with an infectious disease sat on it. (They can’t.) Only 33% knew that HIV can be transmitted through breastfeeding in addition to sex. (can.)
The most confusion was around vaccination. While the majority knew about the HPV vaccine, only 42% knew about the mpox vaccine. For infections for which there is no vaccine, such as genital herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV, more than half of respondents were either unsure whether a vaccine existed or incorrectly thought there was one.
Where does such confusion come from? Read below for related news:
CDC’s MPOX page caught in political crosshairs
HHS is once again ordering changes to the CDC website that contradict the recommendations of the Public Health Service’s scientists. Earlier this week, the CDC was directed to remove a webpage that explained how people with multiple sexual partners can reduce their risk of contracting mpox. (You can view the archived page here.) When asked why, an HHS spokesperson said it was “not medically accurate” and “not consistent with administration priorities.”
Demetre Daskalakis, a former top CDC scientist and deputy coordinator of the Biden administration’s mpox response, disputed claims that the information on the webpage was inaccurate. “Providing people with actionable advice is what public health is supposed to do, and we’ve done that,” he said. “This document has passed scientific review by the CDC.”
Last fall, HHS directed the CDC to stop using the term mpox and revert to calling the disease monkeypox, which the WHO has recommended against use. And Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines, has directed the department to change its webpage about vaccines and autism to clearly state that claims that there is no link between the two are not based on evidence. — Helen Branswell
what we are reading
-
The word “black” disappears from a series of bills aimed at addressing maternal and child health for black people, 19th
-
Public Health Watchdog’s family mourns death of man at troubled psychiatric hospital
- Lab Dish: The Dark Ages of FDA and STAT
- Two Minnesota autism treatment providers charged in $46 million Medicaid fraud case, New York Times
- Opinion: Check-in and intake in the doctor’s office is perfect for AI, STAT
