Latest news with #JayBhattacharya
Fox News
17 hours ago
- Health
- Fox News
Trump administration launches $10M health study for East Palestine residents after toxic spill
At the urging of Vice President JD Vance, the Trump administration is launching a new initiative to study the long-term health consequences for local residents in East Palestine, Ohio, after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and spilled its contents. The Trump administration is putting up $10 million toward a five-year initiative that will, among other things, utilize "longitudinal epidemiological research" to better understand the short- and long-term health effects of exposure to hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol and benzene residue. The initiative will also utilize public health tracking and surveillance and newly established communication channels between researchers, public officials and community stakeholders to support the initiative and develop solutions. "There was a terrible train crash, and then there was a controlled burn of toxic chemicals that went into the atmosphere," Vance said in a video announcement posted to social media, alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya. "What happened then is that people got very worried. I've been to East Palestine a number of times, and they're very worried about what are the long-term impacts of these chemicals in the water, in the air. What effect does it have on their kids and grandkids after five years, 10 years, 15 years of exposure?" Vance pointed the finger at the former Biden administration, claiming it "refused to do anything" to study the long-term health effects of the train crash for the residents of East Palestine. Last month, communications uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request allegedly showed the Biden administration was aware of the serious health risks posed by the toxic spill despite reassuring the public there was no evidence of significant chemical contamination. "These documents confirm what East Palestine residents have feared: Government officials knew about the serious health risks posed by the derailment and controlled burn but deliberately kept this information from the community," said Lesley Pacey, senior environmental officer at the Government Accountability Project, which helped uncover the communications. After the toxic spill in February 2023, residents began expressing fear after reporting headaches, respiratory illnesses and skin and eye irritation. In April 2024, Norfolk Southern, the company operating the train that spilled chemicals in Northeastern Ohio, shelled out $600 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of East Palestine residents. "As a senator, it was incredibly frustrating watching the Biden administration refuse to examine the potentially dangerous health impacts on the people of East Palestine following the train derailment," Vance added. "I'm proud that we finally have a new president that takes the concerns of everyday, working-class people seriously." According to Bhattacharya, research for the initiative is expected to begin this fall.
CNN
18 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Two years after train derailment, NIH to commission longer-term health studies of East Palestine residents
The National Institutes of Health said Thursday that it will fund longer-term health studies of the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, after a 2023 train derailment that sent more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals into the soil, water and air. The community has long asked the government to do more to help answer questions about the mental and physical effects of the disaster, which some people say they continue to struggle with more than two years later. The funding will be available through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. In 2024, under the Biden administration, the institute funded six two-year rapid-response projects to study different aspects of exposures and health problems after the disaster. Those projects were worth more than $1 million in total. The new grants will award up to $10 million for one to three projects over the next five years. Vice President JD Vance, who was a senator from Ohio when the derailment occurred, pushed for the funding, the NIH said. 'NIH is working to ensure that the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities are listened to, cared for, and get the answers they deserve,' NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a news release. 'This multi-disciplinary research program will focus on public health tracking and surveillance of the community's health conditions to support health care decisions and preventive measures.' East Palestine resident Misti Allison, who ran for mayor after the disaster and campaigned for long-term health studies in the area, said she was pleasantly surprised by the announcement. She sits on the board of one of the current community health studies. 'This next level of funding will enable us to conduct comprehensive and high-impact studies that can truly make a difference in the area,' Allison said. She notes that the funding announcement mentions that the research will be co-developed with input from the community. 'This will really ensure that our concerns and needs are at the forefront,' she said. 'So that is really great.' More than two years after the disaster, there's been a surge in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, respiratory complaints and even some cancers, Allison said. Because cancers have many causes, however, it's difficult to tie those directly to chemical exposures from the derailment, she noted. Jessica Conard, whose son developed asthma a few months after breathing toxic fumes from the derailment, said the announcement brought 'a complicated mix of emotions.' 'We have had real symptoms now for 2½ years, and all we've received is gaslighting and dismissals from state, local and federal agencies,' Conard said. 'We still need an organized medical response, and this should have happened immediately after the disaster,' she said. 'This feels like a political afterthought. 'My hope is that this $10 million doesn't just fund another academic report that sits on the shelf without any actionable takeaways,' she said, 'We desperately need real medical support.' Allison said the community has advocated for an emergency declaration to activate special provisions for victims of environmental exposures that would enable residents to receive Medicare benefits to help pay for their ongoing health needs. 'These funds would be a lifeline for many families who are still grappling with health concerns and some economic hardship,' she said. Dr. Andrew Whelton, a civil and environmental engineer at Purdue University who helps communities assess the impacts of disasters, said the need for the funding is unfortunate. The government and community would have been better served if they'd made more money available up-front to prevent exposures to residents in the first place, he said, and inadequate indoor air testing allowed residents to be exposed to chemicals in their homes for months after the disaster. 'It's positive that there is funding to potentially help people investigate long-term health impact questions, but none of it would have been necessary if the right decisions were made and people in agencies didn't fail the public' in the first place, Whelton said. The NIH said it will accept applications for the East Palestine study grants until July 21.
