Category: Politics and Regulation

2026: State Legislatures as Vectors of Health Misinformation and Anti-Science

Anti-science health legislation doesn't just reflect misinformation; it institutionalizes it, cementing false beliefs into population-level risks.

/ February 12, 2026
A close-up of the back of a person wearing a vest labeled "POLICE ICE," indicating they are part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The background is blurred.

The ICEmen Cometh

The potential effects of the current ICE actions on public health

/ February 10, 2026
Chemical structure diagram of cyclosporine, showing a complex cyclic peptide with multiple amino acid residues, double bonds, and distinct functional groups including amides, methyl groups, and hydroxyl groups.

The peptide craze sweeping America has a fan in RFK Jr

This could lead to less FDA oversight just when more is needed

/ February 9, 2026
Jayanta Bhattacharya (Podcast Jay) being interviewed by Ross Douthat.

Lysenkoism 2.0 continues: Podcast Jay wants to turn NIH into the “research arm” of MAHA

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya has recently said that he wants to transform the NIH into the "research arm of MAHA" and a "central driver of the MAHA agenda." Lysenkoism 2.0 continues apace at NIH.

/ February 2, 2026
Large factory chimneys releasing thick smoke into the air, with industrial buildings and ships in the foreground under a cloudy sky, indicating heavy air pollution.

The Health Effects of Air Pollution

Air pollution remains a grave threat to human health, but MAHA is doing nothing about it.

/ January 28, 2026
Alfred E. Neuman. What, me worry?

RFK Jr. is definitely coming for your vaccines (part 7): What, me worry (about polio and HPV)?

Last week was a hellscape for vaccines, with a RICO lawsuit against the AAP and the newly antivax CDC coming for your HPV and polio vaccines.

/ January 26, 2026
A man speaks at a podium with the presidential seal, surrounded by six people in formal attire, standing in a room with wooden doors and a large painting on the wall behind them.

MAHA Gave Us MAGA 2.0.  Remember the Enablers.

When the history of this sad era is written, MAHA doctors will be disgraced pariahs and cautionary tales.  Everyone else should be remembered based only on whether they tried to put the brakes on MAHA/MAGA however they could or whether they slammed the accelerator.

/ January 23, 2026
The World Health Organization logo features a blue globe with a staff and snake symbol, surrounded by olive branches, next to the blue text "World Health Organization.

The World Health Organization on Traditional Medicine

The World Health Organization updated their guidelines on "traditional medicine." Unfortunately, as has been the case in the past the WHO tends to be far too credulous about unproven and disproven treatments.

/ January 21, 2026
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.)

RFK Jr. is definitely coming for your vaccines (part 6): Liability, ethics, and policy-based evidence making

As 2026 dawns, look for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ramp up his assault on vaccines using policy-based evidence making and altering Vaccine Court standards.

/ January 19, 2026
Charlton Heston as George Taylor in The Planet of the Apes.

It’s a madhouse! Public health under the heirs to Lysenko (and Dr. Zaius) in 2025

As 2025 barrels towards its depressing conclusion, I look back at the damage federal science and medicine have sustained thus far under Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. through the lens of a classic film. Truly, it's a madhouse, in which our federal science apparatus is run by Lysenko's heirs.

/ December 29, 2025