This weeks whopper refutes RFK Jr's claim that the cyclospora outbreak is "under control" and that there have been no damaging cuts to key programs at CDC, FDA and USDA. Dwindling government support for food safety have created a perfect storm and endanger the nation's food safety programs.

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

Defend Public Health wrote up what Kennedy's objectives have been on peptides a couple months ago. TBD how the FDA threads the gauntlet of allowing untested peptides to be manufactured and sold by compounders... @defendpublichealth.bsky.social

I’m spotted in my native #DefendPublicHealth attire-learning more about the destruction of a community’s health at the #MilesDelivers action coalition protest against #MaineHealth’s decision to close labor and delivery #Maine

It’s interesting that you mention the candle burning out. The logo we created for @defendpublichealth.bsky.social is an actual representation of this. See the candle. We’re gonna keep it lit.

The poster @bwalt.bsky.social just used a candle burning out to describe the situation with science in the U.S., accurately illustrating our fears. The logo we created for @defendpublichealth.bsky.social is an actual representation of exactly this. See the candle. We’re gonna keep it lit.

Crone’s Bones@bwalt.bsky.social · 5d ago

Science is the candle burning out the Dark Ages

🗣️ As a former Asst. Commissioner at the NYC Health Dept & @defendpublichealth.bsky.social member, I spoke w/ @healthbeat.org about how the proposed OMB rule could impact some of the Health Dept's core functions and have a chilling effect on grassroots orgs that rely on public health funding...

Proposed Trump administration rule threatens cuts to NYC public health system

New rule proposed by Trump administration threatens cuts to NYC public health system. The city’s health department is particularly vulnerable.

healthbeat.org

Whopper Wednesday and this week's Whopper is about Kennedy's recent interest in American biomedical leadership, while the administration, with his help, does more to dismantle the US research capacity than any administration in modern history.

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Claims We’ll Lead Medical Discovery – and Cuts Research | Defend Public Health

This week's Whopper is about RFK Jr.'s complicity in dismantling scientific agencies and his recent whoppers that “America will lead the next generation of medical discovery."

defendpublichealth.org

@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social & @jimalwine.bsky.social explain why MAGA health policy = eugenics

MAGA Eugenics Should Alarm Us All | Common Dreams

​The end result of GOP cuts to the domestic social safety net and to foreign aid will be the cleansing of people defined by the Trump regime as being useless, needy, and inferior.

commondreams.org

From @drjudystone.bsky.social!

Rural Maternity Care Crisis: Inside A Maine Hospital’s L&D Closure

A profitable rural Maine hospital plans to close labor & delivery, furthering a wave of state-wide maternity closures. What this means for women and communities.

forbes.com

As usual, ProPublica delves into an emerging, crucial situation and explains to us that it's even worse than we imagined. @defendpublichealth.bsky.social @standupforscience.net www.propublica.org/article/fede...

How Trump’s “America First” Administration Could Shut U.S. Scientists Out of the Next Nobel-Worthy Discovery

A proposed White House rule would give political appointees unprecedented control over scientific funding. One physicist, who helped discover the Higgs boson, explains how the rule would’ve stifled th...

propublica.org

I just walked @defendpublichealth.bsky.social members through the dangers of CMS’s proposed rule on Medicaid paperwork reqs, which goes even farther than Congress’s draconian not-so-beautiful bill, esp wrt medical frailty. Submit your comment by Friday, 7/31. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Medicaid Program; Community Engagement Requirement for Certain Individuals

This interim final rule with comment period (IFC) interprets and implements the community engagement requirement in Medicaid under section 1902(xx) of the Social Security Act. States are required to i...

federalregister.gov

A Peter Thiel acolyte proposes to take federal research funding away from Universities, destroy their mission, and give the money to venture capital instead. He also wants Universities to hand out PhDs like participation trophies.

White House report says Trump can usher in a "new golden age" of science

The resulting report is a near-random mixture of grievances and real problems.

arstechnica.com

It’s Whopper Wednesday! “When Secretary Kennedy publicly promotes nicotine products, he is signaling that the government will no longer help people quit smoking but will make it easier to get addicted to nicotine.” www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Risks Making Americans Smokers Again | Defend Public Health

This week's Whopper is about RFK Jr.'s abysmal record on tobacco products and smoking cessation. RFK Jr. publicly promotes nicotine products while destroying government funding for cessation programs ...

defendpublichealth.org

The US just surpassed the number of measles cases in 2025 in the first 6.5 months of 2026 🤬 2025 = 2288 cases Jan. 1- July 22, 2026 = 2298 cases with reports of sepsis and brain swelling in hospitalized children. #FireRFKJr @defendpublichealth.bsky.social www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...

