RFK Jr picks new US vaccine committee after sacking previous members
Kennedy named the new members as Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross to the committee. Some of new members are close allies of Kennedy and have histories of vaccine scepticism.Kennedy praised the new members in his accouncement, saying this slate includes "highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians", he said in his post. "All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense," the health secretary added. On Monday, Kennedy announced in a Wall Street Journal editorial that he was "retiring" all 17 members of the Acip over conflicts of interest. Eight of the 17 panellists were appointed in January 2025, in the last days of President Biden's term.He noted that if he did not remove the committee members, President Trump would not have been able to appoint a majority on the panel until 2028."The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine," Kennedy wrote.However, critics and former members said the board adhered to rigorous conflict of interest and ethical standards. Kennedy claimed that health authorities and drug companies were responsible for a "crisis of public trust" that some try to explain "by blaming misinformation or antiscience attitudes."After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves vaccines based on whether the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks, Acip recommends which groups should be given the shots and when, which also determines insurance coverage of the shots.
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Times
19 minutes ago
- Times
Trump tariffs' explosive problem: 99% of fireworks made in China
The fireworks industry is fretting that President Trump's tariffs on China will dampen their big blowout next year when Americans celebrate 250 years of independence. Ninety-nine per cent of consumer fireworks and 90 per cent of professional display fireworks come from China. Even the most impressive July 4 displays — on the National Mall in Washington and Macy's show in New York — are reliant on Chinese imports. 'These large signature events — probably 75 to 80 per cent of the product for those shows is manufactured in China,' said Julie Heckman, director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. 'The rest is going to come from Spain, Italy, France and Japan.' Heckman said planned displays in Washington and New York may be 'shortened' in 2026 to cut costs if the 30 per cent tariff remains. She said shows in small American towns could be cancelled altogether, especially if tariffs are returned to the 145 per cent rate imposed by Trump earlier this year. 'If the tariffs increase again to triple digits, small towns aren't going to be able to afford a show,' Heckman said. Fireworks for this year's displays were mostly purchased before Trump's tariffs hit, meaning the shows are largely going ahead as planned. But Lauren Collar, 43, a second-generation firework seller from Missouri, said her family business had to absorb the costs of tariffs this year and predicts shortages in 2026. 'We prepare an order 12 to 18 months in advance,' she said. 'We're uncertain what to do. You could see smaller communities not even shooting fireworks, because they just can't afford it.' Collar said it would take US manufacturers 'a decade' to set up pyrotechnics factories like those in China and even then most of the raw material would be imported and subject to tariffs. 'We're hopeful that the administration will understand our special circumstances and maybe we can get a partial exemption,' she said. Firecrackers were invented in the city of Liuyang, central China, during the Tang dynasty. By stuffing a concoction of charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre into hollowed-out bamboo stalks, Chinese artisans discovered that they could create a satisfying bang. More than 1,200 years later, the province of Hunan still makes fireworks for the rest of the world. For defenders of Trump's protectionist agenda, the simple answer would be to scrap the 1970s health and safety laws that effectively ended small-scale manufacturing in the US, allowing America's firework industry to compete once again with China. But even if these protections were weakened, it is not clear whether Americans would be willing to work in factories adopting Chinese health and safety standards. 'Fireworks are all made by hand. Very little automation is involved,' said Heckman. 'You're dealing with explosive compositions that are highly sensitive to heat, high humidity and friction. It's a very dangerous job.' Fireworks manufacturing is a dangerous business, and accidents are common YANG HUAFENG/CHINA NEWS SERVICE/VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES Earlier this month, nine people were killed in Hunan province by an explosion at a fireworks factory and accidents in China are fairly common. America's pyrotechnicians are hoping Trump's trade war with China will end soon. 'The firework industry is the most patriotic industry in the United States and wants nothing more than to be a significant component of helping America celebrate our 250th anniversary in 2026,' Heckman said. 'But the firework industry needs some relief … in these tariffs to make it happen.'
