https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science Health & Science en-US Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:05:06 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/officials-declare-end-cyclospora-outbreak Associated Press Its origin is still unknown. Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:05:06 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/officials-declare-end-cyclospora-outbreak By Mike Stobbe

NEW YORK — The largest cyclospora food poisoning outbreak in U.S. history is over, U.S. health officials said Friday.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they are confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific outbreak is off the market.

Nearly 13,000 reported cyclospora cases were tied to the multistate outbreak, federal officials say. They represent the bulk of an unprecedented surge in the parasitic diarrheal illness this year.

Even with the outbreak deemed over, several questions remain, including about its origin. The parasite is spread through human feces, and it still isn't clear how sewage could have contaminated enough food to sicken so many people.

“This contamination can happen if produce is grown in soil or comes into contact with water that has been contaminated,” said Ellen Shumaker, director of outreach for a North Carolina State University food safety program, Safe Plates.

Since May 1, the government has received reports of nearly 20,000 lab-confirmed cases, or more than 16 times the number reported during the same period last year. More than 6,100 suspected cases also have been reported.

The worst previous year in the U.S. for infections was 2019, when about 4,700 illnesses were reported nationally.

This year’s surge in cases was dominated by an outbreak in 21 states linked to iceberg lettuce. But there are thousands of other cases that have not been linked to that outbreak.

Michigan was the hardest hit state, with the most reported cases and the two U.S. deaths tied to the outbreak.

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source.

In this outbreak, investigators initially zeroed in on lettuce served at Taco Bell. Federal officials subsequently focused on Taylor Farms as the source of the lettuce, and the company recalled iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico.

The Taylor Farms recall involved thousands of packaged salad products combining iceberg lettuce with other vegetables. The products were shipped to major U.S. restaurant chains, including Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.

The FDA has ended its on-site inspections and sample collection at iceberg lettuce growers and the processing facility in Mexico, the agency said Friday. Samples from the on-site inspections are pending analysis, the FDA said.

The outbreak cast a spotlight on a worsening problem: U.S. regulators are conducting fewer international inspections to catch contaminated produce before it lands on American plates.]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/policy/screwworm-cases-down Tyler Spence “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, biologically,” a former longtime USDA official said. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:13:00 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/policy/screwworm-cases-down America’s fight against the New World screwworm was expected to be a multiyear effort, yet the number of new cases has dropped to a surprisingly low level.

Only four cases of screwworm were detected in the U.S. in August and none of them in cattle, according to a dashboard maintained by the Agriculture Department. In June, there had been 30 cases detected, and an expectation that the fight against the screwworm had a long way to go.

That August number baffles experts, given how far the screwworm had advanced into Texas and the high number of cases in Mexico and Central America.

“It’s very strange,” a former longtime USDA official who worked for the department’s plant and animal health department told NOTUS. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, biologically.”

On top of that, the USDA reports it hasn’t detected screwworm through trapping flies or seeing the pest in any wildlife or feral animals, the primary ways officials might expect to keep tabs on the population and their movement.

“Zero cases in wildlife is unexplainable to me,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told NOTUS. Miller said that he and horticulturists on his team have caught what they believed to be screwworm in traps, only to have the tests come back negative when sent to the USDA.

One current employee at the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service called the lack of cases in traps or wildlife “suspicious,” saying, “It doesn’t seem very likely to me that we haven’t trapped a single wild fly.”

The USDA says its playbook for fighting screwworm is working, which is why cases are so low. The New World screwworm is a fly that feeds on living tissue in animals and even humans. The infestation can be lethal to animals if left untreated and is considered a major threat to livestock in warm climates.

“The low case count is a direct result of the aggressive, science-driven five-prong strategy to eradicate NWS unveiled by Secretary [Brooke] Rollins a year ago,” a spokesperson for the USDA said in a statement. “This strategy, led by USDA and other federal partners, has increased tracking of the fly’s movement, inspections of impacted animals both wild and domestic, and substantially built up sterile fly capability through coordination with states and industry.”

The agency reopened the port of Douglas, Arizona, to livestock after more than a year of movement restrictions aimed at keeping the screwworm out of the U.S. The USDA conducts inspections of the livestock at the border and said it plans to reopen additional ports if successful in Douglas.

The agency also lifted movement restrictions on three counties this week ,two in Texas and one in New Mexico.

