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Micah Berman

@micahberman.bsky.social
6.1K followers 800 following 135 posts

Stephen F. Loebs Professor in Health Services Management and Policy & Professor of Law, Ohio State University Public Health Law & Policy; Health Policy; Global Public Health; Tobacco Regulation

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Micah Berman
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's almost as if...universities have no plan at all for 1/4-1/6 of their funding suddenly disappearing (👇) due to federal budget cuts & foreign student restrictions, & perhaps chancellors & presidents should have done loud, public collective action on this 1.5 years ago bsky.app/profile/mcop...
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The NIH just released a proposal that will apparently hide peer reviewers’ impact scores and percentiles from the research team, their institution, and NIH program officers. All the better to obscure how funding decisions will be made primarily via political review, I’m guessing.
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-26-088: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review NOT-OD-26-088. NIH
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Heidi Kitrosser @heidikitrosser.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
A really good and important read from Masha Gessen: What’s Happening in Kansas Should Alarm Us All
nytimes.com
Opinion | What’s Happening in Kansas Should Alarm Us All (Gift Article)
Is Kansas just the beginning?
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
In a rational world, people would want to know whether measures designed to address health problems actually work.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
"President Trump . . . presented a new, skeptical government approach to vaccines, making extraordinary claims without evidence..." Better & more direct phrasing than most. Still, not just "without evidence," but clearly contradicted by the evidence. www.statnews.com/2026/08/10/t...
statnews.com
Trump returns to controversial vaccine policy with order questioning childhood schedule
The Trump administration, which had recently avoided public discussions of vaccine policy because of concern around the political repercussions, is changing course.
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Reposted by Micah Berman
public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
been in the cards for awhile, but it’s confirmed now: “For the first time in a quarter century, the U.S. no longer meets a main criterion for having eliminated measles as a public health threat.”
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Paul Bleicher @pbleic.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Astonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.
nytimes.com
FDA Panel Supports Lifting Restrictions on Four Peptides (Gift Article)
In an all-day hearing, the agency’s scientists argued against allowing broad access to unproven drugs that the agency had banned three years ago.
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
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Sasha Chavkin @sashachavkin.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
“Fundamentally, we did not do a proper assessment” Former FDA scientist says the agency approved Zyn nicotine pouches without knowing what was in them - which could include microplastics New from @mattchapman.bsky.social Kathryn Kranhold @theexamination.org
theexamination.org
FDA approved Zyn nicotine pouches for sale without knowing what they were made of, says former agency scientist
A toxicologist says the agency’s failure to consider whether the pouch material could shed microplastics shows it’s not doing enough to protect public health.
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Comments close at 11:59 PM tonight. For handy toolkit of how you can submit a comment, hit this link.
defendpublichealth.org
Critical action needed: Stop OMB's political review of federal grants | Defend Public Health
A proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) seeks to take expert review of federal grants out of the hands of experts and put it into the hands of political appointees. This rule co...
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Ian Weissman, DO @drianweissman.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnesses. As of July 1, a critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnesses
As of July 1, a critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
An important and powerful decision: "Forcing an official government line—in a college classroom of all places—is exactly the 'pall of orthodoxy' that the First Amendment will not tolerate." www.politico.com/news/2026/07...
politico.com
‘Breathtaking assertion of power’: Appeals court slams door on Florida ‘Stop Woke’ law championed by DeSantis
The decision from a divided 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is a devastating, possibly final blow to the so-called Stop WOKE act touted by the DeSantis administration.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Some things never change... www.theexamination.org/articles/ame...
theexamination.org
How the global network of America’s largest business lobby opens doors for tobacco companies
American Chambers of Commerce opposed a vaping ban in Bulgaria, praised a cigarette factory in Serbia and hosted tobacco executives and government officials in Ukraine.
