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good morning. The idea of ”looksmaxxing” was formally introduced at a meeting of STAT’s scientific team. There’s a lot of journalistic discussion that maximizes this phenomenon and one of its leaders: the clavicle. I found this essay by trans writer PE Moskowitz particularly interesting.
Casey Means confronts Cassidy at confirmation hearing
Four months after giving birth, on the day she was scheduled to appear before the Senate Health Committee, Casey Means faced questions and sparred with senators from both parties in her bid to become President Trump’s surgeon general. For more than two hours, all sorts of hot topics were brought up, including vaccines, autism, birth control, pesticides, conflicts of interest, and her use of psychedelic mushrooms. Read more from STAT’s Elizabeth Cooney. He watched the entire hearing so you didn’t have to.
Mr. Means’ interactions with committee chair Bill Cassidy, himself a physician, were particularly stimulating. “Do you think vaccines, individually or collectively, are contributing to autism?” Cassidy asked. Means didn’t answer directly, and Cassidy kept pushing. “A lot of evidence shows that they were not involved. Why don’t you accept that evidence?” he asked. Read again for Liz’s answer.
Questions regarding the agenda for the next ACIP meeting
The February meeting of the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee is likely to be held in March of this year. And the date change is not the only unusual thing about this meeting.
A notice in the Federal Register suggests there could be a vote on at least one issue outside the jurisdiction of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices: COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries. ACIP can request that CDC change who it recommends to receive the coronavirus vaccine based on safety concerns. However, the commission is not involved in the process of compensating for damages caused by vaccines.
However, due to the constraints of the ACIP Constitution, no new ACIPs have ever been suspended. The group, which currently has many vaccine skeptics, passed a resolution in December recommending that parents who vaccinate their infants with the hepatitis B vaccine take a blood test after the first shot to determine whether all shots are needed. Two problems: There is no science to show that a single dose in infancy provides long-term protection, and blood test recommendations are outside the scope of ACIP. That recommendation appears to be on hold. — Helen Branswell
Where are the big trials on brain implants?
The path to commercialization for most medical devices begins with one simple step: establishing therapeutic value. Want to reduce stroke? Remove blood clots. Treat schizophrenia? Reduce hallucinations. etc. The company then conducts clinical trials to demonstrate whether the device can achieve that goal more effectively or safely than alternative products.
None of that applies to brain-computer interfaces. A startup has developed a device that, when implanted, allows people with ALS and paralysis to move, speak, and enhance their overall functionality. However, these products do not restore bodily function or cure the underlying medical condition. As STAT’s O. Rose Broderick puts it, they’re more like mental wheelchairs, acting as external devices to help you perform certain movements.
Decades have passed since scientists first demonstrated the potential of brain implants, but clinical pathways are still not in focus. Read Rose’s comprehensive story about the barriers facing the industry and how its leaders are trying to combat them.
Will RFK Jr. debate Dr. Mike?
Paul Offit, a prominent vaccine inventor and former CDC advisor, said in a webinar hosted by Medpage Today yesterday that he was asked three times to debate Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Offit said even if he was offered $50,000, he turned it down every time.
“I don’t think I could sit next to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and I have a huge amount of disdain for what he’s doing,” said Offit, who prefers to organize his thoughts on Substack. “This is very emotional for me.”
Discussion focused on how, if at all, physicians should engage with misinformation. As STAT readers know, Kennedy led a dramatic overhaul of America’s vaccine policy that made the country an outlier compared to other countries.
Mike Varshavsky, a family medicine physician and social media influencer, welcomes the live discussion. He has twice appeared on Jubilee Media’s popular video series, speaking with vaccine skeptics and Kennedy supporters. And he said yesterday that he was open to the challenge of discussing Mr. Kennedy himself.
“This is not about platforming people who are spreading misinformation and disinformation. They have a platform, and it’s called the White House,” Varshavsky said. “I would like to take a page from Secretary Kennedy’s handbook and invite him to be a guest on his podcast, The Checkup, for which I will donate $100,000 to a charity of his choice.”
How Americans feel about chemicals
More than 70% of adults are at least somewhat concerned about harmful chemicals in their food and drinking water, according to a new Pew Charitable Trusts survey of more than 5,300 people. Additionally, 84% of respondents said the government needs to do more to “identify and regulate harmful chemicals in everyday products,” including those who identified as Republicans, Democrats, and those who did not identify their political affiliation.
The study was conducted in the fall, but the results were released just days after Kennedy supported President Trump’s executive order encouraging the use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate, sparking criticism from MAHA types who typically support him. Although the EPA found that glyphosate poses no risk to human health when used properly, Kennedy campaigned against the use of glyphosate for years before joining HHS.
(For more on glyphosate, stay tuned for a STAT video later today…)
what we are reading
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Leaked documents show Meta is cracking down on access to abortion information, Mother Jones says
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When do we really become adults? new yorker
- Rare disease advocates outraged by FDA’s mixed signals, STAT
- Is it aging or ADHD? atlantic ocean
- I had a younger brother with schizophrenia. I can’t stop thinking about Nick Reiner’s brother, STAT.
