Whopper of the Week: Food Dyes: RFK Jr. Talks Big, Does Little | Defend Public Health In April 2025, Kennedy promised to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply in order to restore “gold-standard science” and “earn back the public’s trust.” Since then he has made little headway and has walked back tough talk about bans on dyes in favor of voluntary commitments from the food industry while deregulating food labeling to broaden the products that can claim to contain “no artificial colors.” Faced with industry opposition, Kennedy is proving weak.

It's time for the #RFKJr Whopper of the Week: Food Dyes: RFK Jr. Talks Big, Does Little www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whopper-week-foo...

C.D.C. Cancels Publication of Study Showing Benefits of Covid Vaccines

The acting head of the CDC has canceled the publication of a study that found that the Covid vaccine sharply cut the odds of hospitalizations and emergency visits last winter

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...

You ever try to code switch at work and fail? 😂

MedPage Today Kennedy Tangles With Lawmakers Over Vitamin K Shots, Vaccines for Newborns — "I've never been anti-vax," the health secretary said by Joyce Frieden, Washington Editor, MedPage Today April 21, 2026 • 4 min read

🤥 It’s a huge LIE when RFK Jr says “I’ve never been anti-vaxx”

For decades he’s been the world’s most extreme, dangerous anti-vaxxer

LIE: when he said that women vaccinated against HPV have a HIGHER risk of cervical cancer

LIE: when he said Covid vaccines are the “deadliest vaccines” in history

Worldwide flu outbreak killed 45,000 American Soldiers during World War I In September 1918 there were two killers in the world. World War I, which would claim 20 million lives by its end, and the flu pandemic known as the Spanish Flu, is estimated to have killed between at...

~53,000 military personnel died in combat in WW1. ~45,000 other soldiers died from the flu. #PeteHegseth may be ignorant of history, careless about the lives of those in uniform, but the army remembers. www.army.mil/article/2104...

Is someone going to tell him that the flu killed more US troops in WWI than any battle did (and that war had chemical weapons so horrific that they were banned afterwards)?

RFK Jr. just said in a hearing that vaccination rates in the U.S. went down “because the government lied to them about COVID”.

He blithely ignores that under his “leadership”, the government is lying to us NOW. Vaccination rates and trust in the government have plummeted since he was installed.

Representative Dingell (D, Michigan) just said in RFK Jr.‘s hearing that she asked the family of a child with measles why they didn’t vaccinate.

They answered “because we’re listening to the government”.

Stepping Away Doing the right thing

Mike Reid, #PEPFAR chief science officer, is resigning due to the administration’s transactional approach to #globalhealth reimaginingglobalhealth.substack.com/p/stepping-a...

Opinion | The Trump Administration Is Coming After Birth Control Access in a Terrifying New Way

“The Trump administration is coming after birth control access in a terrifying new way” 👇www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/opinion/trump...

NIH grantmaking plummeting under Trump

How many people will die from diseases that would otherwise have been preventable

Washington Post article on STEM cuts at federal agencies. NSF tops it at -42%!

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.”

OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.)

NSF at -42%!

RFK Jr. grilled over vaccines, MAHA in back-to-back hearings: Key takeaways House members got their first opportunity Thursday to grill Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as he kicked off a marathon series of seven congressional hearings in seven da…

Sánchez questioned Kennedy: “One thing I find incredible is that you suspended this pro-vaccine messaging campaign, but somehow you’re spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock,” Sánchez said. “And somehow you think that’s a better public health message.”

Whopper of the Week: When RFK Jr.’s Uncle Was President, Americans Were Not Healthier | Defend Public Health Secretary Kennedy frequently says that Americans were healthier and had fewer chronic diseases in the1960s but the data are mixed and in some ways Americans are healthier than their grandparents. The ...

www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...

Protect Our Care publishes scathing report of Kennedy’s tenure ahead of congressional hearing marathon The progressive health care advocacy group Protect Our Care is releasing a highly critical review of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first 14 months in office ahea…

Protect Our Care publishes scathing report of Kennedy’s tenure ahead of congressional hearing marathon
thehill.com/policy/healt...

No One Knows Where US Vaccine Policy Goes Next Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping changes to federal vaccine guidance are paused for now. But even if they’re reversed, lasting damage has already been done.

The fate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s sweeping changes to federal vaccine guidance remains to be seen, but public health experts say that lasting damage has already been done.

With comments from @drsyramadad.bsky.social and @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social:

www.wired.com/story/no-one...

As HHS Rails Against Science Politicization, Leading Agency Officials Embrace Right-Wing Political Action The surprising number of public health officials at CPAC last month highlights what critics say is a disturbing trend.

Critical reporting by @walkerbragman.bsky.social on Jay Bhattacharya and the right-wing politicization of HHS and NIH.

@jeremymberg.bsky.social and I were pleased to share our thoughts on the matter…which are more important than ever, given NASEM.

www.importantcontext.news/p/as-hhs-rai...

JAMA viewpoint article "The First AI Drug Prescriber" by Daniel G. Aaron, MD, JD@1 and Christopher Robertson, JD, PhD@2. Published online April 13, 2026. doi: 10.1001/jama.2026.3533.

💬 Viewpoint: Utah authorized the first autonomous #AI drug prescriber for nearly 200 medications, bypassing physician oversight and FDA review, raising questions about safety and regulatory gaps.

ja.ma/4cGSoxO

RFK Jr. Launching Podcast to Spread Falsehoods
www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...

The deaths caused by the Trump administration are in the millions and will echo into the future

Dr. Dan Edney No Longer Under Consideration for CDC Head, Will Remain Mississippi’s Top Doc Dr. Dan Edney, Mississippi’s State Health Officer and a proponent of vaccines, is no longer a candidate to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Dr. Dan Edney, Mississippi’s State Health Officer, is no longer a candidate to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

He faced opposition from allies of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his strong support for vaccines and medical science.

buff.ly/gIkknM8

to be clear, rfk jr. is using fake medical astroturf orgs with real-sounding names to try and circumvent the courts/the law (FACA)

Opinion | NASA Flew by the Moon, but Behind the Scenes, Its Science Is a Chaotic Mess

The images of Earth from Artemis are amazing. But if we destroy our ability to understand (and live on) our planet, all they are is pretty pictures

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/o...

My back of the envelope calculation is that RFK Jr.’s new podcast will be an abundant source for @defendpublichealth.bsky.social Whopper of the Week content for approximately 75-100 years.

@benecal.bsky.social
@miriam2024.bsky.social
@brucemirken.mas.to.ap.brid.gy

Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.’s War on Public Health Is Framed as “Restoring Trust” | Defend Public Health For National Public Health Week, we look at Secretary Kennedy’s claims to be “restoring trust” in public health. Unfortunately, he is doing the opposite and weakening America’s scientific, medical, an...

This is going to be just *exhausting* for the intrepid band of debunkers at @defendpublichealth.bsky.social who write a weekly column on RFK's disinformation... @benecal.bsky.social www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...

NASA's Artemis II Live Mission Coverage (Official Broadcast) YouTube video by NASA

This is so cool, during the lunar flyby the astronauts are just looking out the windows, taking pictures, and describing stuff they see back to the science team at mission control. Like this is a critical component of the scientific mission, "I see a thing!" and then others will analyze it.

Or read Fahrenheit 451

Trump admin moves Title X family planning program away from contraception, towards conception New guidance, and the promise of a new rule, are expected to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood starting in 2027.

BREAKING: The White House today proposed eliminating the Title X family planning program.

A few hours later, the health dept quietly released guidance that would shift the focus of the program millions of low-income people rely on away from contraception and toward "family formation."