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Good morning. The other night I watched a shocking episode of “The Vampire Diaries.” A series of cursed, ghost-like hallucinations attempt to convince a teen vampire to end her own life using some disturbingly coercive, cogent arguments. Ultimately, the character is saved. And while this episode aired more than a decade ago, I was surprised by how many parallels there were to current debates about the risks of AI chatbots and people in mental health crises.
STAT’s Mario Aguilar recently had an interesting conversation on chatbot safety with Google’s clinical director. Scroll down to read more.
The Trump admin is hardening against harm reduction
New documents show that the Trump administration is doubling down on its opposition to harm reduction services for people who use illicit drugs, STAT’s Lev Facher reports. In an open letter last week, SAMHSA warned grant recipients against using federal funds to buy harm reduction supplies like sterile syringes, pipes, or test strips. In a second letter the same day, the agency also warned against using certain addiction medications without accompanying support services.
The agency emphasized that the Trump administration is making a “clear shift away from harm reduction and practices that facilitate illicit drug use and are incompatible with federal law.” Read more from Lev on what this shift looks like and how it squares with the evidence on addiction treatment.
New data on public trust in science
Two recent reports highlight some interesting trends in the public’s perspective on science:
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer found that most people (70% of a survey of 16,000 people in 16 countries) believe at least one of six divisive or inaccurate health claims about food, vaccines, or medicine — and that rate is consistent among people with and without university degrees, as well as across demographic groups and political lines. At the same time, people are much less confident in their ability to make informed health decisions or find the answers to health questions, the survey found.
Another survey, released yesterday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that nearly 7 in 10 Americans say they trust vaccine scientists, at least moderately, to act in the best interest of “people like you.” Out of 1,650 respondents, that’s about the same percentage of people who trust medical scientists and the broader field of scientists. It’s much higher than the percentage of people who trust journalists (49%) and elected officials (36%).
Predicting consequences of new hepatitis B vax recs
Late last year, the Trump administration adopted a new policy recommending a delay in when most babies are vaccinated against hepatitis B. The decision overturned a 30-year policy that has contributed to a massive decline in cases of the disease. And new research published yesterday projects that the change will lead to more infected babies, more children with chronic infections, and millions of extra dollars spent on health care costs.
The two studies represent the exact type of research that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was flushed and re-filled with political appointees last year, would typically review before making such a recommendation. “And there’s simply not a shred of evidence that there are any adverse effects or safety concerns” with the shot, infectious disease epidemiologist Arthur Reingold told STAT’s Helen Branswell. Read more on what the future might look like.
Google’s clinical director on AI and mental health
In the wake of a lawsuit alleging a man was driven by Google’s Gemini chatbot to take his own life, the company recently announced updates to ensure its app more prominently features connections to crisis hotlines when it detects a person may be at risk of self harm. The stakes are clearly high, but Google clinical director Megan Jones Bell (pictured above) told STAT’s Mario Aguilar she welcomes the challenge of making AI helpful to people with a mental health crisis.
“It can seem sometimes like shutting something down is a way of preventing harm,” she said, but “psychologically, it could do more harm than good.” Instead, the company is working to better detect and respond to indirect signals that somebody is struggling with their mental health, she said. Read the conversation for specific examples of how Google is working to make the Gemini app safer in crisis situations.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. For TTY users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988.
Early results on a potential preeclampsia treatment
Preeclampsia, which affects about 4% of pregnancies in the U.S., causes high blood pressure in a pregnant person, leading to life-threatening risks for them and their baby. While aspirin can mediate some of that risk, the only way to really “cure” the condition is to deliver the baby, sometimes prematurely. A team out of Cedars-Sinai working on a way to safely extend pregnancy for those with the earliest, most severe form of the condition published positive results yesterday in Nature Medicine from a small pilot trial.
The treatment is sort of similar to kidney dialysis, according to the researchers. They focus on a protein produced by the placenta called sFIt-1. By engineering an immune protein that binds to it and using a blood-filtering device, they were able to remove excess sFIt-1 from patients’ blood. Among 16 patients, pregnancy was extended for an average of 10 days. Larger clinical trials are needed, but the researchers (some of whom, it should be noted, have a financial interest in the work) found the results promising.
A rare opportunity on a serious health challenge
Earlier this month, the EPA proposed a rule that would formally flag microplastics and pharmaceuticals in drinking water as threats that deserve federal attention. It’s perhaps the biggest MAHA win on an environmental issue to date, but there’s a lot more to do before legally binding limits could be implemented.
“This could be the start of serious action on microplastics,” a former congressman writes with a policymaker and adviser in a new First Opinion essay. “Or it could end up as a headline — designed to woo MAHA voters — with little behind it.” But as the MAHA coalition continues to push on environmental concerns about plastic, a rare cross-partisan consensus is emerging. Read more on how the authors believe that politicians should take advantage of this opportunity.
(On another environmental health front, the Supreme Court seemed divided yesterday over whether to block thousands of lawsuits alleging the company that makes the weedkiller Roundup failed to adequately warn people that it could cause cancer. The AP has more on that case.)
What we’re reading
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FDA may finally make it illegal to shock autistic kids as punishment, Mother Jones
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Measles surge in South Carolina ends after sickening nearly 1,000, New York Times
- Dems say RFK Jr. has a pattern of failing to answer their questions, STAT
- Trump and Congress cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Can Botox keep it afloat? NPR
- A giant question looms over GOP’s new Medicaid work requirements, STAT