CNN
18 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Two years after train derailment, NIH to commission longer-term health studies of East Palestine residents
The National Institutes of Health said Thursday that it will fund longer-term health studies of the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, after a 2023 train derailment that sent more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals into the soil, water and air. The community has long asked the government to do more to help answer questions about the mental and physical effects of the disaster, which some people say they continue to struggle with more than two years later. The funding will be available through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. In 2024, under the Biden administration, the institute funded six two-year rapid-response projects to study different aspects of exposures and health problems after the disaster. Those projects were worth more than $1 million in total. The new grants will award up to $10 million for one to three projects over the next five years. Vice President JD Vance, who was a senator from Ohio when the derailment occurred, pushed for the funding, the NIH said. 'NIH is working to ensure that the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities are listened to, cared for, and get the answers they deserve,' NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a news release. 'This multi-disciplinary research program will focus on public health tracking and surveillance of the community's health conditions to support health care decisions and preventive measures.' East Palestine resident Misti Allison, who ran for mayor after the disaster and campaigned for long-term health studies in the area, said she was pleasantly surprised by the announcement. She sits on the board of one of the current community health studies. 'This next level of funding will enable us to conduct comprehensive and high-impact studies that can truly make a difference in the area,' Allison said. She notes that the funding announcement mentions that the research will be co-developed with input from the community. 'This will really ensure that our concerns and needs are at the forefront,' she said. 'So that is really great.' More than two years after the disaster, there's been a surge in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, respiratory complaints and even some cancers, Allison said. Because cancers have many causes, however, it's difficult to tie those directly to chemical exposures from the derailment, she noted. Jessica Conard, whose son developed asthma a few months after breathing toxic fumes from the derailment, said the announcement brought 'a complicated mix of emotions.' 'We have had real symptoms now for 2½ years, and all we've received is gaslighting and dismissals from state, local and federal agencies,' Conard said. 'We still need an organized medical response, and this should have happened immediately after the disaster,' she said. 'This feels like a political afterthought. 'My hope is that this $10 million doesn't just fund another academic report that sits on the shelf without any actionable takeaways,' she said, 'We desperately need real medical support.' Allison said the community has advocated for an emergency declaration to activate special provisions for victims of environmental exposures that would enable residents to receive Medicare benefits to help pay for their ongoing health needs. 'These funds would be a lifeline for many families who are still grappling with health concerns and some economic hardship,' she said. Dr. Andrew Whelton, a civil and environmental engineer at Purdue University who helps communities assess the impacts of disasters, said the need for the funding is unfortunate. The government and community would have been better served if they'd made more money available up-front to prevent exposures to residents in the first place, he said, and inadequate indoor air testing allowed residents to be exposed to chemicals in their homes for months after the disaster. 'It's positive that there is funding to potentially help people investigate long-term health impact questions, but none of it would have been necessary if the right decisions were made and people in agencies didn't fail the public' in the first place, Whelton said. The NIH said it will accept applications for the East Palestine study grants until July 21.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
His custom cancer therapy is in an NIH freezer. He may not get it in time.