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Vatican leak undermines Pope Francis and inflames debate over Latin Mass
The debate surrounding the traditional Latin Mass within the Catholic Church has intensified significantly in the early days of Pope Leo XIV 's pontificate. It follows the alleged leak of Vatican documents that appear to contradict the rationale behind his predecessor Pope Francis 's restrictions on the ancient liturgy. These documents reportedly indicate that a majority of Catholic bishops who participated in a 2020 Vatican survey expressed general satisfaction with the Latin Mass. Crucially, they warned that imposing restrictions would "do more harm than good". The texts, originating from the Vatican's doctrine office, were posted online on Tuesday by Vatican reporter Diane Montagna, who has closely followed the Latin Mass dispute. Neither the Vatican spokesman nor the prefect of the doctrine office immediately responded to requests for comment or confirmation of the documents' authenticity on Wednesday. If verified, the leaked information could place considerable pressure on Pope Leo to address the liturgical divisions that became particularly pronounced during Pope Francis's 12-year papacy, especially within the United States. Leo has consistently stated that his primary aim is to foster unity and reconciliation within the Church, and many conservatives and traditionalists view the Latin Mass controversy as an urgent matter requiring resolution. In one of his most controversial acts, Francis in 2021 reversed Pope Benedict XVI 's signature liturgical legacy and restricted access for ordinary Catholics to the old Latin Mass. The ancient liturgy was celebrated around the world before the modernising reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which allowed Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular, with the priest facing the pews. Francis said he was cracking down on the spread of the old liturgy because Benedict's decision in 2007 to relax restrictions had become a source of division in the church. Francis said at the time that he was responding to 'the wishes expressed' by bishops around the world who had responded to the Vatican survey, as well as the Vatican doctrine office's own opinion. 'The responses reveal a situation that preoccupies and saddens me, and persuades me of the need to intervene,' Francis wrote at the time. Benedict's relaxation had been "exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division', he said. The documents posted online, however, paint a different picture. They suggest that the majority of bishops who responded to the Vatican survey had a generally favourable view of Benedict's reform and warned that suppressing or weakening it would lead traditionalist Catholics to leave the church and join schismatic groups. They warned any changes 'would seriously damage the life of the church, as it would recreate the tensions that the document had helped to resolve'. The documents include a five-page 'overall assessment' of the survey findings, written by the Vatican's doctrine office, as well as a seven-page compilation of quotes from individual bishops or bishops' conferences. The documents contain some negative and neutral opinions, and say some bishops considered Benedict's reform 'inappropriate, disturbing', dangerous and worthy of suppression. But the Vatican's own assessment said the majority of bishops who responded expressed satisfaction. It cited the rise in religious vocations in traditionalist communities and said young Catholics in particular were drawn to the 'sacredness, seriousness and solemnity of the liturgy'. It is not clear what other evidence, anecdotes or documentation informed Francis's decision to reverse Benedict. But from the very start, Francis was frequently critical of traditionalist Catholics, whom he accused of being navel-gazing retrogrades out of touch with the evangelising mission of the church in the 21st century. The new documents have comforted traditionalists who felt attacked and abandoned by Francis. 'The new revelations confirms that Pope Francis restricted the Traditional Mass at the request of only a minority of bishops, and against the advice of the dicastery in charge of the subject,' Joseph Shaw, of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, said. 'The majority view of the bishops, that restricting the TLM would cause more harm than good, has sadly been proved correct.' In an email, he said Leo should address the issue 'urgently'.
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
$10 billion Trump boost for Musk's rival delivers fresh setback
President Donald Trump is just one stroke of a pen away from handing another major blow to Elon Musk's plans for space exploration. On Tuesday, the US Senate passed its version of the 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' a massive piece of spending and tax cut legislation, which also set aside $10 billion for NASA's Artemis program. Artemis aims to return humans to the moon and establish a permanent US presence there by the end of the decade. Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has been a vocal opponent of continued funding for missions to the moon, repeatedly lobbying for the Trump Administration and NASA to focus on colonizing Mars. If signed into law by Trump, the allotment to NASA would primarily go to pay for the Space Launch System (SLS), which utilizes single-use rockets to send the Artemis vehicles to the moon. The SLS rockets completely fly in the face of Musk's vision for space travel, as his company mainly relies on reusable rockets during crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS). Before their very public falling out in May, it seemed as though Musk had convinced the president to phase out SLS rockets, with Trump proposing to slash NASA's budget and replace the SLS after Artemis' third planned mission in 2027. However, the new Republican-led megabill has reprioritized the moon missions and left Musk's dream of a crewed mission to Mars out on the White House lawn. Musk, the former head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, has blasted both the use of billion-dollar, single-use rockets and the president's controversial spending bill as a waste of taxpayer money. 'Fundamental issue with SLS is that it's not reusable, which means that a billion-dollar rocket is blown up every launch!' the billionaire wrote on X in 2020. On June 3, Musk called the Big, Beautiful Bill a 'disgusting abomination' and urged Americans to contact their representatives to oppose it, citing how it would leave the US budget with more 'crushing' debt. Later that month, he described the Senate's draft of the spending bill as 'utterly insane and destructive' and 'political [self-murder]' for the Republican Party. Musk also claimed that Trump signing the bill would destroy millions of jobs and harm industries of the future while favoring outdated ones. Despite his ongoing objections, the Big, Beautiful Bill will pay for the increasingly expensive disposable rockets, which NASA's Inspector General estimated will now cost as much as $2.5 billion per use. Through the 2025 fiscal year, NASA has already spent $93 billion on the Artemis program, with most of that money going towards the rockets, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, and a 'Human Landing System' so the astronauts can reach the moon's surface. Since the start of the Artemis program in 2019, only the unmanned Artemis I test flight in 2022 has reached space. The next mission, Artemis II, is scheduled for 2026, with Artemis III to follow in 2027. Roughly $2.6 billion of the funds would be allocated to the Lunar Gateway, a planned space station that will orbit the moon and help sustain NASA's future Artemis missions. Approximately, $20 million will go to the Orion spacecraft, specifically for building the fourth crew capsule for Artemis IV in 2028 and future lunar missions after that. If Trump signs this current version of the spending bill, he'll also be reviving a program he and Musk previously looked to kill before their friendship unraveled. The new funding includes $700 million for a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, which would support Martian core sample return missions. That project has already cost NASA billions as the agency has aimed to bring rock samples collected by the Martian rovers back to Earth to be studied. However, Trump's May 1 spending proposal for NASA slashed $6 billion from their budget, which would have paid for that research. Following the Senate's passage of the bill, that money is back in NASA's pockets. Another $1.25 billion would go to operating costs on the ISS, money that was also slashed by the president and Musk earlier this year. It's not all bad news for Musk, however, as SpaceX is still slated to receive $325 million to build a spacecraft that will help de-orbit the ISS by the end of the decade. The decommissioning of the ISS has been another of Musk's major talking points when it comes to space exploration. The head of SpaceX has even called for the de-orbiting mission to be moved up to 2027, citing safety concerns raised by a former physicist and engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In June 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX a $843 million contract to build the deorbit vehicle, or USDV, that will be used to safely guide the ISS into the Pacific Ocean by 2030.
