Dana Howard

@thedanahoward.bsky.social

350 followers 820 following 77 posts

Assistant Professor | Bioethics and Philosophy. Views are my own and not that of my employer.

Professional website: https://sites.google.com/site/danasarahhoward/

Videos

Art 30%

Public Health 22%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Devon Greyson, Smith, Dana Howard , and 1 more Devon Greyson, Smith, Dana Howard, Timothy D. McBride

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 1d

NIH is losing so may good people. First they were fired or RIFd or pressured to retire early.

Now they are leaving because “no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity.”

Proud to know these brave scientists!

www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n...

The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left

“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity,” write four scientists and administrators who recently resigned from the NIH.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Diane Coyle, Colin F. Camerer, Paul Glasziou , and 32 more Diane Coyle, Colin F. Camerer, Paul Glasziou, Peter Thorne, Mel Bartley, Diarmid Campbell‐Lendrum, Bryan D. Jones, Steven French, Benjamin Mason Meier, Ben Barr, Martin Tomko, Peter Holmes, Juan Cole, Jonathan Hopkin, R. M. Wilson, Tom Griffin, Richard Larouche, Bessma Momani, Suzanne de Cheveigné, Dana R. Fisher, David Underdown, David Murakami Wood, Johannes Breuer, Urška Demšar, Björn Heile, Brooke Harrington, Tim Stephens, Prokla Redaktion, Alan McNally, Christina Pagel, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Dana Howard, Jeannette Sutton, François Guesnet

Justin @ediparolev.bsky.social · 1d

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

Uruguay’s Renewable Charge: A Small Nation, A Big Lesson For The World

Uruguay built a power grid that runs 99% on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. Here’s how its bold energy overhaul became a global model.

www.forbes.com

Reposted by Daniel S. Goldberg, Dana Howard

Leslie E. Wolf, JD, MPH @leslieewolf.bsky.social · 2d

Using FDA Law to Threaten Medical Practice | New England Journal of Medicine www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

The expert authors (Lewis Grossman, @nathancortez.bsky.social & @pzettler.bsky.social) explain why this is troubling and may have implications far beyond the treatment of gender-affirming care.

Using FDA Law to Threaten Medical Practice | NEJM

Though recent subpoenas from the U.S. DOJ target providers of gender-affirming care, the legal arguments behind them could affect physicians prescribing off-label treatment for any reason.

www.nejm.org

Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Dana Howard

Chelsea Polis @cbpolis.bsky.social · 4d

MAHA is weaponizing fertility awareness based methods to undermine access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care (e.g., other forms of contraception, abortion, IVF, Title X). Here, I argue that FABMs must be grounded in evidence & reproductive justice: www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

Health Affairs Journal

www.healthaffairs.org

Reposted by Dana Howard

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 5d

"It seems that Republican lawmakers in Ohio can’t take no for an answer. Despite a 2023 ballot measure codifying reproductive freedom in the state constitution, Republicans are still trying everything they can to make abortion inaccessible." - Susan Rinkunas www.democracydocket.com/opinion/ohio...

Ohio Republicans are defying voters to pursue a backdoor abortion ban

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, Diane Ravitch, Jason Williams , and 1 more Nandita Sharma, Diane Ravitch, Jason Williams, Dana Howard

Kameron Hurley @kameronhurley.com · 8d

Pretty cool

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.com

Reposted by Dana Howard

Silvia Secchi @profsecchi.bsky.social · 14d

A pretty startling example of what 21st Century agricultural extractivism looks like in the United States.

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 15d

Where a Saudi company pumps desert groundwater, Arizona considers imposing limits www.latimes.com/environment/...

Where a Saudi company pumps desert groundwater, Arizona considers imposing limits

Fondomonte, a subsidiary of a Saudi dairy company, grows hay in the Arizona desert by pumping groundwater. State officials are considering imposing regulation and limiting pumping.

www.latimes.com

Reposted by Dana Howard

Faith Kearns, Ph.D. @fkearns.bsky.social · 15d

Interesting to see how this situation has evolved. Several of the folks quoted here attended our rural groundwater workshop earlier this year, and there was definitely strong appetite for action azwaterinnovation.asu.edu/arizona-comm...

Reposted by Dana Howard

Ian Weissman, DO @drianweissman.bsky.social · 15d

A noninvasive treatment for one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer has been successful in animal trials. Using nanotechnology, researchers developed nasal drops that travel along the nerves of the nose into the central nervous system to fight glioblastoma.
newsnationnow.com/health/nasal...

newsnationnow.com

Reposted by Dana Howard

Autonomy News @autonomynews.co · 21d

Rep. Melanie Miller is behind a bill that advocates say would stigmatize abortion and send more clients to her nonprofit. “Crisis pregnancy center director introduces anti-abortion model legislation” is a ready-made headline—so why was this fact only a footnote?