Richard Schlueter, 56, was planting cucumbers and squash in his community garden plot in Greensboro, Georgia, in May when he tore open a bag of soil and heard a pop. His collarbone had snapped. In early June, a scan revealed that the cancer that started in his tonsils was racing through his bones. That day, he called a medical team at the National Institutes of Health that had created an experimental cell therapy, custom-made to attack his cancer as part of a clinical trial. He needed it. Now. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Instead, he received more bad news: His therapy would be delayed at least a month because of staff cuts at NIH. A week later, Schlueter and his wife, Michelle, saw NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya push back on concerns raised by his own staff that the ouster of essential employees and other disruptions to the biomedical research agency were harming science and patients. Bhattacharya said on X that objections raised in a document called the Bethesda Declaration contained 'fundamental misconceptions' about NIH's new direction. Each termination was being reviewed, and some workers were reinstated, he added. But the Schlueters had a front-row seat to the effects of the job losses. Richard's therapy was in a freezer, nearly ready to go. All along, they had been told the final step of preparation takes three to four weeks. But on June 3, his NIH doctor informed him that it would now take eight to 10 weeks because of cuts to essential lab personnel - a painful illustration of the life-and-death stakes of the administration's approach to shrinking the government workforce. 'I'm petrified. I have to do something,' Richard said. 'My cancer is on the move.' The Washington Post first reported in early April that the production of specialized immune-cell therapies for metastatic cancer patients was delayed. Two highly skilled technicians who prepared cells for treatments were fired in the probationary purge in February, according to Steven Rosenberg, an NIH immunotherapy pioneer who leads multiple trials. He declined to say how many patients were affected, but his team now treats one patient per week, down from two or three before the cuts. 'There are some patients who might have to wait until September,' Rosenberg said. 'These are all patients with metastatic cancer that is progressive. You can imagine the difficulty as we have to tell them these things.' An official with the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees NIH, said the agency had ways of addressing the delays. Rosenberg has been granted permission to hire contractors or to request help from other scientists from across NIH, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to criticize an employee. Rosenberg said he has been working urgently to try to rehire a scientist who was fired since he was given permission to do so last week, but the federal contracting process is slow and the scientist has been interviewing for other jobs. He noted that to prepare the cells for patients requires special training that takes four to six months. - - - National Institutes of Hope Richard's cancer nightmare started with what he thought was acid reflux. A few weeks after his annual physical in January 2024, he noticed a metallic taste in the back of his throat. Looking in the bathroom mirror, he saw little white pustules on one of his tonsils. A scan and biopsy showed it was head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but an oncologist told him it was treatable, with an excellent chance of success. Unless it spread. On Richard's 55th birthday, March 11, 2024, he began chemotherapy and proton therapy. He had always taken good care of his health and was diligent with his treatments. But a scan in July revealed that the cancer had spread to his lungs and part of his chest cavity. 'It was heart-wrenching, and it was difficult,' said Richard, a founding partner of an Atlanta law firm. 'I'm a fact-finder, and I spend a lot of time researching and trying to find a path to remission or a potential cure. And it's a pretty bleak outlook.' Richard's efforts led him to NIH, where he felt blessed to qualify for a trial led by Rosenberg. Doctors would take a biopsy of his cancer and find and isolate immune cells called TIL, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. They would use lab tests to select the cells that recognized Richard's cancer and expand the population. Then, they would reinfuse them into his body. There are no guarantees with clinical research. Patients who qualify for the trial have exhausted standard treatments. But it gave the Schlueters something they had been missing: hope. 