Bénédicte C
@benecal.bsky.social
Biosciences & Tech policy Post about research, innovation, public health, politics & policy making, regulation, disinfo She/Her/Antifacist
For those who want a taste of what debunking Quay is going to be like... This is Florence Debarre's take (anyone remember her handle?) on Quay's latest book. pandemonium.hypotheses.org/1833
Fact-checking Steven Quay’s “The Code as Witness”
Since 2020, Steven Quay, aka DrQuayTM, has been publishing documents claiming to have found damning evidence for a lab leak origin of COVID-19. He was even invited to testify before the Committee on H...
pandemonium.hypotheses.org
Brown University has a widget that tracks the cost of the Iran war to American consumers (as contrasted to whatever the Pentagon is spending). Per-household cost now exceeds $600. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
While this is a HUGE WIN, there's more work to do. It's time to DOUBLE DOWN in pressuring Congress. They need to revoke the OMB Proposal. Members of Congress who fail to stop the Proposal will be out of a job January 3rd, 2027, we will make sure of it. 🧵
Fascism thrives in contradictions: COVID was a hoax that never hurt anybody. It's also a terrible pandemic and Fauci must be held responsible. The COVID vaccine killed millions. MRNA vaccines are a crime against humanity. Also Trump invented the COVID vaccine and must be credited for it.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 6d agoNew, from me: It is fine to disagree with aspects of the pandemic response. But what we saw at Fauci's hearing was something different: a show trial where cranks tried to threaten and shift blame to an public servant. Here is why this is bad for all of us.🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/watching-t...
Whopper of the Week on Cyclospora RFK Jr refuses to admit the Cyclospora outbreak which is close to 20,000 reported cases in almost every state is out of control or due to cuts at CDC, FDA & USDA. Well, @defendpublichealth.bsky.social disagrees. www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...
Whopper of the Week: Yes, RFK Jr., your cuts did weaken the Cyclospora response | Defend Public Health
The United States is struggling to contain the largest Cyclospora outbreak in US history but RFK Jr. claims the outbreak is under control and unrelated to cuts made to the US food safety surveillance ...
defendpublichealth.org
What could possibly go wrong...
Peter Daszak@peterdaszak.bsky.social · 16h agoBreaking: The dumbing down of America's scientific infrastructure continues. Dr. Quay, a conspiracist w/ zero training in infectious disease is in "final vetting" to lead NIAID, Tony Fauci's former institute. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
Fast forward 80 years and the Trumpists are destroying the science base and convincing themselves all that can be useful can be queried w AI.
Dan Kaszeta FRHistS@dankaszeta.bsky.social · yesterdayAs I pointed out years ago in my book "Toxic", the Germans had an active technical intelligence collection effort in neutral countries with good libraries, scouring the foreing technical and scientific literature in places like Stockholm, Switzerland, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, etc.
Again, people will tell you that penicillin was a wartime secret and only the UK and USA could make it. Yet the first penicillin in Japan was made during the war. Here's a 1944 penicillin vial made in Japan.
New Mexico's 2025 measles outbreak cost $5.4 million Researchers based their analysis on direct medical costs, lost productivity, and expense to public health agencies. Read more: https://bit.ly/4hNSPte
The Adler brief here is telling and suggests a major cleavage within the Supreme Court's conservative bloc. For the oil and gas industry to win here, the conservative justices would have to compromise on a lot of dearly held conservative principles. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
E&E News: Republicans join push for Supreme Court to allow climate lawsuits
Former Republican EPA leaders and a conservative scholar join Democrats supporting local efforts to sue for climate-related damages.
subscriber.politicopro.com
lol, Kennedy and Oz are "protecting" the ACA from law fare. Tell that to the 2.5 million Americans who can no longer afford their health insurance. www.wsj.com/opinion/were...
Opinion | We’re Defending ObamaCare From Lawfare
Democracy Forward keeps filing lawsuits seeking subsidies the law doesn’t allow.
wsj.com
Good news on Assault Weapons and High Capacity magazines, a federal judge has stayed the 3rd Circuit's decision that they were were "unconstitutional." NJ's ban on assault weapons and HCM remains in place, prob until the Supreme Court hears the case. newjerseymonitor.com/briefs/nj-as...
Judge keeps NJ's 'assault weapon' ban in place pending Supreme Court review • New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey’s so-called assault weapons ban dates to 1990 and prohibits 66 rifles and shotguns plus those with things like a pistol grip.
newjerseymonitor.com
Blindingly obvious that this is targeted at “degrees we think women get.”
