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benecal.bsky.social
Bénédicte C
@benecal.bsky.social
1.2K followers 2.5K following 6.6K posts
Biosciences & Tech policy
Post about research, innovation, public health, politics & policy making, regulation, disinfo
She/Her/Antifacist
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benecal.bsky.social
Act Up has a new poster about RFK's murderous poilcies.

actupny.com/act-up-ny-an...
December 1, 2025 at 10:17 PM
benecal.bsky.social
Boy, this blew his mind.
Convo is BEFORE the COVID vaccine. So he's postulating that the elderly and medical professionals are more likely to have had the flu vaccine, and AHA!, that is why they are getting COVID more.

But then he includes children - the hypothesis and its opposite in one breath!
Yeah. I've seen a lot of anecdotal discussion of the fact that the people, the cohorts that seem to be getting ill are by and large disproportionally cohorts who you would expect to have been vaccinated. So senior citizens are of the highest vaccination rates for the flu are the ones who are dying. And then medical workers ... In that Northern Italy, right before the outbreak of the virus, there was a mass vaccination for that very, very powerful flu vaccine. And you're starting to see it now in kids in this country, and unfortunately we are inoculating a lot of kids with flu vaccines in this country.
December 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
benecal.bsky.social
Jeepers-creepers...

An RFK interview w Joseph Mercola from May 17, 2020 where RFK weaves a fabulously detailed and lunatic lab-leak tail.
Exactly. As you know, the coronavirus can be super virulent and super deadly, and super transmissible, or it can be mild, like a cold. And the Chinese have been trying to do it. After 2002, beginning of 2002, there were three SARS epidemics. The first one was natural epidemic that had moved from bats to human beings. The second two were lab-created organisms where people were experimenting at that point with the coronavirus, and when you try to create a vaccine, what you do is you accelerate evolution. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: And the way that they accelerate evolution is they take the organism from the anus of the bat, they put that organism maybe on pangolin kidney tissue and they grow it. And then they take it off the pangolin, the grown virus, off pangolin kidney tissue, and they put it on feral monkey kidneys. And then they take it from there, and they put it on mouse brains. Every time they move it to a new animal, it kicks off all kinds of mutations. You can take six years of evolution and you can compress it into a couple of days. You create super viral forms of virus in that process. It's called accelerated evolution, and you create mild forms. You can take the mild forms, and you can turn them into a vaccine. You can take a mild form and give a person that mild form, and they don't really get sick. They develop the antibodies, and that's the theory.
December 1, 2025 at 3:51 PM
benecal.bsky.social
From @angelarasmussen.bsky.social:

Prasad forced FDA scientists to withdraw a paper that showed that COVID vaccine benefits outweigh risks for anyone 6 mos- 64 years. (Contradicting FDA's new restrictions on vaccine approvals).

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/do-unvacci...
October 2025: Prasad forced FDA scientists to withdraw a paper under review at Vaccine (the journal I am co-Editor-in-Chief of). I can’t disclose details about the manuscript under consideration, but the same analysis was also presented at a conference. It showed that, yep, COVID vaccines still provide benefits that outweigh the risks for all people ages 6 months-64 years old. I’m sure that conclusion had nothing to with Prasad ordering its withdrawal from publication in a journal called Vaccine.
November 30, 2025 at 10:01 PM
benecal.bsky.social
Or not.

Do actual journalists use phrases like this or is it from a PR firm?

“implementation at scale to cross the chasm from niche specialty to health system transformation.”
From Buzzword to Practice Across sessions on artificial intelligence, value-based payment, health system transformation, food-as-medicine programs, women’s and men’s health, cancer recovery, sleep optimization, and behavior change, the focus remained consistent: implementation at scale to cross the chasm from niche specialty to health system transformation.
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Whatever this means.

I am sorry, private physicians do NOT “design & support environments” in their communities.

Maybe they work w local governments to design and implement policies.

IOW they work in Public Health.

But sure pay for that Blue Zone Certificate or whatever.
The introduction of a new Blue Zones Certification for clinicians, announced just prior to the convening, extends lifestyle medicine from the clinic into community settings — providing a pathway for physicians to design and support environments that make healthy lifestyles the default in their home communities.
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
You have the power to reverse your own disease! Quickly! The dose of lifestyle makes the difference! For ALL “these” diseases!

Which is why you never see athletes get cancer or ALS or RA or asthma. No sir-y-bob.

Lifestyle Medicine is MAHA quackery rebranded w an MD and an expanded price tag.🏷️
And these pathways are very dynamic. People can get sick quickly, and they can also get better very quickly. But as with the early Alzheimer’s intervention, Ornish explains that the dose makes all the difference. “It was a very intensive intervention,” Ornish said. “We know from our prior studies that the reason we were the first to show we could reverse all these different diseases is that it’s hard. You have to make really big changes.”
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
FFS there’s a “Unifying Theory of Chronic Disease”!