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
"The Trump administration is moving religious freedom to the forefront of its health policies, ... likely affect[ing] reproductive health, LGBTQ+healthcare, and vaccine policy." via HHS restructuring and a DOJ report, via @melodyschreiber.com @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump administration puts religious freedom at heart of US health policy
Critics say the new focus could reshape LGBTQ+ healthcare, abortion access and vaccine policy
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Reposted by Micah Berman
Seth D. Michaels @sethdmichaels.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
to the Trump DOJ, if an ally of the administration breaks the law and the administration decides not to do anything to stop them, they can also prevent anyone else from making sure the law is enforced, regardless of the law’s explicit language. An open invitation to corruption.
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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
NEW from Important Context: All eyes have been on the Trump slush fund settlement, but a week earlier, the DOJ settled a Biden-era censorship lawsuit brought by anti-vax writer Alex Berenson, which was on appeal from a federal court dismissal. According to Berenson, it included a 6-figure payout.
importantcontext.news
Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuit By Vaccine Skeptic Despite Winning in Court
Anti-mRNA vaccine writer Alex Berenson said he received a six-figure payout from the case.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Science is built on a foundation of hundreds of papers. If the removal of a single paper from that foundation completely upsets your hypothesis, it often means you’re sciencing incorrectly. He has so little evidence for his claims that he has to cling to this paper and fight tooth and nail.
Lawrence H. Lash, Ph.D.
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Department of Pharmacology
540 East Canfield Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201 USA
Dear Dr. Lash:
I am writing to you regarding the editorial process concerning the removal of the article
"Vaccines and sudden infant death: An analysis of the VAERS database 1990-2019 and review of the medical literature," by Neil Z. Miller. As you may know, research integrity and academic freedom have been important issues to me for decades in my private career and continue to be important to me in government service. In the case of research conducted or supported by the Public Health Service, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Research Integrity promotes research integrity through education programs and oversees investigations of alleged research misconduct. Research integrity and academic freedom are vital to high-quality and trustworthy scientific investigation and debate.
For that reason, the recent decision to remove the article is of great interest to me. Retraction, and even removal, of seriously flawed publications is appropriate in certain cases. However, it should be accompanied by a transparent and full explanation of why such an action was carried out. For example, a guide on publication ethics, Wager et al (2009), states that the notice of retraction should "state the reason(s) for retraction."
The notice of removal you issued had only two sentences explaining the retraction. Given the high levels of public interest in vaccine safety and a history of both overt and obscure pressure against the study of some of these topics, such a brief notice of removal is woefully insufficient.
To assist me and my staff in understanding the editorial standards regarding retraction, removal, and research integrity being applied by Toxicology Reports, please provide the following information by June 25, 2026:
1. How the removal decision was reached: Please provide the full internal written analysis that justifie…methodological flaws in this article, the journal initiated an investigation." Please identify the experts who conducted this investigation and the conflicts of interest these experts may have.
3. Clarification of treatment of corroborating literature cited by Miller: The Miller paper cites an extensive literature on an association between sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and recent vaccinations, from 1933" to 2014". Did the experts involved in investigating the Miller article also investigate those cited papers?
4. Criteria "potential implications for medical practice": you cite "the potential implications for medical practice" as a reason for retraction. Can you please define the criteria by which a scientific paper's "potential implications for medical practice" are determined and considered for the purpose of retraction? Are they applied equivalently to papers with similar subject areas and hence, implications for medical practice- but with different conclusions?
5. Criteria for article removal versus retraction: Please explain why you opted for the removal of an article rather an expression of concern or retraction. Which specific guidelines on scientific integrity and publication ethics did you follow when deciding to remove the paper?
To rebuild the American public's trust in public health and medical science, full transparency regarding these decisions is essential. The public deserves to know how and if the scientific publishing industry is taking its duty to ensure research integrity seriously and ethically.
1 look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Platkamax
Robert F. Kennedy,
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 06/06/2026
Remember the current NIH director going on about protecting researchers from government censorship? Today his people called the police in to forcibly remove my colleagues from their own society meeting for sharing an editorial published in their flagship journal that was critical of him. Gift link
nytimes.com
Police Remove Diabetes Experts From Conference for Distributing Critique of Trump Administration
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I fear the lesson still has not been learned, but there needs to be strong and consistent pushback from the leadership of every R1 university against this. No minimizing where this would take us.