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d agoPresident Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v
Should patients be told when they’re part of an outbreak in a hospital? Does pathogen genomics change that? I first started this paper in 2020 in my bioethics class, and happy to share it peer reviewed, published now! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
An FDA advisory committee recently recommended that six specific peptides should be permitted to be compounded and legally sold. Dr. Josh Sharfstein explains what's happening, what comes next, and what you should know about these products. 🎧 podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/the-peptide-...
Senate Resolution Would Block New Trump OMB Rule Until December 11 Here's my coverage in @forbes.com of this 🛟 🧪 😷 #AcademicSky #MedSky #episky🩺 #HiSciSky Public Health #science www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
Senate Resolution Would Block New Trump OMB Rule Until December 11
A Continuing Resolution from the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee would delay implementation of the Trump administration's new OMB rule to at least December 11.
forbes.com
For anyone interested in the manufactured debate around Test Negative Design methods for evaluating the real world effectiveness of vaccines, there was a CDC sponsored "grand rounds" in June where experts faced off against Martin Kulldorff. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9bA...
CDC Public Health Grand Rounds: Measuring Vaccine Effectiveness
YouTube video by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
youtube.com
After years of advocacy, Congress acted to close loophole allowing #IntoxicatingHemp products to proliferate with too few safeguards. Now Senate leaders propose delaying those #PublicHealth protections as the industry pushes for a reversal. #Hemp Read @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
Hemp Industry Scores Major Win To Keep Intoxicating THC Products Legal
Congress is trying to delay a law that would effectively kill the $28 billion intoxicating hemp industry.
forbes.com
🌏☀️🛟
Jake Reyna@jakereyna.bsky.social · 2d agoOn Sunday, South Korea saw 108.5° F (42.5° C), its highest temperature on record. The South Korean weather agency urged people to “immediately stop all outdoor activities,” warning that even “indoor spaces without air conditioning are dangerous.” e360.yale.edu/digest/el-ni...
PHAA CEO Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin told a Senate Committee about the massive disparity in money and political influence between the Alliance for Gambling Reform who seek to minimise public health harms, and big harmful industries.
There have been excellent analyses of what happened during COVID and the weaknesses in the US response. 1. Joshua Weitz’s book on our misunderstanding of the transmission & virulence of SARS-CoV-2 and it’s implications. bsky.app/profile/josh...
Bénédicte C@benecal.bsky.social · 2d agoWe've had 6 years of COVID hearings and reports. I personally don't want another report from a suspect mediator that starts from the premise that populist anger during COVID was justified and thinks Rs were not nice last week, but they were just listening to the public's pitchforks.
Moving beyond grievance requires disciplinary seriousness & a commitment to service apparently beyond the capacity of HHS leadership... joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/grievance-...
Grievance Is All You Need
Understanding attacks on NIH, CDC and FDA through the lens of COVID revisionists
joshuasweitz.substack.com
This is terrible—especially in conjunction with the administration’s other loan limiting polices for health professionals. I know several people who benefited from the LRP health disparities program.
Oni Blackstock, MD MHS@oniblackstock.bsky.social · 2d agoThe NIH has quietly dropped its loan repayment program for researchers doing health disparities research and for researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds. As an LRP awardee who had six figures in medical schools loans, I know how transformative this funding can be. Losing this funding will…
AB 2030 will protect children by preventing the sale of poorly regulated over-the-counter diet pills and muscle-building supplements to minors. Research shows these products are linked with liver injury, stroke, eating disorders and other serious health harms.
My special hell is watching media try to make sense of stuff happening today related to public health in America and not connecting it to stuff they ignored during the Biden years. Like the Fauci farce in the Senate, which is a continuation of the EcoHealth Alliance witch hunt.
Mad at Yale trying to cut a deal with Trump? Call President McInnis! A very nice person just answered the phone over there and took my comment - said they update McInnis with our comments every day! president.yale.edu/contact-us
Get in Touch
Provide visitors with a clear pathway for connection, whether to ask a question or share some feedback.
president.yale.edu
My Yale colleague Robert Post thinks the pending OMB rule putting all federal grants under Trump’s control may have scared the bejeezus out of Yale leadership. 11/ slate.com/news-and-pol...
Harvard Fought Trump’s Abuses. Yale May Fold. I Think I Know Why.
Seeking to set a new course for the conservative movement, J.D. Vance in 2021 declared war on institutions of American higher education.
slate.com
US senators from both sides of the political aisle released a draft spending bill on 2 August that, if passed, would temporarily halt a far-reaching and controversial proposal by the White House to overhaul federally funded science. go.nature.com/4ganlw9
Controversial White House plan to overhaul US science funding faces Senate opposition
Proposal to put political appointees in charge of research grants could be temporarily halted if lawmakers’ efforts are successful.
go.nature.com
