Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Will Reveal $3 Billion Plan To Replace Hazardous Lead Pipes
The Hill: Biden To Announce $3 Billion To Replace Lead Pipes
President Biden will announce Thursday that his administration will be doling out $3 billion in funds to replace lead pipes, which can pose a health hazard. Biden will announce the funds, part of a total of $15 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, during a trip to Wilmington, N.C., to replace these pipes. (Frazin, 5/2)
NBC News: FDA Misses Own Deadline To Propose Ban On Cancer-Linked Formaldehyde From Hair Relaxers
A proposal to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products that was scheduled to take place in April has not been released by the Food and Drug Administration, disregarding the agency’s own deadline. The proposal had come after wide-ranging studies found an association between some of the ingredients in hair-smoothing and hair-straightening products, which are used mostly by Black women, and cancer. (Garcia, Lovelace Jr. and Griffith, 5/1)
Roll Call: Navy In Court Over Pearl Harbor Water Contamination
Not since the dark day at Pearl Harbor that drew America into World War II has there been so much trouble in paradise, as the U.S. naval base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu is sometimes described. A gusher of jet fuel that leaked into the base’s drinking water in November 2021 led to a lawsuit that forced the Navy to admit it was negligent in maintaining the gigantic fuel tanks built into a mountain at the start of the war, in a depot known as the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. (Magner, 5/1)
On nutrition policy —
The Hill: Potatoes Will Remain Classified As A Vegetable, Not A Grain, Collins Says
Spuds won’t be considered a starch following protests from more than a dozen senators. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she received assurances Wednesday that potatoes will not be reclassified as a grain, a move she feared would give the impression that one of Maine’s key crops is unhealthy. “I am pleased Secretary Vilsack called me personally to tell me that the USDA has no intention of reclassifying potatoes and recognizes that potatoes are, in fact, a vegetable.” (Beitsch, 5/1)
The Wall Street Journal: Would Nutrition Labels On The Front Of Food Packages Make You Eat Healthier?
Would you still eat your snack if it came with a warning label? As part of the government’s quest to improve American eating habits, the Food and Drug Administration is considering requiring food manufacturers to put new labels on the front of packages. The labels might flag certain health risks, such as high levels of salt, sugar or saturated fat. (Petersen and Newman, 4/30)
On medical research —
The Hill: GOP Wants Research Group Barred From Federal Funding Over COVID Work With Wuhan
A key House committee investigating the origins of COVID-19 wants a scientific research group to be barred from receiving federal funds and criminally investigated over its president’s work with a lab in Wuhan, China. A GOP staff report released Wednesday from the majority in the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic found that EcoHealth Alliance used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate high-risk research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the Chinese lab at the center of the lab leak theory. (Weixel, 5/1)
KFF Health News & Politifact: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is Wrong About A Ban On NIH Research About Mass Shootings
The National Institutes of Health is the federal government’s main agency for supporting medical research. Is it barred from researching mass shootings? That’s what presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said recently. Kennedy, whose statements about conspiracy theories earned him PolitiFact’s 2023 “Lie of the Year,” is running as an independent third-party candidate against President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic candidate, and the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. (Jacobson, 5/2)
