FOOD SAFETY NEWS – Calling for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., almost two dozen groups say his policies and actions are a threat to food safety programs and other public health services.
The 22 groups issued a joint statement on Sept. 3 citing 10 areas of concern related to Kennedy’s responsibilities. The statement issued by the 22 groups came on the same day that 61 other groups headed by Public Citizen called on President Trump to fire Kennedy, citing his positions on various public health topics.
Headed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the 22 groups that issued the statement identify themselves as national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations.
Their statement challenges Kennedy’s stand on a number of public health issues that include the responsibilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
“Forcing high-level CDC expert leaders to turn their back on decades of sound science to meet Kennedy’s agenda puts us all at risk. This final exclamation point on a term defined by repeated efforts to undermine science and public health definitively leaves Americans less safe in a multitude of ways,” according to the groups’ statement.
The groups contend that the threats to the public health operations in America include food safety because Kennedy’s actions would reduce the “capacity to protect the public from foodborne illness, including a drastic reduction in the number of infections monitored and a resulting increased risk of foodborne illness.”
The reference relates to Kennedy’s decision that the CDC’s program known as FoodNet will now only monitor two foodborne pathogens instead of eight. A spokesperson with the CDC told Food Safety News the agency will only track Salmonella and shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) moving forward.
Pathogens cut from FoodNet’s tracking program include Listeria, which often results in death. Other pathogens cut from FoodNet’s work are Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Shigella, Vibrio and Yersinia.
The cutback to FoodNet is the most significant reduction in surveillance since the USDA’s Microbiological Data Program was shut down because of industry lobbying. The program began collecting and analyzing fresh produce samples in April 2001.
Craig Hedberg, a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota and co-director of the Minnesota Integrated Food Safety at the Center of Excellence, told the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy that the cuts to FoodNet put the nation in danger of more foodborne illnesses.
“The disturbing thing about cutting FoodNet funds is that it normalizes the idea that foodborne disease surveillance is expensive and unimportant,” he said. “In fact, it is the foundation of our food safety system, and needs further investments, not restrictions.”
The CDC’s estimates, based in part on FoodNet data, show that Campylobacter — which, at Kennedy’s order, is no longer tracked — alone caused 1.9 million foodborne illness cases in the United States in 2019, beating out Salmonella and STEC. Salmonella, Campylobacter, norovirus, Listeria, and STEC caused the most deaths.
FoodNet is a joint effort between CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 10 state health departments. Although state health departments are no longer required to track the six pathogens cut from FoodNet, they can continue to conduct surveillance for those pathogens at their own expense.
In addition to food safety, the 22 advocacy groups said Kennedy’s cuts will have a negative impact in the following ways:
- Diagnostic testing and expert consultation: Limited testing capacity and consultation for less common infections where expertise, testing or medications may only be available at CDC.
- Infection tracking and surveillance: Lack of information about what infections are circulating in local communities, which health care providers rely upon to evaluate and protect patients.
- Public and provider education: Loss of expertise and trust in what was once the premier source of information to support clinicians and empower patients to make the best decisions to protect themselves and their families.
- Chronic disease prevention and management: Weakened initiatives that promote healthy behaviors, preventive care and community-based projects to prevent and manage chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
- Emergency response: Diminished leadership and capacity to detect and mount effective responses to emerging infectious diseases and bioterror attacks.
- Longstanding epidemics: Reversal of progress made in ending the HIV epidemic, eliminating viral hepatitis and addressing sexually transmitted infections.
- Health and safety throughout the lifespan: Loss of expertise and information to support healthy pregnancy, child development and injury prevention.
- Vaccination: Decimated capacity to make evidence-based vaccine recommendations and objectively oversee vaccine safety.
- State and local health departments: Loss of expert guidance, technical support and resources to protect communities from routine health threats.
“We are gravely concerned that American people will needlessly suffer and die as a result of policies that turn away from sound interventions. After careful consideration, we insist on Kennedy’s resignation to restore the integrity, credibility and science-driven mission of HHS and all its agencies,” according to the groups’ statement.
“Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe. We are speaking out because protecting public health is our responsibility as physicians, scientists and patient advocates.
“It is also the responsibility of our elected officials, and we call for their support at this critical moment to protect the health of the nation. It is time to reverse course and begin rebuilding the public health infrastructure overseen by CDC. Kennedy has proven himself unwilling and ill-prepared to lead that effort.”
The groups that co-authored the call for Kenedy’s resignation are:
- Infectious Diseases Society of America
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- American Academy of HIV Medicine
- American Association of Immunologists
- American Public Health Association
- American Society for Microbiology
- American Society for Virology
- Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
- AVAC
- Camenzind Solutions LLC
- Fast-Track Cities Institute
- HIV Medicine Association
- ID Care
- International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
- NTM Info & Research
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
- Peggy Lillis Foundation
- Seattle Children’s Research Institute
- Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
- Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP)
- Stop TB USA
- Treatment Action Group
