Latest news with #HealthandHumanServicesDepartment
Sunday World
2 days ago
- Health
- Sunday World
Trump is making Coca-Cola Mexican again as he announces major ingredient change
Coca-Cola in the US is typically made with high-fructose corn syrup, while the company uses cane sugar in other countries, such as Mexico President Donald Trump is attempting to make US Coca-Cola Mexican again by pushing the beverage company to use real cane sugar, saying, 'It's just better.' Trump announced on Truth Social on Wednesday, 'I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I'd like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You'll see. It's just better!' Coca-Cola in the US is typically made with high-fructose corn syrup, while the company uses cane sugar in other countries, such as Mexico. In a statement, a Coca-Cola representative said, 'We appreciate President Trump's enthusiasm for our iconic Coca‑Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca‑Cola product range will be shared soon.' It comes as the Trump administration works to 'Make America Healthy Again,' a phrase used by Robert F. Kennedy's Health and Human Services Department, that alludes to the president's 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan. Part of the so-called 'Make America Healthy Again' initiative is to end 'America's epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins,' according to a March press release from HHS. While it's claimed high-fructose corn syrup is more harmful than other sugars, a Healthline article last updated in December 2023 said high-fructose corn syrup and regular table sugar have similar effects on a person's health, and both are harmful when consumed excessively. Trump is known for his affinity for Diet Coke, which is made with the artificial sweetener aspartame. In January, Coca-Cola presented Trump with a commemorative Diet Coke bottle. In reaction to Trump's Coca-Cola announcement, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has sparred with Trump most recently over his crackdown on Los Angeles protesters against immigration raids, wrote on X Wednesday, 'Oh thank god! I've totally forgotten about the Epstein files now!' Newsom was referring to documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that the Trump administration vowed to release. Earlier this month, the feds changed their tune, saying there was no suspected client list of powerful people who had partaken in Epstein's crimes. Not only may soda in the US taste different soon but ice cream may as well. Kennedy intends for the Food and Drug Administration to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation's food supply. As a result, a group of 40 ice cream producers, including Turkey Hill and Schwoeppe Dairy, have pledged to remove Red No. 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 by the end of 2027, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. The group accounts for more than 90 percent of the ice cream sold in the U.S. US president Donald Trump at the White House yesterday. Photo: Reuters Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 17th
Axios
3 days ago
- Health
- Axios
RFK Jr. shakes up top staff at health department
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has shaken up his top staff just months into his tenure atop the Health and Human Services Department. Why it matters: Kennedy's time atop the huge federal health bureaucracy has already been marked by tensions with the White House over the measles outbreak, controversial vaccine policy changes and sweeping layoffs and grant cuts. Driving the news: Kennedy this week ousted his chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson after losing confidence in them, CNN first reported, citing sources familiar. An HHS spokesman confirmed Kennedy made a leadership change within the Immediate Office of the Secretary and that HHS' White House Liaison Matt Buckham will serve as Acting Chief of Staff. Buckham was overseeing the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees across the agency. "Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again," the spokesman said.
Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
‘Most serious' kind of plague kills Arizona resident, health officials say
An Arizona resident has died from the 'most serious' form of the plague, health officials said. The person tested positive for pneumonic plague July 11 in Coconino County, the Health and Human Services Department said in a news release. Pneumonic plague is a 'severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium,' health officials said. It's the first reported death related to this form of the plague in Coconino County since 2007, officials said. That year, the person was infected after coming into contact with a dead animal with the disease, officials said. Health officials said it's rare for humans to get the plague as there are about seven cases in the U.S. every year. Because of this, the risk of exposure for the public is low, officials said. People are most commonly infected with three types of the plague: pneumonic, bubonic and septicemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Someone can get pneumonic plague when the bacteria spreads to the lungs while a person is infected with bubonic or septicemic plague, the federal agency said It can also be transmitted when a person inhales the droplets from a sick person or animal. 'Pneumonic plague is the most serious form of the disease and is the only form of plague that can be spread from person to person,' the agency said.