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Reposted by Micah Berman
David DeWitt @daviddewitt.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Commentary: “My parents understood something that Ohio’s voucher advocates seem to have forgotten: a commitment to your own children’s education doesn’t require defunding someone else’s,” writes The Rev. Ben Huelskamp ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/06/02/i...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
I went to Catholic school for 13 years. I still oppose Ohio's private school voucher program • Ohio Capital Journal
“My parents understood something that Ohio’s voucher advocates seem to have forgotten: a commitment to your own children’s education doesn’t require defunding someone else’s,” writes The Rev. Ben…
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
“[Rotavirus] vaccines were so effective that Dr. Hofto could recall treating only four or five children with rotavirus in the past decade. Now, she said she had treated about that many already this year, and none of them were vaccinated.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/w...
nytimes.com
Hospitals See Diseases Resurge as Vaccinations Decline
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
This is the destruction of federal funding for scientific research & universities as we know it. A total, comprehensive politicization of the process & an end run around Congress.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
In normal times, the fact that government officials at HHS blatantly lied to the public and got caught would be a scandal of unusual size. Everyone involved in this disinformation scheme against the people of the United States should be held accountable.
nbcnews.com
No child deaths definitively linked to Covid shots, FDA says
The agency’s analysis contradicts claims made by former vaccine chief Dr. Vinay Prasad.
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Natasha Loder @natashaloder.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
The weakening infrastructure for responding to health emergencies
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Here's how the corruption works: Thursday: RJ Reynolds donates $5M to Trump Saturday: Trump invites RJR execs to Mar a Lago; execs ask to loosen regs on flavored vapes; Trump calls up RFK Jr. and tells him to change it Friday: FDA changes the policy
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Live Updates: President’s Ballroom and New Fund Face Test in Congress
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Only surprise is that this didn’t happen sooner, but more bad news out of HHS. news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-a...
news.bloomberglaw.com
RFK Jr. Fires Leaders of Preventative Services Advisory Panel
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. terminated the appointments of two vice-chairs of a key advisory committee that helps determine free preventive coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
"The president has developed a close relationship with tobacco companies including Altria and Reynolds American, which have donated millions of dollars to his political groups and projects, including his proposed White House ballroom." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/u...
nytimes.com
With a Friend in Trump, the Tobacco Industry Secures a Lucrative Win
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Wow
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Not how this process is supposed to work… www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
wsj.com
Trump Pressures FDA Commissioner to Approve Flavored Vapes
President Trump upbraided Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary for not moving quickly enough to approve flavored vapes and nicotine products.
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
nearly all of these MAHA influencers are being compensated by tobacco companies, and very few disclose it. in many cases, they are marketing to children. nicotine pouches harm child brain development.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
'Texas A&M philosophy professor Martin Peterson is leaving the university after administrators told him in January that he couldn’t teach Plato’s Symposium in his philosophy class; they said the ancient Greek philosopher’s work violated the system’s restrictions on gender and sexuality content.' 1/3
insidehighered.com
Faculty Defect From Texas Publics, Citing Censorship
Fed up with the state’s censoring of Plato, Joan of Arc and Romeo and Juliet, humanities professors are leaving Texas public institutions in pursuit of academic freedom.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The leadership at HHS has an agenda, and that is to deprive the United States of vaccines, most especially COVID19 vaccines. These people have no problem making claims about their belief that COVID19 vaccines are harmful without any data at all. Now they are hiding data showing the benefits.
washingtonpost.com
CDC delays publishing report showing covid vaccine benefits
The acting CDC director cited concerns with the methodology, but the design has long been used to test vaccine effectiveness.
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Aaron Clauset @aaronclauset.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
tl;dr: NIH is running at about 60% of pre-Trump levels and NSF is running at about 20% of pre-Trump levels of funding-outlays (some directorates far below even that). Utterly catastrophic. An unforced disaster for U.S. society, and the world
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 30/03/2026
This is the definition of the Merchants of Doubt strategy: Amplifying 3% of experts with fringe opinions to make it look like the debate is a 50/50 proposition.
