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Good morning. Sending thoughts and prayers to all the bagged salad girlies out there. For news, don’t miss Sarah Todd’s great story on THC beverages, which was spurred by a colleague’s rant in one of our regular team meetings.
Clarifying the latest on cyclospora
Despite reports of a false positive test for the diarrhea-causing parasite, federal officials said yesterday that they’re still focused on Taylor Farms as the source of the cyclosporiasis outbreak, which has sickened at least 1,644 people. The sample in question wasn’t part of the company’s larger recall on shredded lettuce and salad products, meaning it’s still possible those products were contaminated. While the outbreak was initially linked to Taco Bell, the recalled products were also sent to Walmart, Jack in the Box, and major food service distributors like Sysco, per Consumer Reports.
“FDA’s traceback investigation and the outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms’ locations in central Mexico,” Donald Prater, FDA acting food chief, said on a press call. While the recalled product went out to 28 states, it’s worth noting that, right now, cases are extremely concentrated in just a handful: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and, to a lesser extent, Kentucky and West Virginia.
A renewed push from the right on abortion pills
In a hearing last week, acting attorney general Todd Blanche committed to stopping the shipment of abortion medication through the mail. Two days later, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent Blanche a letter, referring the nonprofit Plan C and manufacturer Danco Laboratories for criminal investigation.
“This coordinated effort between Plan C and the abortion drug manufacturers to violate state law at the expense of women’s health deserves the closest scrutiny,” Hawley wrote. The framing echoes allegations by the Department of Justice that gender-affirming care providers collude with drugmakers, as Autonomy News reporter Garnet Henderson pointed out.
The push comes as the FDA moves ahead with a safety study of mifepristone, one of two drugs typically used for medication abortions. Antiabortion activists pushed for the study, even though the drug has been FDA-approved and used safely for decades. Public polling shows that most Americans believe abortion should be legal in most cases; voters in four states this fall will test that statistic with ballot questions about abortion.
A fugitive was hiding out in biotech
In 2005, anesthesiologist Ronald Fischer disappeared while on trial in Rhode Island for first-degree sexual assault. Last week, he was arrested on board a 56-foot sailboat off the coast of New Jersey. How did he evade the authorities for more than two decades? The Boston Globe reported some of the details (including the goodbye email he sent his attorney, which promised a check to cover legal fees and ended with a suggestion to eat less chocolate “and watch your diet”.) But yesterday, STAT’s Adam Feuerstein revealed that Fischer also appears to have been living a secret life as a biotech executive.
Read more on the alias Fischer used and the successful biotech career he seems to have fabricated for himself.
THC sodas are everywhere
See for yourself: Next time you’re at the grocery store, a bodega, a corner store, a deli, look closer at the section of refrigerated averages. Beside sodas, iced teas, and even chocolate milk, you can often find canned drinks containing THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis. (A federal loophole from 2018, set to close this fall, legalized hemp-derived products, but state regulations vary widely.)
Some clinicians say that more young people are ending up in emergency rooms after — whether accidentally or on purpose — ingesting these drinks. STAT’s Sarah Todd has a secret-shopper-adjacent story today, with photos from our co-workers across the country who scouted their own local markets for THC drinks. Read more on how stores market these beverages, their health risks, and how likely it is these products actually get banned in the fall.
Antimicrobial resistance in children is worsening
Antimicrobial resistance among children has substantially risen globally over the last two decades, largely due to Gram-negative bacteria that cause infections like sepsis and pneumonia, per a study published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers also projected that two of these bacteria — Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella — are projected to reach 82% and 35% resistance to last-resort antibiotics by 2035.
The analysis was based on more than 106,000 samples from minors in 82 countries. Infants, those in the ICU, and regions with few health care resources were particularly affected by the increased resistance. The results align with existing estimates from WHO, the study authors write. In order to make pediatric-specific data more accessible to clinicians, they created an interactive dashboard based on the data.
What we’re reading
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What’s behind the rise in mild autism? Atlantic
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Access to potential long Covid drugs dwindles as trials falter, C&EN
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At least 930 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, NPR
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Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died, NBC News
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Opinion: How a controversial rule could hurt the NIH’s ability to manage risk, STAT