New York Post
10-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Easing cannabis restrictions would set back the ‘Golden Age' . . . and boost China
President Donald Trump is facing a pivotal decision: whether to ease national restrictions on marijuana, a policy shift he hinted at during his 2024 campaign. President Donald Trump is facing a pivotal decision: whether to ease national restrictions on marijuana, a policy shift he hinted at during his 2024 campaign. But a major federal bust this week in Massachusetts — where the FBI arrested seven Chinese nationals connected with a multimillion-dollar pot-growing conspiracy — shows why loosening the rules would be a soft-power disaster. First, some context. Advertisement The federal government, under the Controlled Substances Act, uses a five-part schedule to classify various drugs and other potentially addictive items. Drugs with no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse get listed on Schedule I. That's where marijuana is now placed — right where it belongs. FDA-approved marijuana-based medications are rightly classified on lower schedules. Advertisement Raw weed, however, has no accepted medical use (whatever may be claimed in states that have legalized it), and addiction rates are around 30% and rising, with younger people hit hard. That didn't concern President Joe Biden's Health and Human Services Department, which recommended moving cannabis to Schedule III, the list of drugs with an accepted medical use and a lower risk of abuse. Now celebrities, star athletes and some MAGA influencers are pushing Trump to follow the Biden-era recommendation. But this president — who correctly grasps the multifaceted strategic threat China poses to the United States — should reject their urgings. Advertisement Look at this week's Justice Department charges. Federal law enforcement on Tuesday rolled up a network of marijuana grow houses in Massachusetts and Maine, allegedly run by Chinese nationals and staffed with illegal immigrants pressed into what amounts to indentured servitude. The operations generated millions of dollars in profits, which the growers sank into assets like jewelry, cars and real estate that expanded their criminal enterprise. Chinese criminals played a major role in the US fentanyl crisis by manufacturing the drug's precursor chemicals and selling them to Mexican cartels. Trump slammed China with a 20% tariff over that very fact. Advertisement Marijuana is looking like another big-time business unit for Beijing. But it gets worse: China's communist government appears to have significant links with these criminal weed enterprises. Two Chinese nationals charged with running an illegal grow operation in Maine in 2023 had deep links to the Sijiu Association, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit reportedly connected to China's New York consulate and to the United Front Work Department — the branch of the CCP's Central Committee that handles influence operations abroad. Another report in 2024 tracked the connections of Zhu Di, one of China's top US diplomats, to an Oklahoma cultural association that Sooner State authorities investigated for its links to the illicit weed business. It's beyond clear that Beijing smells the skunky funk of a tactical play against the United States rising from the red-hot marijuana trade. That's what makes rescheduling weed such a risk. Moving marijuana to Schedule III would supercharge the pot market, letting canna-businesses take regular deductions — including on advertising — at tax time, and easing their access to banking and credit. In other words, it would be a major step towards commercially normalizing Big Weed, and a massive boost for Chinese organized criminals with apparent CCP connections. Advertisement Worse — as New York has seen firsthand — far from eliminating the drug dealers, a juiced-up legal weed market leads to a bigger illegal market. Post-legalization in the Empire State, New York City alone contains an estimated 3,600 illegal pot stores, dwarfing the mere dozens of legal ones. California and Michigan have seen a similar trend. That's yet another way rescheduling would hand an unforced victory to China, which is already elbow-deep in illegal weed operations stateside. The worst part is that there's no domestic benefit to this tradeoff. Advertisement If weed goes on Schedule III, it will do nothing except help addiction profiteers get rich — and damage public health irreparably, even as a flood of new data confirms that marijuana is as bad as it gets for users' mental and physical well-being. Heart disease, schizophrenia, dementia, even tooth rot: Weed truly is the drug that does it all. Yes, the American public seems to be waking up. Every state considering recreational marijuana at the ballot box in 2024 rejected it. Advertisement But Trump should remember that Beijing will exploit any and every policy misstep we make to the utmost. That's as true of spy balloons as it is of public-health policies with nothing but negative domestic implications. Rescheduling marijuana would put Americans last, at home and abroad — and usher in the very opposite of the Golden Age the president has so memorably promised. Kevin Sabet is president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former White House drug policy adviser.
NBC News
08-07-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Judge temporarily pauses Trump administration's Planned Parenthood funding ban
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from barring Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood under a provision of Republicans' sweeping tax and spending package. Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued the temporary restraining order, directing the Health and Human Services Department to "take all steps necessary to ensure that Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed in the customary manner and timeframes" to Planned Parenthood. The order will remain in effect for 14 days, and the judge will hear arguments on July 21 on whether to grant a longer pause on a provision of the administration's "big, beautiful bill," which President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday. "We're grateful that the court acted swiftly to block this unconstitutional law attacking Planned Parenthood providers and patients," Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah said in a joint statement. "Already, in states across the country, providers and health center staff have been forced to turn away patients who use Medicaid to get basic sexual and reproductive health care because President Trump and his backers in Congress passed a law to block them from going to Planned Parenthood," the statement said. "There are no other providers who can fill the gap if the 'defunding' of Planned Parenthood is allowed to stand. The fight is just beginning, and we look forward to our day in court." The provision bans state Medicaid funding to healthcare groups "primarily engaged" in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care, including abortions, for one year. Federal law prohibits healthcare providers from using federal Medicaid funds for abortions, unless the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother or is a result of rape or incest. While the provision of the 'big beautiful bill" doesn't directly name Planned Parenthood, the group alleged in their lawsuit on Monday that it's "a naked attempt to leverage the government's spending power to attack and penalize Planned Parenthood and impermissibly single it out for unfavorable treatment." The group claimed that the law violates its equal protection rights and retaliates against its protected speech. In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood said the law would have "catastrophic" consequences on the organization and its local affiliates around the country, which also provide non-abortion services like contraception, and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections. "Many Planned Parenthood Members will be required to lay off staff and curtail services, with serious adverse consequences for the many patients served at those centers even if they do not use Medicaid to access services," the lawsuit read. "Worse still, Members may be forced to shutter a substantial number of their health centers nationwide, many of which are in rural or underserved areas without alternative providers." As a result of the one-year funding ban, Planned Parenthood said 200 of its health centers are at risk of closure, and over one million patients could lose access to care. More than 90% of the clinics at risk are located in states where abortion is still legal, the group said. The Department of Justice declined to comment on the ruling and has yet to file any court documents in the case. Katie Daniel, the legal affairs director and policy counsel for SBA Pro-Life America, an anti-abortion advocacy group, lambasted Planned Parenthood's lawsuit. 'Planned Parenthood's desperation is showing as they run to the courts again to fix a crisis of their own making. Life is winning and the nation's abortion giant won't be missed as their long decline continues,' Daniel said.