They share a “common biological mechanism”?

You mean they happen in humans and share human responses to infection and age and stress?

Sure. We don’t age like nematodes or have the immune system of crickets.

Unified Theory of homo sapienism.
This strengthens what Ornish calls the unifying theory of lifestyle medicine. Most chronic diseases — cardiometabolic, certain cancers, and certain forms of dementia — share at least some, and often many, of the same underlying biological mechanisms. What we eat, how much we exercise, and how much social support we have play a critical role in chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, changes in the microbiome, and overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system during times of stress.
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Oh wait this is based on case data?

Waiting for Prasad to claim he needs large scale RCTs for such claims…
Kaushik Reddy, MD, an interventionalist at the James A. Haley Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and Ajay Joseph, MD, a cardiologist from a large healthcare system in Tulsa, Oklahoma, presented case after case of patients’ lives altered through prescriptions for lifestyle medicine interventions: patients with refractory angina who regained functional capacity alongside medication de-escalation, patients deteriorating after multiple stents and bypass procedures whose symptoms stabilized or improved, and patients with escalating metabolic disease on multidrug regimens whose A1c and low-density lipoprotein levels fell with the addition of therapeutic lifestyle interventions.
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Patients “improve faster” if they eat “whole” foods, plants, exercise, reduce stress, sleep, have good social system.

Funny, they don’t mention the social determinants of health. Or public health.

Wonder why.

Wheel reinvented by MAHA.
When clinicians systematically implement the six pillars of lifestyle medicine — whole food, plant-predominant nutrition; physical activity; sleep; stress management; social connection; and avoidance of risky substances — patients improve. Frequently, they improve faster than with conventional treatments, often more sustainably, and sometimes with a reversal of chronic diseases.
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Lifestyle Medicine propaganda. Brought to you by MAHA sympathizers.

Claim they are “leaders” and also “represent” 400,000 healthcare workers

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...
These leaders — collectively representing more than 400,000 physicians, researchers, interdisciplinary healthcare professionals, and trainees — spoke candidly about the need to anchor modern medical practice with lifestyle interventions to achieve “root cause-centered” care. Some of these leaders are already board certified in lifestyle medicine. Others are preparing to sit for the exam within the next year.
November 30, 2025 at 9:38 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Great article by @drjudystone.bsky.social about why the Trump administration no longer considers of a bunch of allied health degrees as "professional," notably RN and MPH. This limits the amount of the loans students are eligible for, which will limit the # of students which can apply. Crazy.
November 29, 2025 at 9:29 PM
benecal.bsky.social
It would be fun for journos to ask RFK’s underlings if he asks of them “discipline and fearlessness” or “total submission”.

What say you, Makary, Bhattacharya, Memoli, Nixon, Spear???
Blurb from Ryan Lizza’s blog where ex-fiancée, Olivia Nuzzi tells him that her lover RFK Jr demanded “discipline and fearlessness” and “at times, total submission”. Also, Nuzzi said “If anyone ever finds out I am afraid Bobby will kill me.”
November 22, 2025 at 9:01 AM
benecal.bsky.social
The author digs into OTHER groups that receive funding from same foundations/DAFs and, surprise, its the far right conservative crowd you would expect from libertarians. Heritage, FedSoc, bitcoin bro Roger Ver funded >10% of their activity.
The filings show the institute has also received funding from foundations run by people with backgrounds in business, including in tech, finance, law, and banking. According to a review of tax records, many of them have also given to anti-vaccine organizations; groups such as the Independent Medical Alliance, which promoted ineffective treatments for covid; or prominent organizations in conservative politics, such as the Federalist Society, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Heritage Foundation. Brownstone in 2023 received $67,350 from Donors Trust Inc., which funds conservative causes. As of 2024, the Brownstone Institute’s board included David Stockman, a White House budget chief under President Ronald Reagan; libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux; and Roger Ver, an investor known as “Bitcoin Jesus.” Ver’s website said he gave more than $1 million to the institute.
November 21, 2025 at 9:08 AM
benecal.bsky.social
JD Vance is an anti vaxxer. In Sept 2025 he enlisted NIH Acting Director Memoli's help against an OH hospital so that his relative would not "have" to get a COVID vaccine before a pediatric HEART TRANSPLANT.

Memoli comes off badly here too.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/h...
As the N.I.H.’s acting director, the complaints say, Dr. Memoli leaned on his subordinates in early February to take the side of Vice President JD Vance in a dispute his family had with a hospital in Ohio. The hospital had required that a young relative of Mr. Vance’s be vaccinated against Covid-19 before she received a heart transplant.
November 18, 2025 at 11:01 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Interview w The Onion’s Ben Collins is excellent. Lots of fun quotes.