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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Well, this is awful. www.404media.co/this-company... via @404media.co It relies on the "books.google.com" Author's Guild case as to why it can scrape & play other's presentations w/o consent [theoretically 'opt-out']. Further article here: cyberalberta.ca/zooming-out-...
404media.co
This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts
WebinarTV hosts 200,000 “webinars.” A Zoom call you may thought was private might be one of them.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Big legal/public health news. Punitive damages judgment still to come. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/t...
nytimes.com
Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Case
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
"It could take 20 years before birth defects from rubella become common again. Unvaccinated children have to grow old enough to become pregnant. The long lag time can give a false sense of security." www.propublica.org/article/rfk-...
propublica.org
How Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Vaccine Agenda Risks a Resurgence of Deadly Childhood Plagues
The health secretary is spreading doubts about vaccine safety and considering changes that could prompt manufacturers to flee the U.S. market. History has shown how plagues from the past can roar back...
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Miranda Yaver @mirandayaver.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I got irritated with reading another assertion that AI can outperform social scientists at our jobs. I find these arguments reveal both an intellectual laziness and a lack of appreciation for good writing, which is the heart of our work. I had thoughts. mirandayaver.substack.com/p/in-defense...
mirandayaver.substack.com
In Defense of Good Writing
"Knowledge is Good"
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 20/02/2026
State of Florida's new mandate for public college Intro Sociology curriculum: "The following should not be included in any course content... "Discussions arguing a causal association between institutional sexism and unequal outcomes between men and women" Indoctrination, not education nor science
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Yes, all this and more, including the wonton destruction of CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
I fear this is being treated as background noise rather than the 5 alarm emergency it is. Absolutely terrifying. Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...
nytimes.com
Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Spot on, from @petridishes.bsky.social: "For a while...we, as a nation, thought to ourselves: Life is too short for everyone to inspect their own food. Let the government handle this. But then along came the Trump administration to wonder: What if we didn’t?" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
I Tried to Be the Government. It Did Not Go Well.
My five-month quest to monitor the weather, track inflation, and inspect milk for harmful microorganisms
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
ICE observers recording with phones are heroes, and are the reason we know the truth about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In public health, we make observations by collecting and analyzing data. But RFK Jr. is taking the equivalent of our “phone”. Without data, he can lie with abandon.
independent.co.uk
Nearly half of CDC surveillance databases have stopped updating
‘The consequences will be dire,’ former NIAID director Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo warns
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
So sad that Bill Foege saw the US formally withdraw from the WHO in his final days.
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
A public health icon and a national hero. William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89 www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...
nytimes.com
William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89
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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
This is, quite literally, our collective duty.
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NHMRC CRE on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame @cretobacco.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
📣 Join us for our next #TobaccoEndgame CRE #Webinar on FDA regulation and nicotine reduction! Prof Micah Berman will present 'Taking the Nicotine Out of Cigarettes: Lessons from the US FDA's Attempt'. 📆02 February ⏰1pm AEST 🔗 tobacco-endgame.centre.uq.edu.au/event/sessio... @micahberman.bsky.social
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Micah Berman @micahberman.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
New annual tobacco prevention spending report from @tobaccofreekids.bsky.social. www.tobaccofreekids.org/what-we-do/u... #Ohio now ranked 43rd, spending $6 million on tobacco prevention & cessation annually. This is less than the tobacco industry spends on marketing in Ohio in a WEEK.
tobaccofreekids.org
Broken Promises to Our Children
This year’s report finds, once again, that most states continue to shortchange programs that prevent kids from using tobacco products and help people quit…
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Read the details here. RFK’s Hep B vax “trial” in Guinea-Bissau is not just a Tuskegee-level ethical travesty. It’s also skewed to make the vax (which has been proven to save lives) look unsafe and ineffective. And it funnels money to RFK cronies. open.substack.com/pub/insideme...
open.substack.com
Scoop: The leaked protocol of the CDC-funded Hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. “This is another Tuskegee.”
The protocol reveals that the trial will withhold the Hepatitis B birth dose from thousands—without placebos, without universal maternal screening, and with endpoints critics call indefensible.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
👇🎯💯
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