The USDA said on X that it has released 1 billion sterile flies, or male flies that mate with females but don’t produce offspring and effectively stop the lifecycle over time. Rollins and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin wrote an op-ed Friday touting their efforts.

At the beginning of the summer, Rollins acknowledged that the agency needed 400 million more sterile flies a week to effectively combat the screwworm, a number that would likely take several months or a year to reach.

In the meantime, cases across Mexico and Central America have reached over 200,000, with 500 human cases in Mexico alone.

Some experts question whether the agency has the personnel and the resources to properly track and contain the screwworm. The USDA has undergone significant staffing reductions to many of its departments since the start of the second Trump administration.

“The critical mass is just not there to do the work that needs to be done,” the former USDA manager said.

And some former USDA officials question whether the current surveillance methods are working or whether screwworm is truly being contained effectively. “They're using wildlife cameras to do surveillance, and USDA is claiming that it works well, but it's also not catching anything,” a former USDA official who oversaw screwworm response told NOTUS.

Miller also raised doubts over the ability for cameras to identify open wounds and screwworm on animals, saying he has seen the video the cameras produce himself. “It’s not the best videos,” Miller said. He said the videos are fine for identifying animals, but are not the same as a medical examination.

The USDA said that the footage from these cameras is reviewed by wildlife biologists, with assistance from AI tools to identify animals with wounds.

Experts are also concerned that the current system does not incentivize ranchers to report cases. Current rules require cattle ranchers to keep their herds in quarantined areas, which can cause ranchers to lose money without any indemnity in return from the USDA.

Both former USDA officials said the USDA set up an indemnity program during the bird flu outbreaks beginning in 2024, something that has not been done for cattle ranchers with screwworm.

Both the current and former APHIS employees echoed this concern, saying ranchers would be uninterested in self-reporting due to concerns over movement restrictions or government surveillance.

The USDA said the agency provides indemnity for any animal that must be culled to prevent the spread of disease or parasites.

The U.S. eradication campaign that eventually beat back screwworm in the 20th century took the better part of a decade of sustained effort. USDA formally launched its sterile insect technique program across the southeastern U.S. in 1957. Florida was declared screwworm-free by 1958, and a large-scale push into Texas began in 1962, with ranchers reporting screwworm-free herds for the first time in modern memory by 1963. The U.S. wasn't declared fully free of the pest until 1966 — nine years after the campaign began in earnest.

Even then, the win proved fragile, with a resurgence tied to reinfestation from Mexico in 1972. Even after the 1966 declaration, eradication pushed steadily south over the following decades, with Mexico declared screwworm-free in 1991 and Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador following through the mid-1990s.

“I think it's still too early to tell what the situation is with the flies,” the current APHIS employee said before expressing optimism that screwworm has been defeated once and can be defeated again; it’s “just a matter of how much time and money it will take.”
]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-signs-executive-order-ranchers-cattle-beef-usda-inspection-processing-facilities Gavin J. Quinton He characterized the move as an effort to reduce smaller ranchers’ reliance on a handful of large meat-packers. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 18:53:49 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-signs-executive-order-ranchers-cattle-beef-usda-inspection-processing-facilities President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday intended to make it easier for ranchers and farmers to process their own meat and sell it directly to consumers, characterizing the move as an effort to reduce the industry's reliance on a handful of large meat-packers.

“For the first time ever, we’re going to give farmers and ranchers the right to process their own food,” Trump said at the Friday signing.

The order would allow some smaller ranches to bypass USDA-inspected processing facilities and other middlemen, which are largely run by a few international companies that Trump derided as holding a “monopoly” over the industry.

It comes after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) petitioned the president to address major meat-packers, saying they are charging American farmers much larger premiums than overseas producers.

Trump said the policy would allow ranchers to produce and sell meat "at the lowest prices, directly to the consumer," but did not offer estimates of its potential effect on price tags.

As for food-safety concerns, Trump vowed that the small ranchers who choose to build their own processing facilities will face similar levels of federal regulation to those of the large processing plants licensed under current USDA rules.

“They'll have inspectors. They'll have everything, just like these big plants,” Trump said. “I would be willing to say that our ranches will be more sanitary than those plants. I think it's going to be a great thing.”]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/hhs-cancels-infant-mortality-postpartum-grants-focus-infertility Paige Winfield Cunningham, Eric Katz Officials at the Office of Minority Health told grantees that they’re prioritizing “root causes” of infertility and promoting exercise. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 18:04:34 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/hhs-cancels-infant-mortality-postpartum-grants-focus-infertility The Health Department’s office to improve the health of minorities has abruptly terminated more than half its existing grants, saying they didn’t focus on the Trump administration’s new priorities of addressing infertility and encouraging exercise.

