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Bénédicte C

@benecal.bsky.social
1.8K followers 2.8K following 9.7K posts

Biosciences & Tech policy Post about research, innovation, public health, politics & policy making, regulation, disinfo She/Her/Antifacist

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Reposted by Bénédicte C
Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 31m
US inflation is "entirely" due to Trump's tariffs. I am hard pressed to think of a worse decision by any President. The consequences were predicted, he did them anyway and here we are. www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/i...
cnbc.com
Inflation on many everyday items was entirely due to tariffs, NY Fed says
Tariffs added 2.9 percentage points to inflation in 67 categories of goods by February 2026, researchers at the New York Federal Reserve found.
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Scoiattolo @scarnecchia.net · 3h
Now that Politico has confirmed that there was a diplomatic cable to US embassies instructing them to pressure sponsor countries, I’m very curious if they were coordinating with Shellenberger to put pressure on researchers.
politico.com
EU, Canada and Lithuania pull out of disinformation conference after US pressure
The Trump administration was bothered by panels that referred to the U.S. as a disinformation threat.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging On Measles Kennedy irresponsibly muddles the simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...
defendpublichealth.org
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging On Measles | Defend Public Health
Secretary Kennedy is unwilling to deliver the clear, simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 4h
The White House. Giving the boss an appreciation award. Cause he’s been feeling sad.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 4h
Science A New Golden Age? Michael Kratsios kissing up to the boss w a fake award for Trump’s contribution to “Science”. Like a Nobel if it were anti-matter that cancelled research and also made scientists disappear 🫥.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 5h
How did ASU make the list of elite universities the WH wants to starve? Big fan of ASU but, uh, this is a weird list from JD.
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Clean Observer @hammbear2024.bsky.social · 8h
The “more modern” approach of just letting people die of vaccine preventable illnesses.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 8h
ICAN has file more than 40 lawsuits since 2020, including suing federal agencies for records on vaccine safety data to drive vaccine skepticism. The group says it supported a 2022 lawsuit that created religious vaccine exemptions for schools in Mississippi. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...
washingtonpost.com
Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation
The influx of pandemic cash enabled organizations to deepen their influence in statehouses, courtrooms and communities across the country.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 8h
The pandemic supercharged ICAN, which reported about $3.5 million in revenue in 2019, expanding the audience interested in anti-vaccine content. www.yahoo.com/news/anti-va...
yahoo.com
Anti-vaccine group with ties to RFK Jr. saw another windfall last year, records show
Del Bigtree's Informed Consent Action Network, which advocates against polio, measles, hepatitis and Covid vaccines, brought in $23 million last year, tax records show.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 8h
ICAN, reported $23 million in revenue for 2023. The group spent nearly $17 million on efforts including legal battles and anti-vaccine advocacy, an increase of about 25% from the year before. www.yahoo.com/news/anti-va...
yahoo.com
Anti-vaccine group with ties to RFK Jr. saw another windfall last year, records show
Del Bigtree's Informed Consent Action Network, which advocates against polio, measles, hepatitis and Covid vaccines, brought in $23 million last year, tax records show.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 8h
Just how much money is Del Bigtree's Informed Consent Action Network raking in that he bankrolls the anti-school mandate legal cases single handedly? www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 8h
Yale, u sure about that Yale Law degree?
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 10h
What makes a civil litigation lawyer get up in the morning? The hope of making $ millions from suing some entity -- the government, pharma, doctors -- for damages.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 10h
Here @ggronvall.bsky.social reminds us that biosecurity is about expertise, response capacity & countermeasure readiness. The Trump administration has made the US weaker and unprepared for the constant onslaught of nature, not to mention the occasional bad actor. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/o...
During the Covid-19 pandemic, American biotechnology and biological expertise helped deliver vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. The response had profound shortcomings, especially the failure to ramp up diagnostic testing and the lack of personal protective equipment available to medical staff in the earliest days of the pandemic. We should be building on our capacity and correcting those failures. Instead, we are weakening our public health infrastructure while thousands of Americans, including many children, suffer from preventable infections like measles. We are also undermining preparation for future potential threats, such as H5N1 influenza — the bird flu. That virus was recently detected at a U.S. mink farm, and remains a potential pandemic pathogen. The Trump administration canceled a contract to develop an mRNA H5N1 vaccine for humans.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 11h
It’s hard to believe that CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz hasn’t had extensive training in research ethics. That means she’s intentionally going to let babies in Guinea-Bissau be infected with Hepatitis B by withholding vaccine when they have vaccine available.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 11h
So cool! Thanks.
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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Out today in @nature.com: our review on how single cells evolve into multicellular organisms. With Ozan Bozdag, @kaitong25.bsky.social, Peter Yunker, and @matthewherron.bsky.social. rdcu.be/9ZuiKow9twKa For an overview, check out the video below.
