TV News LIES

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all 17 members of a committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety and will replace them with new members, a move that the Trump administration's critics warned would create public distrust around the government's role in promoting public health.

At issue is the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy, and clinical need of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It comprises medical and public health experts who develop recommendations on the use of vaccines in the civilian population of the United States.

“Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” Kennedy Jr., who has a history of controversial views on vaccines, said on June 9 in announcing the overhaul. “The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies.”

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CT scans diagnose afflictions from tumors to kidney stones to life-threatening diseases and injuries, such as aneurysms and blood clots leading to stroke.

But the radiation emitted by this essential diagnostic tool may cause more harm than previously known and could eventually be responsible for roughly 5% of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. in a single year, a new study finds.

"Medical imaging has potential benefits," said radiologist Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. "It has potential harms as well, and it's really important to balance them."

Scientists long ago established that ionizing radiation emitted by computed tomography, or CT, scans increases cancer risk. But, since 2007, use of the imaging technique has surged 35%, the study says, due in part to growth in what Smith-Bindman and her colleagues call "low-value, potentially unnecessary imaging."

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A bill that would have required women seeking medication abortions to get ultrasounds has been vetoed by Wyoming’s Republican governor, who questioned whether it was reasonable and necessary especially for victims of rape and incest.

“Mandating this intimate, personally invasive, and often medically unnecessary procedure goes too far,” Mark Gordon wrote in a letter explaining his veto late on Monday.

Groups working to maintain abortion access in Wyoming – the first state to attempt to explicitly outlaw medication abortions – praised the veto even though Gordon over the past three years has signed into law several bills seeking to ban the procedure.

“It’s important that women are able to access this healthcare without undue and unnecessary burden,” Christine Lichtenfels, executive director of the abortion access advocate Chelsea’s Fund, said on Tuesday.

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The measles outbreak in Texas has grown to at least 90 cases, reaching historic levels, according to officials.

Since late January, 90 cases of measles have been identified in the South Plains region, the state’s department of state health services (DSHS) reported Friday. At least 16 patients have been hospitalized as a result.

The majority of reported measles cases were in children and teenagers; minors between the ages of five and 17 accounted for 51 cases. Children under four made up 26 cases. Most patients’ parents either had chosen to not immunize them against the highly contagious illness through vaccines meant to prevent the potentially deadly illness and its spread, or their vaccination status was unknown.

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