'Patients often refer to us not as the National Institutes of Health, but the National Institutes of Hope,' Rosenberg said. In January, Richard went to NIH for surgery to remove two tumors in his lungs and begin the process of isolating and testing the TIL cells. He read the NIH credo - to improve the human condition throughout the world - emblazoned on a wall of the Clinical Center and was so moved that he sent a photo of it to his three children. 'The staff, the physicians, the amount of empathy, care and mission that I've experienced over four visits to their research hospital has been just super gratifying,' Richard said. 'In many ways, I'm a guinea pig that may be helping other people. But I also have the byproduct that if it works, it will help me.' In late March, Richard returned to NIH, thinking it was go time. Instead a scan showed that the tumors in his lungs had unexpectedly become smaller. He returned home, knowing his therapy would be ready in the freezer if he took a turn for the worse. - - - No time to wait Rosenberg's team meets every Monday to discuss patient cases, and for months they have had to make difficult calls to seriously ill people. Richard is just one. Natalie Phelps, a mother of two from Bainbridge Island, Washington, with metastatic colorectal cancer, is waiting for cells in another of Rosenberg's trials. This one uses a different form of immunotherapy, but it is also slowed because of the loss of critical personnel. Last Friday, she gave The Post an update: 'So frustrating. I should be having treatment now, but instead I had to restart chemo and will be returning to start the treatment process' in late July. Two scientists on Rosenberg's team who have specialized skills to prepare cells for immunotherapy trials were among the thousands of probationary employees fired in the Trump administration's push to shrink the federal workforce. The one who would have finalized Richard's infusion had worked at NIH since 2020 and was recently hired as a full-time employee because she was considered so effective, according to Rosenberg. But that made her vulnerable, as a probationary employee with fewer protections. Rosenberg is trying to hire her back on contract using nongovernment funding. Richard is an optimist. His biggest fear is not qualifying for the experimental immune cells that he hopes could beat back his cancer. Doing nothing isn't an option because his cancer is spreading rapidly. Radiation might buy him time but leave his white blood cell count too low to be eligible for the trial. Robert L. Ferris, a head and neck surgical oncologist at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, said patients such as Richard have tough and tragic cases where standard medical care has been exhausted. Ferris is not involved in Richard's care, but the doctor said the trajectory of a cancer like this is grim. It is unlikely the cell therapy will cure Richard, Ferris cautioned, but science progresses through individual cases like his. And if Richard is forced to wait too long, he could be too frail to try it. 'If the cells are ready, you would want to give it to him now,' Ferris said. In mid-May, Richard was golfing with his nephew and his son. He was running, swimming, biking and lifting weights. The only sign something was awry was a red rash on his face that resembled a sunburn, a side effect of one of his treatments. But as the cancer has spread through his bones, his arms have become weak, and he has a suspected microfracture in his right arm. Pain in a hip makes it hard to get out of a chair. The Schlueters' 30th wedding anniversary celebration in early June was a joyous occasion, but Richard struggled to walk down the aisle to renew their vows. Even if the therapy doesn't save Richard, his family hopes his experience can help others. 'If he misses [it], not only is it is it devastating for his family, but it's devastating for all the patients behind him that could have learned something scientifically - on why it was successful or not successful,' Michelle said. 'He's like a test pilot.' Related Content Trump is as unpredictable as ever, even when faced with war Field notes from the end of life: My thoughts on living while dying He's dying. She's pregnant. His one last wish is to fight his cancer long enough to see his baby.