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Canada Healthwatch 🍁 @canadahealthwatch.ca · 07/10/2026
Russian officials say no cases of plague in city where lab technician died, Thomson Reuters reports. Read this article at canadahealthwatch.ca #PublicHealth #PneumonicPlague
canadahealthwatch.ca
Canada Healthwatch | Health News, Policy & Analysis
Canada’s independent briefing on health policy, science, and systems change.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 07/10/2026
Republicans do not care enough about your health to stand up to Trump. Health is one of rural voters’ top concerns, as they see their family members & neighbors develop cancer & other serious health conditions. But a recent survey from AP-KFF shows rural voters’ concerns are not being heard.
Graphic showing many rural voters see limited health benefit from Trump: bar chart comparing rural voters, MAHA supporters, and non‑MAHA supporters on perceived impact of Trump administration healthcare — rural: 19% positive, 40% no impact, 40% negative.

Headline reads "Rural voters prioritize health, republicans don't."
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 11h
Jeebus he's boring.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 11h
Shame on the USG for pressuring foreign countries to drop their sponsorship of a conference. Trumpies quake in their little booties that someone might explain how they use disinformation to manufacture consent for their unpopular regime. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
EU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference at Trump officials’ request
Lithuania and Canada were also pressured to withdraw, and days before #Disinfo2026, logos were wiped off website
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The measles surge that RFK Jr happily drove has infected at least 50 pregnant women in PA "Doctors in outbreak areas are making changes to how they care for pregnant patients & their babies, offering a glimpse of what may be in store across the nation as cases spread" 19thnews.org/2026/10/penn...
19thnews.org
What Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak could mean for pregnancy care across America
It's raising new questions about immunity testing before pregnancy, early vaccinations for babies and the many complications that could rise from infection.
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Harvard STRIPED @harvardstriped.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
STRIPED Director Dr. S. Bryn Austin spoke with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health about the growing promotion of synthetic peptides online, the risks behind untested products, and why young people may be especially vulnerable to appearance-focused marketing.
hsph.harvard.edu
Peptides are all over social media and the news. Here’s what to know about them. | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Claims abound about the benefits of peptides. S. Bryn Austin, an expert on supplements and health, weighs in on whether the claims are true and on peptides' safety.
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Reposted by Bénédicte C
Roselie Bright, ScD @roseliebrightscd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
🇺🇸🏛💰🧪🩺🛟💉😷🔥🌎
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Defend Public Health @defendpublichealth.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It’s whopper Wednesday and today’s whopper is about how Secretary Kennedy purposefully muddles the simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.
defendpublichealth.org
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging On Measles | Defend Public Health
Secretary Kennedy is unwilling to deliver the clear, simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine.
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“The FDA hit Amazon with a warning letter for selling unapproved herpes treatments… This poses "a serious public health concern," the agency wrote, since people relying on these products "may forgo timely, appropriate medical care, increasing their risk of severe complications”
medpagetoday.com
FDA Warns Amazon Over Herpes Treatments
Products pose 'serious public health concern,' agency said
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 16h
Not RFK’s first rodeo trying to experiment in foreign countries w vaccine denial. www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...
defendpublichealth.org
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr Went to Samoa to Spread Antivax Ideas and Lied About It to Congress | Defend Public Health
Kennedy visited Samoa in 2019 when the Samoan government was restarting its childhood MMR immunization program. At his confirmation hearing in 2025, Secretary Kennedy assured Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) ...
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Paul Offit @pauloffit.bsky.social · 23h
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol... RFK Jr.'s Tuskegee experiment, revisited
rollingstone.com
CDC Is Moving Forward With a Previously Shelved Controversial Hepatitis B Vaccine Study
“It’s a wholly unethical trial, and it shouldn’t be allowed,” says Dr. Paul Offit of Guinea-Bissau study
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Katherine Eban @katherineeban.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
SCOOP in @rollingstone.com 👇 CDC has set aside new $1.6M for controversial hepatitis B vax clinical trial in Guinea-Bissau, halted earlier amid uproar over medical ethics. CDC director's office resurrected it, taking $$ from global health security funds: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
rollingstone.com
CDC Is Moving Forward With a Previously Shelved Controversial Hepatitis B Vaccine Study
“It’s a wholly unethical trial, and it shouldn’t be allowed,” says Dr. Paul Offit of Guinea-Bissau study
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 07/10/2026
You can't get a more explicit example of how efficiency and merit are not things that the Trump administration actually believes in.
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is John's article, "Immunoglobulins did not arise in evolution to fight infection" it's an interesting exploration of exaptation scenarios of vertebrate evolution. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
New Whopper from @defendpublichealth.bsky.social RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging muddles the message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the MMR vaccine. www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop... 🛟
defendpublichealth.org
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging On Measles | Defend Public Health
Secretary Kennedy is unwilling to deliver the clear, simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging On Measles Kennedy irresponsibly muddles the simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. www.defendpublichealth.org/opinion/whop...
defendpublichealth.org
Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr.'s Measly Messaging On Measles | Defend Public Health
Secretary Kennedy is unwilling to deliver the clear, simple message that measles is a serious disease that can be safely avoided with two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine.