Some grantees provided cancer screenings or postpartum home visits. Others worked to reduce first-responder suicide or decrease obesity among Native American youth. All of the funds came from the Office of Minority Health, which the administration tried to shutter last year.

Administration officials wrote to grantees that going forward, awards should directly advance “reducing overmedicalization in health care by addressing the root causes of infertility” including hormonal imbalances, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, low sperm count, low testosterone levels and erectile dysfunction as root causes.

Grants should also support programs that promote “regular physical activity and exercise,” according to the Aug. 25 letters obtained by NOTUS.

The termination letters were sent to 16 county, state and nonprofit grantees, according to a list from a source familiar with the agency’s decision and an online database. The 16 grants totalled $38 million over four years. The grantees had received the first two years of funding.

Several grantees told NOTUS they had been fully expecting to receive their third funding installment for the four-year grants and were caught entirely by surprise. They’d worried last year, when President Donald Trump’s budget proposed cutting Office of Minority Health grants by 40%, but thought their funding was safe after that never transpired.

“We thought we had weathered the storm,” said Christopher Joseph, the executive director of EngageWell, which was administering a grant awarded to Brooklyn-based nonprofit Housing Works.

Joseph said his group was using its grant to help hypertension patients monitor their blood pressure from home and deliver boxes of fresh produce and eggs to 150 New Yorkers every other week as part of a program called “Food as Medicine.”

He’d assumed the food-delivery program would be safe from cuts, because it dovetails with the focus on preventive health in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

“When MAHA came about we thought great, this aligns with their priorities,” Joseph said.

Many of the termination letters contained virtually identical language. They said the awards being canceled no longer advance “current agency priorities.”

The letters were signed by Eric West, acting chief grants officer at the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, and Mahyar Mofidi, deputy assistant secretary for minority health.

The administration wrote to several grantees working on maternal health that while “maternal and infant health are important issues,” their work “does not advance minority health with regards to OMH’s current priority areas.”

One of those grantees, the Denver-based nonprofit Illuminate Colorado, sends nurses to the homes of minority women in the days after they give birth, checking to make sure they’re able to care for themselves and their newborns.

“It was news to us that maternal and infant fatality prevention wasn’t a priority,” said the group’s co-executive director Jillian Fabricius.

The Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The cuts are just the latest example of grants abruptly terminated by the Trump administration as it seeks to put its own stamp on the aid and research being funded by the federal government. Over the summer it canceled 150 awards funding health delivery research and previously delayed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants for additional political review.

Under the Biden administration, the Office of Minority Health funded dozens of grants every year. Now the agency’s website lists only two funding opportunities for fiscal year 2026, one for lupus research and the other to address chronic disease among Native Americans.

The office was created under President Ronald Reagan. Its grant awards surged during President Joe Biden’s first year but last year declined back to 2019 levels. The Trump administration appears to be further slashing funding; in addition to the 16 canceled grants, 13 that were funded last year appear to be unfunded this year, according to a public database.

Last year, Kennedy tried to eliminate the Office of Minority Health entirely as he reorganized the department and shed around 20,000 employees, though Congress ultimately declined to go along with the plan.

Trump has continued to target minority-focused offices within HHS: In his fiscal 2027 budget, he proposed eliminating the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, zeroing out the Minority HIV/AIDS office and slashing the Office of Minority Health funding by 40%.

One grantee, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said its program to reduce infant and maternal mortality among Black families in the Arkansas Delta will likely end without the grant.

Spokesperson Leslie Taylor said she was not sure why the grant was canceled, though she said "it's certainly a big issue in our state considering we're number one in the country,” referring to the high infant and maternal mortality rates in Arkansas.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, asked the administration to explain the grant terminations and its new funding priorities.

“It is shocking that OMH under any leadership would prioritize erectile dysfunction over the health and wellbeing of infants and new mothers, yet that is precisely what you are doing,” she wrote Thursday to Brian Christine, the assistant secretary for health.]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/congress/delauro-says-pentagon-sought-nih-funds Joe Gould As the military faces a war-driven cash crunch, Rep. Rosa DeLauro said it would be “outrageous” to siphon that money from disease research. Thu, 03 Sep 2026 21:41:32 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/congress/delauro-says-pentagon-sought-nih-funds The Pentagon, as it struggles with a budget crunch driven by the Iran war, sought access to billions of dollars Congress provided to another agency for biomedical research, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee said Thursday.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said in a statement that the Defense Department had signed an interagency agreement that could give it access to funding appropriated to the National Institutes of Health, including money for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. DeLauro did not say the NIH signed the agreement and described what transpired as a Pentagon “attempt.”

It also was not immediately clear how much money the Pentagon was seeking, where within the Defense Department it would go or what it would pay for. DeLauro’s office said NIH officials disclosed the effort after House Appropriations Committee Democrats pressed them for information.

“This secretive attempt to siphon research funds away from NIH is outrageous,” DeLauro said, calling for the agreement to be terminated. “It is no secret that the Department of Defense is facing enormous financial pressure because of President Trump's war of choice with Iran. But the Trump administration cannot make American patients, families, and scientists pay the price.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funding was appropriated for biomedical research aimed at developing treatments or cures for infectious diseases, including influenza, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and Ebola, DeLauro said.

DeLauro accused the Pentagon of attempting to make up for shortfalls caused by the war. “These funds were provided for lifesaving medical research, not as extra money for the Department of Defense,” she said.

NIH confirmed that it had explored a partnership with the Defense Department but described the effort as a collaboration on medical technologies, which would enable faster responses to emergencies, rather than the funding question. NIH said it and the Defense Department had explored ways to collaborate on therapeutics, diagnostics and personal protective equipment to protect against infectious diseases.

“NIH enters into partnerships with numerous government agencies,” an NIH spokesperson said.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The push comes as the Pentagon searches for ways to cover a widening budget gap six months into the Iran war while it waits for Congress to approve its $95 billion supplemental spending request that mainly covers war costs.

The department says it needs the additional congressional funding to pay for combat operations, replenish munitions and sustain extended deployments. The Navy is facing a shortfall of between $6 billion and $8 billion as it contends with higher-than-expected war and personnel costs, its top admiral said last week.

The Pentagon has already taken steps to stretch its accounts. It has asked Congress for permission to shift $4.3 billion in previously appropriated funds, and the Navy has reportedly diverted money from payroll to cover combat costs.

This story has been updated with a comment from NIH.]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/healthcare/rfk-cdc-scrubs-two-pennsylvania-measles-deaths-from-website Angie Orellana Hernandez The two deaths had been scrutinized by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suggested they had been wrongly classified or even fabricated. Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:56:15 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/healthcare/rfk-cdc-scrubs-two-pennsylvania-measles-deaths-from-website The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed two measles deaths in Pennsylvania from a national database just days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly disputed whether state officials had properly classified the cases.

The two deaths had been reflected in the CDC’s national count before being scrubbed over the weekend. The CDC said in a note posted to its website that it was reviewing “additional information regarding the circumstances and causes of death.”

Currently available information “does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles,” the note says. The message mirrors the questions raised by Kennedy on Aug. 26 during a public spat with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who has downplayed the severity of measles outbreaks during his tenure, questioned whether the contagious disease played an active role in the deaths. He also suggested the deaths may have been “fabricated” by one of Shapiro’s staffers.

A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services department said the two deaths have not been confirmed “based on the information currently available to CDC.”

“CDC has a responsibility to ensure its reporting accurately and transparently reflects what is known and what remains unconfirmed,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The information currently posted reflects the best available information and our commitment to transparency and telling the American people the truth—a foundational principle of the Trump Administration.”

The fatalities, flagged to the CDC by Pennsylvania on Aug. 25, are the state’s first reported measles-related deaths in 35 years. Pennsylvania has recorded almost 500 measles cases this year, according to the state Department of Health, one of the highest numbers in the country.

One of the two people who died was a newborn who state health officials said had tested positive for measles and died from a ruptured spleen. Both deaths occurred in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.

The deaths aggravated Shapiro, who said in a news conference Aug. 26 that there were “real-life consequences to spreading misinformation.”

“Kennedy’s actions to dismantle public health agencies and his language that undermines confidence in vetted medical guidance are contributing to these kinds of outbreaks,” Shapiro wrote on X later in the day. “Just a few years ago, Secretary Kennedy was in Lancaster downplaying the severity of measles and saying that the cure was ‘chicken soup and vitamin A.’”]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/florida/school-vaccine-requirement-rollback Jenna Monnin A proposed rule represents a step forward in the state surgeon general’s plan to eliminate all vaccine mandates. Mon, 24 Aug 2026 22:46:23 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/florida/school-vaccine-requirement-rollback Florida is set to roll back four vaccine requirements for children attending the state’s public schools, according to a new rule published Monday by the state Department of Health. The proposed guidelines come after Florida’s surgeon general launched an effort last fall to eliminate all vaccine mandates for school children.