The goal for buying InfoWars Collins says is to create a site to expose grifters and their business scams. So fitting!

english.elpais.com/technology/2...
Answer: to create a site focused on showing how everything in American life is a scam… not just Alex Jones. Almost every kind of drifter on the internet is selling you something behind the scenes, using their cult of personality to do it.
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Articles like this are a reminder that propaganda works and that public interest really is malleable.

We were treated to years of QANON hallucinations & stories about their deeply held beliefs. And now they have real life child trafficking and now it’s “whatever”.
November 15, 2025 at 4:07 PM
benecal.bsky.social
To reduce disagreement to a battle about data vs stories is a straw man.

Public health relies on data for decision making.

MAHA leaders wants to pretend data is dumb so they can ignore what is inconvenient & enact policies they like.
While many in public health remain convinced that the best way to counter health misinformation is with data, this conference made clear that data alone won’t do it. For many in the room, the “facts” we roll out arrive pre-contested — manufactured by pharma, laundered through government, delivered by people they don’t trust. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) underscored this point in his video address, praising “powerful anecdotal evidence” as the key to “open people’s eyes.”
November 14, 2025 at 10:33 PM
benecal.bsky.social
The article talks about the vast sums spent by antivax groups on PR and comms, their political strategy of reversing state vaccine mandates & the federal vaccine schedule, and litigating against pharma.

The counter to a well organized antivax bz empire cannot be just "showing up" to talk.
What might is showing up — listening, engaging, and communicating better. The leaders applauded at CHD, including Kennedy, are seen as truth-tellers who stand up despite the costs. Public health needs to reclaim that same moral authority: to be seen as standing for truth with equal courage and clarity.
November 14, 2025 at 10:33 PM
benecal.bsky.social
Anyhow, nothing particularly surprising in the attendees, or the random assortment of topics. Just gross.
The panel topics throughout the summit in the draft agenda obtained by STAT could offer insight into the most pressing issues in American health care: the “FDA of the future,” “how AI is transforming health care,” “compounding and pharmacy innovation,” “psychedelic medicine: the next frontier in mental health,” “making American biotech accelerate (MABA),” and “transformation at the NIH.” The closing keynote, slated after an “eloquent rant” from Russell Brand, will be delivered by Kennedy himself.
November 12, 2025 at 5:14 PM
benecal.bsky.social
For industry there is "exclusive networking" available. Or pay to play, I guess. Regeneron, CRISPR Therapeutics will be there. Guess they aren't inviting any mRNA developers.

Oh and Joe Lonsdale of the Thiel universe on the finance end of things. Dodgy DOGE and Abundance Institute connections.
They plan to talk to industry and MAHA leaders about a wide range of high-priority issues, from the future of the FDA and NIH to artificial intelligence in health care, biotech development, GLP-1s, and food as medicine. Those in attendance will also be able to take advantage of “exclusive networking” with the powerful leaders, according to a copy of the invite viewed by STAT.
November 12, 2025 at 5:14 PM
benecal.bsky.social
So the target customer is the under or un-insured. The person least likely to have cash on hand to pay for expensive though discounted drugs.

Trump has talked about, but not obtained, any agreement from companies to cut prices they offer to Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial payers.
Trump has made other demands of the pharmaceutical industry as part of his so-called “most-favored nations” plan, including that companies cut prices that they offer to Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial payers. Yet the notion of implementing direct-to-consumer models is the only one with which the industry has publicly agreed.
November 12, 2025 at 5:03 PM
benecal.bsky.social
TrumpRx -- what is it?

For the moment, it's a website.

With a dark picture of Trump at his desk looking like he might pounce if he were capable of standing on his own.

The last place I would go for my drugs.

trumprx.gov
November 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
benecal.bsky.social
Death knell for the CDC:

Experts writing guidelines on pediatric liver transplantation are no longer citing the CDC on immunization because its information is no longer trustworthy.

Great job RFK. So much winning.

www.statnews.com/2025/11/11/a...
Elsewhere at the conference, experts who helped write forthcoming guidelines on pediatric liver transplantation said they decided to leave the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out of their references. The “information on immunization isn’t trustworthy anymore,” Simon Horslen of CHOP said. Instead, the guidelines — which are slated to go public in coming weeks — will reference professional societies’ documents.
November 12, 2025 at 10:25 AM
benecal.bsky.social
My fuse with the NYTimes is already short. But healthcare is a political issue that is a weakness for DEMOCRATS?

JFC in NYTimes speak everything is a problem for Democrats and Republicans skate by w zero criticism.

How, pray tell is healthcare a STRENGTH for Republicans???
They assert that in hammering away at the extension of health care subsidies that are slated to expire at the end of next month, they managed to thrust Mr. Trump and Republicans onto the defensive, elevating a political issue that has long been a major weakness for them.
November 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM