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Gary Schwitzer

@garyschw.bsky.social
1.2K followers 558 following 627 posts

Health care journalist for 50 years, now retired except for his Substack. Published HealthNewsReview.org for 16 years. Helping people improve their critical thinking about health care.

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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It’s being promoted as “a simple blood test.” But there’s nothing simple about decisions regarding this test given its limitations. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/fda-panel-...
garyschwitzer.substack.com
“Not as good as a coin toss” but FDA panel recommends multi-cancer test for approval
To me, this is a head-scratcher.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Priorities. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Toxic combo of politics & science. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/politics-a...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Many of the health industry deals that have been heavily promoted by Trump and RFK Jr. lack teeth and transparency. Enforcement and accountability lacking. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/no-teeth-n...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The perplexing promotion of peptides. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/the-perple...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Political cuts to the food safety system. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/how-foodbo...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Why are foodborne illness outbreaks occuring so often? garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/how-foodbo...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
New pancreatic cancer drug is a big step forward, but so is the $480,000 per year cost. Not all news stories addressed this. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/cancer-dru...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Cancer drug sticker shock: pills that cost >$400K/year and >$600/pill. And why journalists need to report on drug costs. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/cancer-dru...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
2 observational studies in 2 weeks on menopause hormone therapy were hyped with waffling language. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/read-the-f...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Fake claims about Medicaid fraud debunked. NewsGuard’s False Claim of the Week: “Conservatives twist Virginia governor’s remarks to claim that 300,000 illegal state residents get Medicaid benefits.” www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/the-medica...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This man’s lies, distortion and misinformation erupt from a bottomless pit. www.statnews.com/2026/08/26/k...
statnews.com
Kennedy posts vaccine misinformation, spars on social media amid measles deaths
Kennedy has blamed others for declining vaccination rates, and downplayed the dangers of measles.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Flip-flops you see in so much food/diet news (it cures you…it kills you) is usually because it’s observational research. It’s healthy to be skeptical about firm conclusions from these studies. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/its-health...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Controversial government attempt to control GLP-1 news. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/news-publi...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
When he started at HHS, RFK Jr. repeatedly promised his department would operate with “radical transparency” and produce only “gold-standard science.” He hasn’t delivered on those promises. connect.kff.org/the-week-in-...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Here’s an intelligent chatbot you’ll want to try. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/heres-an-i...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, with health data being the leading category affected, wiping out findings that don’t align with its priorities. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Consumer watchdog group says at least 7 members of FDA advisory committee that recommended 6 peptides be ok’d despite a lack of evidence had financial interests in the peptide and pharmaceutical industries. www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...
medpagetoday.com
Watchdog Urges HHS to Investigate Conflicts Among FDA's Peptide Panelists
Several members seem to have 'disqualifying financial interests,' consumer group says
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Another observational study miscommunicated. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/one-can-of...
garyschwitzer.substack.com
One can of soda raises your risk of stomach cancer? Here we go again.
Another day, another round of flawed journalism about an observational study, which cannot prove cause-and-effect.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
None of Kennedy’s claims about autism causes has stood up to scrutiny: Tylenol during pregnancy, circumcision, hep B vaccine, thimerosal, etc. kffhealthnews.org/public-healt...
kffhealthnews.org
Kennedy’s Quiet Hunt for Autism Culprits Stalls as Trump Orders Baseless Changes to Childhood Shots - KFF Health News
The Trump administration is working to implement the president’s new order on childhood vaccines, which he publicly faulted for a rise in autism — even as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s clos...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Journalists, PR professionals & readers of their messages should remember: when studies show a statistical association between 2 things, it does not necessarily show causation. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/3-minutes-...
garyschwitzer.substack.com
3 minutes to cut risk of 13 cancers? A wee bit of overstatement here.
Association does not necessarily equal causation.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
When signing his vaccine Executive Order, Trump said he’d seen proof of a vaccination the size of a soda bottle poured into a little child's body. That’s an exaggeration of 200 times what actually happens. But he made his case based on that falsehood. www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
cidrap.umn.edu
CIDRAP Op-Ed: What the vaccine executive order gets wrong, and what it will cost us
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Because he knows better than what decades of studies have shown. www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/v...
medpagetoday.com
Trump Issues Controversial Order on Vaccines, Suggests Autism Link
Order calls for MMR vaccine to be split up, given at separate medical appointments
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Kennedy: wrong again. www.statnews.com/2026/08/06/m...
statnews.com
One year since Kennedy canceled mRNA vaccine projects, science shows how wrong he was
“The United States invented this platform and is the only country walking away from it,” Jeff Coller writes of mRNA vaccines.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Jay “The Butcher” Bhattacharya & NIH riding a new wave of grant terminations. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
NIH Director Bhattacharya kills more health disparities grants
Letter says agency is “adjusting its extramural research portfolio, which includes terminating grant awards”
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Highly qualified. NOT. Steven Quay, the Biotech Exec Likely to Take Fauci's Old Job. www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...
medpagetoday.com
Who Is Steven Quay, the Biotech Exec Likely to Take Fauci's Old Job?
Quay has attached himself to the lab-leak theory of COVID origins
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
RFK Jr. went off the rails on CNN, the second ugly health policy related TV event in a week, close on the heels of the Fauci hearing. Losing Americans’ trust. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/is-this-th...
garyschwitzer.substack.com
Is this the “trust in science & health policy” that taxpayers deserve?
The question of how to prevent the next pandemic was posed - repeatedly - by CNN’s Dana Bash to HHS secretary RFK Jr. He never answered the question.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
How to evaluate news about a new blood test screening for colorectal cancer. What was missing in what I read. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/how-to-eva...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Continuing clash between MAGA and MAHA advocates over environmental health issues. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/the-contin...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
26-year old son-in-law of US Transportation Secretary, running for Congress, endorsed by Trump, spreads misinformation about alleged “transgender goat surgery.” garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/politician...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Wisconsin Congressional candidate claims the government is wasting $$$ on transgender goat surgery. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/politician...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Good story by @kristinafiore.bsky.social on expensive multifocal lenses for cataract surgery - with reminders that they’re not for everyone. www.medpagetoday.com/ophthalmolog...
medpagetoday.com
Eye Specialists Flag Concerns About Pricey Lenses in Cataract Surgery
Multifocal lenses are not for everyone, experts say
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
RFK Jr. promotes more preventive health screening while slashing the funding that would provide the evidence to support such screening. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/questions-...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Does RFK Jr. understand what potential problems come with Alzheimer's screening? garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/questions-...
garyschwitzer.substack.com
Questions about RFK Jr.'s promotion of Alzheimer's screening
An Alzheimer's screening test is a much more complicated issue than what's seen at first glance.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Interesting blog post. chrisickler.org/2026/07/03/t...
chrisickler.org
The Replication Crisis 2: How Current Statistical Practice Confuses Science
Please raise your hand if you like statistics. Oh dear, I see no hands up. Well, I rather anticipated that—I mean, who does? (Other than me [eye-roll].) In this post, I promise not to subject you t…
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Death by a thousand cuts. And a NY Times reporter was denied access to materials that were supposed to be available for public review. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/u...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
The National Institutes of Health are experiencing some unhealthy times. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/235-words-...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Coffee - the icon of miscommunicated observational studies. And we saw another round this week. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/coffee-ico...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
RFK Jr. & Trump administration cannot truthfully imply or claim that they are the reason for a drop in US obesity rates. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/wrong-rfk-...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
When you see X was “linked to” Y in a study, what does that really mean? Count the number of “linked to” stories you see in a day. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/what-does-...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
A couple of gems from Howard Wolinsky, veteran health care journalist-turned-prostate cancer patient advocate. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/men-are-no...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Politicians who act like they understand science are often shown to be in over their heads. There’s no such thing as transgender mice, but this lawmaker wants to ban them anyway. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/us-rep-nan...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Lost in Trans-lation. US Rep. Nancy Mace confuses transgenic mice with transgender mice (no such thing). Worthy of our 4th Health News Pinocchio Award. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/us-rep-nan...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Even the reflecting pool has become an anti-science blame game www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
Science Has a Name for What’s Plaguing the Reflecting Pool
Testing reveals that efforts to suppress one algal bloom seem to be fueling another.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Brain aging reversed by nasal spray?!? Rats…it’s only in mice. The headlines couldn’t squeak by us. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/brain-agin...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
If @notus.com is right about this, it feels like the latest threat against the integrity of the US Preventive Services Task Force. open.substack.com/pub/garyschw...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
RFK Jr. aide may get her Dad hired to head a key federal health task force. What are his qualifications? garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-aid...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
There is a hierarchy of evidence; not all studies carry equal weight. So news about what a bunch of observational or animal studies “may” show to lower dementia risk is shaky. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/common-med...
garyschwitzer.substack.com
Be careful with claims about what "may lower your dementia risk"
A closer look at a New York Times story.
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
My analysis of this The New York Times story, in brief: “Why not wait until there’s far more robust evidence on all of these things?” At this stage, “may” also means “may not.” garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/common-med...
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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
“With support from Markwayne Mullin & RFK Jr., the kratom industry is pursuing a potentially lucrative policy. Mr. Mullin owns equity in a company that could benefit.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/u...
nytimes.com
How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet
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