Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Permits Zyn To Market Nicotine Pouches As Safer Alternative To Cigarettes
Axios: Exclusive: FDA Allows ZYN Pouches To Market Relative Health Benefits
The Food and Drug Administration will announce today that it will allow Zyn nicotine pouches to be marketed as less harmful to human health than cigarettes. The FDA will allow 20 Zyn products to be marketed with the claim that "using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis." That's a win for Philip Morris International, the parent company of Zyn manufacturer Swedish Match, which has previously argued that adult smokers need accurate information about the relative risks of different products. (Owens, 6/30)
In other FDA news —
HealthDay: From Caffeine To 'Healthy' Labeling, FDA Sets Year-End Agenda For US Food Supply
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the food supply issues it seeks to tackle by year’s end. The FDA’s Human Food Program aims to prevent foodborne illness, reduce diet-related chronic disease and ensure chemicals in food are safe. Its proposed agenda, announced June 29, emphasizes more information for consumers about what’s inside their food, reduced health risks and clarification on how certain foods are marketed. (Neff, 6/30)
More health news from the Trump administration —
AP: Trump Administration Suspends Funding For New York's Medicaid Fraud Unit
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would freeze federal funding for New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a state agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting fraud in the safety-net government healthcare program. In a letter sent to New York officials, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Thomas March Bell accused the state of not securing enough criminal indictments and convictions and said millions of dollars in funding would be suspended through at least Sept. 30. (Swenson and Mulvihill, 6/30)
Stat: NIH All Of Us Research Program Taps Health Records To Fill Gaps
A boundary-pushing federal health research program has secured thousands of electronic medical records as it aims to plug gaps in its data, through an innovative use of patient data-sharing networks primarily used to coordinate clinical care. (Palmer, 6/30)
AP: Could Feds' Changes Put More People With Disabilities In Institutions?
For decades, disabled people have fought for their rights to go to school and live alongside peers without disabilities — rights that some fear could be losing ground under the Trump administration. Last month, the Education Department announced it would offload oversight of special education to the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose comments on the limits of disabilities such as autism have drawn sharp rebukes from advocates and lawmakers. Meanwhile, following a White House push to police homelessness, the Department of Justice released guidance that lowered the barrier to institutionalizing any person with a disability. (Ma, 7/1)
ProPublica: ACLU: Violent Policing Continues In Cities Where Trump DOJ Abandoned Reform
Last year, when the Trump Justice Department dropped its oversight of troubled police departments in cities such as Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, it argued that the reform efforts were “factually unjustified.” But according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union, officers in those places were continuing to engage in the very behaviors that attracted federal scrutiny in the first place, including using excessive — and dangerous — force against people experiencing mental health crises. (Sanders, 6/30)
Stat: How The Alcohol Lobby Shapes Health Policy
Len Lichtenfeld had a long-overdue apology to make. He was haunted in late 2024 by an exchange with a New York Times reporter almost a decade earlier, during which Lichtenfeld defended the American Cancer Society’s official stance that a drink or two a day was safe, even for cancer prevention. (Cueto and Facher, 7/1)
