Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Remaining Members Of Presidential HIV/AIDS Advisory Council Fired En Masse
The Washington Post: Trump Administration Fires All Members Of HIV/AIDS Advisory Council
The remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS were fired en masse this week. Months after a half-dozen members resigned in protest of the Trump administration's position on health policies, the White House dismissed the rest through a form letter. The notice “thanked me for my past service and said that my appointment was terminated, effective immediately,” said Patrick Sullivan, an epidemiologist at Emory University who works on HIV testing programs. He was appointed to a four-year term in May 2016. (Guarino, 12/29)
The Hill: Trump Terminates HIV/AIDS Advisory Panel Members As He Seeks Replacements
PACHA was formed by former President Clinton, with the primary duty of providing advice, information and recommendations to the administration on ways to promote treatment, prevention and cure of HIV/AIDS. The terminations come after six members of the council resigned this summer, saying that Trump doesn't care about HIV. (Hellmann,12/29)
In other news from the Trump administration —
The New York Times: F.D.A. Leaves Tainted Foods On Shelves Too Long, Report Finds
The Food and Drug Administration is not moving quickly enough to ensure that contaminated food is removed from store shelves, despite being given the necessary authority, federal investigators have concluded. The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services examined 30 of 1,557 food recalls between 2012 and 2015. The investigators found that the F.D.A. did not always evaluate food-borne hazards in a timely manner or ensure that companies initiated recalls promptly, leaving consumers at risk. (Kaplan, 12/27)
The New York Times: E.P.A. Wanted Years To Study Lead Paint Rule. It Got 90 Days.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to revise its nearly 17-year-old standard for dangerous levels of lead in paint and dust within one year, a rare legal move that amounts to a sharp rebuff of President Trump and Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator. The decision also called attention to the persistent threat of lead paint to children in millions of American homes, four decades after the federal government banned it from households. (Friedman, 12/27)
