Many Drug Addiction Programs Will Be Discontinued, HHS Draft Budget Says

The New York Times: Trump Budget Draft Ends Narcan Program And Other Addiction Measures.
The opioid overdose reversal medication commercially known as Narcan saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year and is routinely praised by public health experts for contributing to the continuing drop in opioid-related deaths. But the Trump administration plans to terminate a $56 million annual grant program that distributes doses and trains emergency responders in communities across the country to administer them, according to a draft budget proposal. In the document, which outlines details of the drastic reorganization and shrinking planned for the Department of Health and Human Services, the grant is among many addiction prevention and treatment programs to be zeroed out. (Hoffman, 4/25)

More on the budget cuts and funding freeze —

The New York Times: F.D.A. Scientists Are Reinstated At Agency Food Safety Labs
Federal health officials have reversed the decision to fire a few dozen scientists at the Food and Drug Administration’s food-safety labs, and say they are conducting a review to determine if other critical posts were cut. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the rehirings and said that several employees would also be restored to the offices that deal with Freedom of Information requests, an area that was nearly wiped out. (Jewett, 4/25)

The Boston Globe: Amid Trump Cuts, How Will Labs Make Up For Lost Research Funding?
The funding geyser that propelled US medical advances for much of the past century may be drying up as the Trump administration pulls back federal research money from Harvard University and other New England institutions that have been reliable engines of discovery and innovation. Yet as labs scramble for alternative funding sources — from foundations, industry, even their university hosts — there’s little hope, in the short term, that those players can fill the gaps resulting from White House rollbacks. (Gokee, Saltzman and Weisman, 4/28)

Bloomberg: Global Race To Lure US Researchers Intensifies After Trump Funding Cuts
A global race to recruit US scientists is heating up as President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to research funding and federal agencies trigger an exodus from the country’s research institutions. Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Australia are among nations offering incentives — including funding, streamlined immigration pathways and competitive relocation packages — to entice scientists facing mounting uncertainty at home. (Gale, 4/27)

NBC News: Health Program For 9/11 Illnesses Faces Uncertain Future After Federal Staffing Cuts 
More than 23 years after the Twin Towers collapsed, blanketing lower Manhattan in toxic dust and debris, the number of people diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses is still growing. Since 2011, the main resource for people exposed to the fumes has been the World Trade Center Health Program, which covers treatment for cancer, asthma and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other health conditions. (Bendix, 4/26)

Stat: Trump's Tariffs Hit Surgical Robots, Medical Device Companies 
President Trump’s tariffs are adding hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to individual medical device firms and diagnostic companies. The biggest manufacturers are relatively unbothered by it. (Herman, 4/28)

AP: Trump 100 Days: Public Health
At the Department of Health and Human Services, 10,000 jobs are gone. Billions of dollars in research sent to scientists and universities was shut off. Public meetings to discuss flu shots and other vaccines have been canceled. Fluoride in drinking water may be the next to go, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy has done a blitz of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign at day cares, schools and health centers around the country where he has promised to work with Trump’s other agency leaders to prohibit soda from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, limit dyes in the food supply and call for fluoride to be removed from drinking water. (Seitz, 4/27)

Also —

CNN: 3 Children Who Are US Citizens — Including One With Cancer — Deported With Their Mothers To Honduras, Lawyers And Advocacy Groups Say 
Three children who are US citizens were deported to Honduras with their mothers last week, including a 4-year-old receiving treatment for metastatic cancer, according to the families’ attorneys and civil rights and immigration advocacy organizations. (Andone, 4/27)

The 19th: What Rights Do LGBTQ+ Families Have In Trump’s Second Term?
Many LGBTQ+ parents don’t feel safe in the United States, according to a new survey. A third of LGBTQ+ parents in the U.S. recently surveyed by the market research company Kantar, in partnership with DIVA Charitable Trust and The Curve Foundation, don’t feel like they have the same legal rights as other families. Although 63 percent of those parents are legally married, the many benefits of a legal union still don’t outweigh the hurdles that LGBTQ+ parents face when raising a family. (Rummler, 4/25)

KFF Health News: RFK Jr. Exaggerates Share Of Autistic Population With Severe Limitations
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attracted notice — and in some quarters, outrage — for remarks about autism, a topic he’s clashed with scientists about for years. Kennedy held an April 16 press conference pegged to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that found the prevalence of autism rising to 1 in 31 among 8-year-olds, the latest in a series of increases in recent decades. Kennedy said “autism destroys families” and is an “individual tragedy as well.” (Jacobson, 4/28)