Studies Document Brain Swelling, Sepsis in U.S. Measles Outbreaks

Kids and the unvaccinated were most likely to end up hospitalized in South Carolina and Utah

medpagetoday.com

Deep cuts are undermining efforts to end the HIV epidemic, a goal Trump set in 2019 www.statnews.com/2026/07/21/h...

Advocates say federal funding is being cut from groups fighting HIV

The administration is shifting some funding to states, but community groups are set to lose out.

statnews.com

YES AND we'll remember the brave: eg, in the US we'll remember Minnesota’s hugely inspiring fight against Operation Metro Surge & we'll remember the brilliant organized resistance by @standupforscience.net & @defendpublichealth.bsky.social against MAGA/MAHA's destruction of science & public health

Human Rights Index 💙@humanrightsindex.bsky.social · 2w ago

In 30 or 50 years, the period we are living through now will be remembered as the Great Cowardice. That is how it will appear in our grandchildren’s history books.

This has some excellent framing of the public health disaster that is the Trump administration. For example, "Trump is a disease vector." @defendpublichealth.bsky.social

Trump’s latest public health initiative: explosive diarrhea

This administration is the best thing that ever happened to cyclosporiasis.

open.substack.com

By @aetiology.bsky.social: “Such a challenging epidemic requires strong federal leadership, both for rapid response to the outbreak and for timely information so that consumers are educated and can protect themselves. So far, we’ve seen little of that.”

Opinion | Cyclospora cases are spreading. Why don’t we know more about it?

The diarrheal parasite is testing the limits of the Trump-era CDC.

ms.now

“No child should suffer from a vaccine-preventable disease,” said Carol Ferguson, a polio survivor now experiencing post-polio syndrome. “The pain and disability can last a lifetime.” www.cidrap.umn.edu/polio/hundre...

Hundreds of thousands of Americans live with the long-term effects of polio

cidrap.umn.edu

“As cases of Cyclospora-related diarrhea explode, the focus has been on identifying a particular food or ingredient that might be the source of the outbreak. But that narrow focus is short-sighted,missing that there are deeper factors that jeopardize us all.” Insights from @drjudystone.bsky.social

It’s The Water, Not Produce, Likely Driving Cyclospora Outbreaks

Contaminated irrigation or processing water is more likely the source of the Cyclospora outbreak. There are many systemic failures, outlined here.

forbes.com

Thanks so much for following the CDC director hearing with us today! Join us in our fight to Defend Public Health!

Sen Alsobrooks notes that Dr. Schwartz is immensely qualified, but she is worried that Dr. Schwartz will have to compromise her scientific values to do this job, and Alsobrooks warns her of that.

It says a lot that this hearing is about asking candidates to comment on settled science (Vit K, Hep B, Vaccines and autism) rather than how these candidates plan on moving public health and emergency preparedness into the 21st century.

The expertise of these candidates is not coming through. What is coming through are the administration's talking points and core beliefs. This should concern everyone. The CDC serves the nation, not just those who voted for one candidate over another

Read about the host of dangers in the proposed OMB rule highlighted by @defendpublichealth.bsky.social Half a million comments submitted, almost all in opposition to Vought’s plan to politicize grant making. Feels good to organize against 😈! www.defendpublichealth.org/press-releas...

Comments on Grant Rule Flood OMB; Defend Public Health Readies Next Steps | Defend Public Health

Per the tally posted online Monday night, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been flooded with nearly half a million comments, many of which came from members of Defend Public H...

defendpublichealth.org

Dr. Schwartz agrees the US doesn't need to be part of the WHO but supports the Trump Administration's America First Global strategy. We don't know much about this, but we know this isn't a massive worldwide effort to protect public health, period.

Sen Kim notes the low morale at CDC and wonders how the new director will address this: Dr. Schwartz gives an anecdote about her time in the Coast Guard about being trusted in her role, suggesting her first goal would be to develop trust with the career civil servants....that's a non-answer

Tuberville believes kids get too many vaccines in the first few years of life. Ok, we'll bite- what's the evidence for why this number of vaccines is harmful? We will wait (that's right- there isn't any because these are life-saving and effective vaccines )

Dr. Schwartz is asked how she would implement the recommendations of ACIP when they come past her desk? (The ACIP charter states the director makes the change & then informs the HHS Secretary). She really believes that tRFK Jr wouldn't ask her to do anything the ACIP doesn't recommend- RED FLAG