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Scoiattolo @scarnecchia.net · 07/10/2026
Skywatch got another email from Shellenberger. He’s a crank yes, but Canada, Lithuania, and the EEAS pulling their sponsorship definitely speaks to some some sort of political pressure campaign targeting #Disinfo2026 and now I’m worried about if I’ll be able to get home without harassment.
I wrote to you on October 3 about #Disinfo2026 and have not had a reply.
Since then the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to me: "Upon becoming aware of the above-mentioned discussion topics, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania withdrew from any participation in the conference. The Ministry has also formally dissociated itself from the conference content and requested that the organisers remove all references to the Ministry from conference materials, communications, and promotional activitiesiỊại
Andrius Katinas of the Radio and Television
Commission of Lithuania wrote to me that he has withdrawn as a speaker "in light of the differences of opinion that have arisen with the organisers of the
'Disinfo 2026' conference regarding the assessment of the role of the United States."
The conference's sponsors page no longer lists the Lithuanian ministry, Global Affairs Canada or the European External Action Service.
Do you still plan to take part, and what is your response to the ministry's statement and to Mr.
Katinas's?
What have the organizers told you about these withdrawals?
The questions in my October 3 letter stand. I would be glad to talk by phone at 415-710-1042. Please reply by 11 am Eastern today, Tuesday, October 6.A poster with withdrawn sponsors covered up by printer paper
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"To fight back, Americans need to learn the counterspy techniques of C.I.A. officers: using multiple sources to check information; testing those sources regularly for reliability; never getting complacent and trusting one source without thinking."
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Omedetou gozaimasu! おめでとう 御座います 🥳
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kathrynschroeder.bsky.social @kathrynschroeder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Farmers are rightfully pissed at Trump open.substack.com/pub/aaronrup... Turns out that loyalty he wants only flows one way and it has become obvious.
open.substack.com
Farmers are rightfully pissed at Trump
From diesel to tariffs, the GOP is doing everything it can to turn the Midwest blue.
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Yale student Zachary Clifton penned this for @thenation.com this week: Yale’s Protest Tradition Is Back-- For the first time in 50 years, Yale students gathered around an iconic sculpture to protest their university and their government. Boola-boola. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
Yale’s Protest Tradition Is Back
For the first time in 50 years, Yale students gathered around an iconic sculpture to protest their university and their government.
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 07/10/2026
Félicitations à Henri Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan for winning this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry. Their discoveries have opened new avenues for scientific research, including the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Sounds about right!
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Very glad you were invited by the NIH. Wonder if this signals a shift in tone or policy on inf disease research/policy.
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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Today I gave a talk at the NIH on "Virus Emergence & The Origin of Pandemics". I had a fun time presenting on five+ years of collaborative research and got a lot of great questions! The NIH Director even found time to tweet about it.. 💫 Slides for those interested: andersen-lab.com/files/2026.1...
Virus Emergence & The Origin of Pandemics
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Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
All governments work hard to ensure their economies succeed. The adversarial model big tech propagates towards the regulators who support them is just inconceivably stupid. I literally don’t understand how people trained to accelerate search don’t recognise the utility of well-applied constraints.
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I truly wish all governments were so committed. Trump's science policy, education policies, economic policies, immigration policy, regulatory policies, by design or stupidity, all hurt the US economy.
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Alan J. Card @alanjcard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The way we’re burning through first line antibiotics, we really should be developing vaccines against a lot more bacterial infections—especially ones as deadly (sans antibiotics) as the plague.
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MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com · 07/10/2026
The OpenAI Foundation is funding a new effort called Data for Public Health.
trib.al
AI models need more data about biology, and OpenAI is paying to create it
The OpenAI Foundation is funding a new effort called Data for Public Health.
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TRAstonDrs @castltrastondrs.medsky.network · 07/10/2026
#Medsky🧪 #pedsky #publichealth @jamapediatrics.com Why the #prophylactic #vitaminK is so vital & important for newborn ? jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com
Vitamin K Prophylaxis in Newborns and Bleeding in Infancy
This cohort study investigates if the rate of nonreceipt of intramuscular vitamin K prophylaxis among newborns is increasing, and if nonreceipt is associated with an increased risk of bleeding in infa...
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TRAstonDrs @castltrastondrs.medsky.network · 07/10/2026
#Medsky🧪 #womenhealth #publichealth It has long been recognized that millions of women, especially younger women, are disproportionately affected by #paindisorders. In @science.org , Studies synthesize recent advances in understanding these conditions www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Sex-specific mechanisms of chronic pain
For decades, we have known that women, especially younger women, are disproportionately affected by pain disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis, menstrual migraines, fibromyalgia...
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Bénédicte C @benecal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Great summary of the Irkutsk case.
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Nothing to worry about all good
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