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Health
- Miami Herald
Big Pharma Has a Trump Problem
President Donald Trump's clamp-down on federal science funding has handed Big Pharma an existential headache: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has terminated more than 2,100 research grants and contracts, according to NIH scientists, totaling around $12 billion in early-stage studies that drugmakers often rely on to seed the next generation of therapies. In an open letter sent June 9 to NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and key lawmakers, 92 NIH scientists warned the sweeping cuts could shutter campus labs, hollow out the biotech talent pipeline, and push jobs and billions in investment overseas. White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the administration's approach to federal research, telling the Associated Press that Trump is focused on restoring a "Gold Standard" of science, not "ideological activism." Newsweek has contacted the White House, NIH, and HHS via email for comment. University labs across the country supply Big Pharma with a constant stream of breakthrough ideas and a talent pipeline of PhDs who know how to turn them into therapies. "The industry of biotechnology is built on advances in academic labs," Richard DiMarchi, a professor of chemistry at Indiana University, told Newsweek, adding that there was "no way large companies can sustain this level of creativity and productivity without a vibrant academic research community." This mutually beneficial relationship can be seen in Eli Lilly's planned $250 million infusion into Purdue, AbbVie's oncology alliance with the University of Chicago, and Harvard-AstraZeneca stem-cell projects—plus dozens of smaller sponsored-research deals. "Universities also train the next generation of scientists who work in drug companies," Eric G. Campbell, a professor of medicine and director of research at the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities, at the University of Colorado, told Newsweek. "Research has shown that financial interactions between academics and industry are ubiquitous in biomedical research, medical education and the practice of medicine in the U.S.," he added. Cities like Boston and San Francisco have "emerged as major hubs for biotech and pharma because of the quality and concentration of biomedical research conducted at universities such as Harvard, UCSF and Stanford," Ulrich Mueller, a professor of neuroscience and biology and director of developmental neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, told Newsweek. As a result, Big Pharma companies, such as Novartis and Pfizer, have established major research facilities in Boston "to be in proximity to the hubs of discovery," he said. Venture funds in those cities have fueled an "astonishing local biotech ecosystem that provides a direct pipeline for pharma," Mueller said, and the major founders of these biotech companies are often professors from academic institutions that "want to translate findings from their research labs funded by the NIH into cures." "This has been a major driver of the American biomedical enterprise but is on the verge of being destroyed," he said. The ecosystem of science and drug discovery in the U.S. is now "endangered." "The pharmaceutical industry is not equipped with the brain power or expertise to conduct basic research," Michael A. Santoro, professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business and the Santa Clara University, told Newsweek. "Even if it was somehow possible for the pharmaceutical industry to pour more billions of dollars into basic research, the payoff for the investment would be less impactful than university-conducted research," he added. As a result, Santoro said that he thought Trump's cuts to university research would result in the costs of new drugs rising "astronomically as that will be the only way the pharmaceutical industry can justify replacing university research with private labs." He added that the U.S. would also experience a "brain drain" as "researchers look for opportunities abroad or perhaps drop out of the economy altogether." "The U.S. is on the verge to lose its pre-eminence in biomedical research and drug development," Mueller said. The "cracks are already appearing" Mueller warned. Pfizer has recently made a deal with 3SBio in China to develop cancer medicine, with an upfront payment of $1.25 billion with milestones potentially increasing the deal to $4.8 billion. "The loss is devastating because it has wide ranging impacts also for local economies and the job market," Mueller said. "Intellectual property and the benefits to the U.S. will move to other shores together with major investment of pharma and venture firms in companies abroad." An Eli Lilly spokesperson told Newsweek: "We understand cuts will likely impact the research these labs conduct, which is not positive for the biopharmaceutical research ecosystem. However, these cuts should not impact Lilly's ability to keep our own discovery engine going which is a key priority for our company." Newsweek has contacted Merck & Co., AbbVie, AstraZeneca, as well as Novartis and Pfizer, via email for comment. Santoro said that the Trump administration's actions towards medical research will also "affect the quality of health care generally." "Physicians have an ethical duty to practice science-based medicine. Without scientific research at the university level, the quality of medical care will decline," he said. More widely, the cuts could also have "societal consequences to the nation's health and economic prosperity," DiMarchi said. "It's a delicate network that links translation of breakthrough university discoveries to drug development and registration at global pharmaceutical companies, and as such should be approached with a 'first do no harm mentality'," he added. Related Articles Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill Backing RFK Jr., Elon Musk PriorityPharma PAC That Donated to Trump Breaks With Him Over Executive OrderWhat Trump's Executive Order Means for Medicare, MedicaidBernie Sanders Issues Warning About Trump's Drug Pricing Executive Order 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