The rule would allow Florida children to attend school without receiving immunizations for chickenpox, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B and pneumococcal disease. The Department of Health purports that the proposed rule eliminates vaccine mandates for shots that aren’t required under state law.

Florida law requires children to be vaccinated for seven diseases — polio, diphtheria, tetanus, rubeola (measles), rubella, pertussis and mumps — as well as “other communicable diseases as determined by rules of the Department of Health.” The four diseases at issue in the new proposed rule were requirements under the state’s health department, which is now trying to change its own administrative rule.

The period for public comment on the proposed regulation will be open for 21 days.

The push to roll back vaccine requirements in Florida has gained traction under the state’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021.

Lapado has been aligned with other vaccine skeptics and rose to prominence as a member of the group “America’s Frontline Doctors,” which was widely criticized during the COVID-19 pandemic for spreading misinformation about the virus and urging Americans against vaccination.

The group’s founder, Simone Gold, was sentenced to two months in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. She was pardoned with other Jan. 6 participants by President Donald Trump.

Shortly after assuming his role as Florida’s top medical official, Ladapo reversed COVID-19 quarantine and vaccine requirements. The surgeon general also courted controversy by personally altering data in a study about COVID-19 vaccines to claim that the vaccine posed a higher risk for young men, Politico reported in 2023.

Last year Lapado expanded his efforts to oppose vaccine requirements, saying he plans to eliminate all vaccine mandates for Floridians.

"Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery," Ladapo said about vaccine mandates at a news conference in September.

Measles cases have surged across the country, despite the availability of a vaccine that protects children from the potentially deadly disease and carries relatively little risk of adverse health effects. The Florida Department of Health has reported 155 cases so far in 2026, while just seven cases were reported last year, according to WLRN.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Florida), who’s running to replace DeSantis for governor in a race rated “Solid R” by the Cook Political Report, told CBS News over the weekend that he plans to “study” vaccine requirements for polio and measles and committed to working with the state Legislature before making “any of those decisions about requirements for those vaccines.”

Donalds also claimed, without evidence, that the surge in measles cases could be attributed to illegal immigration.

The new wave of vaccine policy reversals in Florida also comes weeks after Trump issued an executive order that would reshape the schedule for childhood vaccines. The president’s policy expanded on earlier efforts by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that were blocked in court.

Trump said the executive order, which made several recommendations such as splitting up certain vaccines into multiple doses, aligned the U.S. “with common sense and knowledge” — though the order was immediately met with criticism from members of the medical community.

The four immunizations at issue in Florida’s new rule were listed as “recommended for all children” in Trump’s executive order.

When asked about Florida’s plan to roll back the requirements last year, Trump told reporters that some vaccines “just pure and simple work” and that those shots “should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it.”

"I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don't have to be vaccinated. It's a very ... tough position," Trump said in September.

Lapado has taken a different approach by arguing that bodily autonomy supersedes most public health concerns about vaccines. The state surgeon general called the measles shot “effective” but did not explicitly advocate for Floridians to receive the vaccine at an event in July.]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-nominates-aide-heidi-overton-for-fda-commissioner-health-science Torrie Herrington “Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:42:30 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-nominates-aide-heidi-overton-for-fda-commissioner-health-science President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is nominating Heidi Overton, a White House aide, to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Overton, who began as a White House fellow during Trump’s first term, has served as a domestic policy adviser to the president since he returned to the White House last year. Between Trump’s terms, Overton was a chief policy officer at America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

If confirmed, she would succeed former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who resigned May 12. He made the decision in part over his reluctance to greenlight regulatory changes at Trump’s behest that authorized the sale of flavored vapes. Shortly after NOTUS first reported Makary’s poor standing with the White House, the agency announced it was approving four new flavored vape products.

He left the agency just seven days later.

Overton is a staunch anti-abortion ally. While at the America First Policy Institute, she wrote that abortion pills are “dangerous to women” and advocated for restricting access, including prohibiting them from being available via mail.

Anti-abortion leaders are confident that Overton could revive the long-awaited FDA review of the abortion pill mifepristone that Makary had slow-walked.

“Dr. Overton is the right candidate,” John Mize, CEO of Americans United for Life, said in a statement. “She has the scientific and medical background that will enable her to perform an objective analysis of the dangers chemical abortion poses to women.”

While mifepristone is considered safe and effective by leading medical organizations, acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas has told anti-abortion advocates that he supports a safety review of abortion pills.

If the Senate confirms his pick, the Trump administration would have two abortion opponents overseeing abortion pill access: Overton at the FDA and Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has committed to enforcing the Comstock Act to ban abortion pills.

Overton did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ requests for comment via text.

Trump touted Overton’s qualifications for the role in his announcement, referring to her as “a Board-Certified Physician in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine, and holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Investigations from the Johns Hopkins University.”

Overton has appeared at Trump’s side many times in recent months, including when he signed an executive order to reshape the childhood vaccine schedule. She stood by the president as he claimed, without evidence, that the number and rate of vaccines could play a role in autism rates — though studies have found there is no link.

To be confirmed, Overton faces a Senate with a narrow Republican majority and a confirmation hearing in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Lousiana), the committee’s chair and a physician, has been critical of Trump and his vaccine policies, including his most recent executive order, which calls for splitting up childhood vaccines into three categories.

Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia and oncologist Jeff Vacirca were also being considered for the role, NOTUS reported earlier this week.

“Dr. Heidi Overton will perform excellently as FDA Commissioner, and I wish her success as she enacts the President’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. I am laser-focused on the work of the House and look forward to continuing to support the Trump administration, which has a mandate to put America First,” Carter said in a statement to NOTUS.]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/buddy-carter-considered-candidate-fda-commissioner Paige Winfield Cunningham, Taylor Giorno The Georgia Republican, a licensed pharmacist, lost his Senate primary earlier this year. Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:44:32 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/buddy-carter-considered-candidate-fda-commissioner The White House is considering Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia to be the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, a source familiar with the administration’s thinking confirmed Tuesday.

Choosing Carter for the position would be a pivot for the White House. His name has not been on previously reported short lists for the position.

Carter is leaving Congress at the end of the year; a strong Trump ally, he failed to gain the president’s endorsement in his May GOP primary bid for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s seat, and he lost the race. He is a licensed pharmacist and previously owned his own pharmacy, Carter’s Pharmacy, for more than three decades. His license is currently active, according to the Georgia Department of Community Health.

“Carter is interested in the position of FDA commissioner and would bring a unique mix of both policy and real world health experience,” the source said in a statement provided to NOTUS. “He’s a bipartisan champion for patients, providers and innovators with strong relationships inside the administration, in the industry and across the aisle.”

The White House has been considering other candidates recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services for more than a month, but has been slow to officially nominate anyone. Its search has left a lane open for a dark horse candidate to enter the running. Domestic Policy Council adviser Heidi Overton and oncologist Jeff Vacirca are also being considered.

Former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned from the position in April as the White House was considering firing him, frustrated over his resistance to approving fruit-flavored cigarettes.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told NOTUS in a statement that “President Trump will continue to nominate the best and brightest minds to deliver on his historic MAHA agenda.”

“Discussion about potential nominations, however, should be regarded as speculation unless announced by President Trump himself,” Desai added.

Carter has also been a consistent defender of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has said he believes routine childhood vaccines are safe and effective but has backed the secretary’s shifts in federal vaccine guidance and stressed his opposition to government vaccine requirements.

Carter defended the administration’s controversial firing last year of Susan Monarez, the short-lived commissioner of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying in a post on X at the time that she took “anti-administration” positions and oversaw an agency that had been “leveraged as a force for liberal ideology.”

President Donald Trump declined to endorse Carter — or any other candidate — in the Republican Senate primary. Carter came in third in the polls, and Rep. Mike Collins (R-Georgia) and former football coach Derek Dooley advanced to a runoff. Trump issued a last-minute endorsement in the runoff for Collins, who went on to win the nomination.

Carter has not endorsed Collins. The Georgia Senate race currently leans Democrat, according to the nonpartisan bellwether Cook Political Report.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.]]> https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/nih-holding-up-medical-research-funding-status-19 Paige Winfield Cunningham Hundreds of grants, including for maternal health, contraceptives and drug abuse, are in limbo, subject to political reviews. Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:00:00 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/health-science/nih-holding-up-medical-research-funding-status-19 It used to be that once a National Institutes of Health grant award hit “status 19,” the money was about to go out the door.

