Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Ultra-Processed Foods Require Better FDA Research; How Will RFK Jr. Perform In New Job?
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. And, unfortunately, the food we eat is only solidifying America鈥檚 tragic title: We have the lowest life expectancy among large high-income countries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking a number of steps to help people in the U.S. build healthy diets 鈥 including with respect to ultra-processed foods 鈥 and the food industry and research community should, too. (Robert M. Califf, Haider J. Warraich and Jim Jones, 11/15)
President-elect Donald Trump has named Robert Kennedy Jr. as his pick for secretary of health and human services. This was not my desired outcome. Like many liberals and health care providers, I鈥檝e been alarmed at Mr. Kennedy鈥檚 dubious claims about public health and science. (Rachel Bedard, 11/15)
Each of Donald Trump鈥檚 most provocative Cabinet picks has been a calculated punch in the mouth to experts, elites and bureaucrats in Washington鈥檚 government agencies. But his decision to let Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist, 鈥済o wild鈥 on health and medicines as health and human services secretary is his most shocking attempt yet at an anti-establishment tear-down. (Stephen Collinson, 11/15)
The 2024 election results will have vast consequences for health policy, but one of the less visible effects will be to once again disrupt how the federal government regulates diagnostic tests. (Walter G. Johnson, 11/15)
One priority should be to deregulate medical trials. America is now in a golden age of medical discovery, with mRNA vaccines, anti-malaria vaccines, GLP-1 weight loss drugs and new treatments against cancer all showing great promise. AI may bring about still more advances. Unfortunately, the US system of clinical trials remains a major obstacle to turning all this science into medicine. There are regulations concerning hospital protocols, the design of the trials, FDA requirements, the procedures of universities and institutional review boards, and the handling of data, among other barriers. America can have better and speedier approval procedures without lowering its standards. (Tyler Cowen, 11/15)