That’s not the case anymore. The Trump administration has enacted an unprecedented political review process, pushing hundreds of awards into limbo. Status 19 — an administrative code describing awards with senior leadership sign-off — is being used as the holding cell.

Current and former career staff say this extra review by senior leaders is occurring after grants have undergone peer review, been approved by multiple offices in NIH, and screened for red-flag words around race, gender or other behavioral and social sciences. The extra political reviews are required not only for newly funded grants but also for annual payment installments for previously awarded projects.

As a result, some grants are lingering in status 19 for weeks or even months, gumming up the works as grant officers try to get awards out the door ahead of the new fiscal year starting in October. Flagged grants reviewed by NOTUS had to do with maternal health, contraceptive use, aging, dementia and opioid abuse.

“The notion that Francis Collins or Mike Lauer would ever have reviewed individual grants like this is so beyond the realm of comprehension,” a senior career staffer said, referring to the former directors of NIH and its Office of Extramural Research. “It’s laughable to me.”

A second senior NIH official called status 19 a “graveyard for grants.” The NIH staffers were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.

As one of the largest grant funders in the federal government, NIH’s process is a prime example of how the Trump administration is implementing more political oversight of grants across a wide swath of agencies, even as its efforts to formalize those reviews face pushback.

Senate Republicans voted to temporarily block a White House regulation to formalize political review, which has already led to delays in posting and awarding grants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Department of Interior and other agencies.

Researchers, patient advocates and biotech companies are outraged by the proposed regulation, which the White House is seeking to implement by Oct. 1 but could be blocked until December if the House also approves a delay.

Senior NIH leaders sent around a new agency review flowchart in May outlining additional steps once an award hits status 19. The flowchart, viewed by NOTUS, mandates a review by the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) and an HHS counselor before grantees are given a notice of award. There are no political appointees at OER, but its director reports to NIH Director and Trump appointee Jay Bhattacharya.

As a result of the extra reviews, the number of grants sitting for weeks in status 19 have surged. Around 8% of new grant awards are sitting in status 19 for anywhere from two to seven weeks, according to internal data shared with NOTUS.

In past years, around 11% of first-time awards had been released to the recipients within a week. This year, it’s 2%.

The delays are even more pronounced for annual payment installments for ongoing grants. The vast majority previously left status 19 within three days; now it takes 53 days to get 90% of payments out the door.

Lauer, who served as NIH’s extramural research director from 2015 to February 2025, said he couldn’t recall a time when a political appointee — including the NIH director — halted awarding of a research grant after it had gone through the review and approval process.

“Status 19 was not something I thought about,” Lauer told NOTUS.

NIH career staff stress that by the time grant awards reach status 19, they have been through dozens of editing and review steps. They’ve undergone peer review and a second look by an advisory council. Grant officers have gone through a checklist, including confirming that women and racial minorities have been appropriately included, something required by statute.

In grants reviewed by NOTUS, HHS or EOR staff flagged words including “diverse,” “equity,” “structural” and “underrepresented” and asked for clarification about what the researchers meant by them. In one project, a staffer wrote that the word “structural” could include concepts that are inconsistent with NIH priorities.

They asked for more clarification in projects that focused on health disparities or racial groups. Officials wrote that focusing on specific racial groups required more justification. In one project that expressed support for scholars and researchers from a variety of backgrounds, an official responded that the language could raise legal concerns if interpreted as targeting people based on demographics.

In multiple flagged grants, officials expressed concerns that they weren’t worth funding because their only practical use might be to support the writing of new laws.

HHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard disputed the notion that status 19 is being used to hold up grants under extra political reviews. She said grants can remain in status 19 for five to 10 days while they are given final review by the Office of Extramural Research.

“There is no political appointee review stage in the NIH grant review process,” Hilliard said in a statement. “OER's review is a longstanding part of NIH’s grant review process.”

Lauer said releasing grant money might face occasional delays, but it was almost always because Congress had failed to pass a budget for NIH, leading to uncertainty about how much total grant funding would be available.

Trump appointees are also conducting extra layers of review to the notices posted by the government to let researchers know money is available for specific projects or programs. Researchers say they’ve seen more delays in posting those notices — another obstacle in getting grant funding out the door.

“It’s this black box of HHS review,” said Colleen Kelley, an associate dean for research at Emory University.]]>