Ohio Anti-Abortion Bill Sponsor Runs a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Few News Stories Mentioned It.

Rep. Melanie Miller is behind a bill that advocates say would stigmatize abortion and send more clients to her nonprofit.

www.autonomynews.co

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 23d

The Tuskegee trial was also described as an "unparalleled opportunity" at the time by those in power. nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.In...

Surgeon General H. S. Cumming wrote to R. R.
Moton, Director of the Tuskegee Institute:
The recent syphilis control demonstration carried out in Ma-
con County, with the financial assistance of the Julius Rosen-
wald Fund, revealed the presence of an unusually high rate
in this county and, what is more remarkable, the fact that 99
per cent of this group was entirely without previous treat-
ment. This combination, together with the expected coopera-
tion of your hospital, offers an unparalleled opportunity for
carrying on this piece of scientific research which probably
cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world.22

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 24d

“ Rigorous analyses later showed declines not only in polio vaccination but also in routine childhood immunizations particularly among educated mothers who were most aware of the trial.”

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 24d

The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...

How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust

The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm

bktitanji.substack.com

Reposted by Raffaella Ravinetto, Daniel S. Goldberg, Alan Richardson , and 1 more Raffaella Ravinetto, Daniel S. Goldberg, Alan Richardson, Dana Howard

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 24d

How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust

The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm

bktitanji.substack.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, David Lazer, Brian Keegan , and 2 more Jan W. Mueller, David Lazer, Brian Keegan, Amy Orben, Dana Howard

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 24d

Should scientists apply to OpenAI's fund for research on AI & mental health? Should policymakers consider it a credible safety effort?

Avriel Epps & I see it as "grantwashing," and it's an insult to anyone whose loved one's death involved chatbots. We explain:

www.techpolicy.press/beware-of-op...

Beware of OpenAI's 'Grantwashing' on AI Harms | TechPolicy.Press

J. Nathan Matias and Avriel Epps say OpenAI's announced research funding is the perfect corporate action to make sure we don't find answers for years.

www.techpolicy.press

Reposted by Dana Howard

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 24d

It is unethical to randomize children to placebo or other intervention in order to assess the efficacy of an intervention whose effectiveness and clear benefits are already supported by robust clinical trial and longterm surveillance data. I hope the outcry will halt this abominable study.

Reposted by Smith, Dana Howard

Prof Gavin Yamey @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 24d

“NIH is in crisis, grants are being terminated, labs are closing….but they found $1.6 million for an unsolicited proposal to study whether we should delay a vaccine we’ve been safely giving for 40 years, in a country where infants are at high risk of infection”

www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

CDC awards $1.6 million for hepatitis B vaccine study, likely to controversial Danish researchers

www.cidrap.umn.edu

Reposted by Jamie Morgan, David S. Cohen, Karen Benjamin Guzzo , and 2 more Jamie Morgan, David S. Cohen, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Joanna L. Grossman, Dana Howard

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 25d

NEW: Louisiana and lawyer Erin Hawley of ADF just asked a federal judge to IMMEDIATELY end telemedicine prescriptions of the abortion drug mifepristone while their lawsuit against the FDA proceeds. They cite Fifth Circuit opinion and the Comstock Act of 1873
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

screenshot 1/2 with some words highlighted in yellow. they are offset by asterisks below:
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
LAFAYETTE DIVISION
THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, by and through its Attorney General, LIZ MURRILL, and ROSALIE MARKEZICH,
Plaintiffs,
v.
U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, et al.,
Defendants.

Case No.: 6:25-cv-01491-DCJ-DJA
Judge David C. Joseph
Magistrate Judge David J. Ayo
PLAINTIFFS STATE OF LOUISIANA AND ROSALIE MARKEZICH’S
MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY RELIEF UNDER 5 U.S.C. § 705
Plaintiffs State of Louisiana and Rosalie Markezich respectfully move under 5 U.S.C. § 705 for **an order staying or postponing the effective date of the 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued to allow mifepristone to be dispensed remotely** (the 2023 REMS). Plaintiffs also move in the alternative under 5 U.S.C. § 705 for a preliminary injunction under Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ordering FDA to suspend or withdraw the 2023 REMS while this case proceeds.
The 2023 REMS is unlawful for at least the following reasons:
**First, as five Fifth Circuit judges already have indicated, the 2023 REMS is arbitrary and capricious** and an abuse of discretion in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). All. for Hippocratic Med. v. FDA, No. 23-10362, 2023 WL 2913725, at *17–18 (5th Cir. Apr. 12, 2023) (Alliance I); All. for Hippocratic Med. v. FDA, 78 F.4th 210, 249–51 (5th Cir. 2023) (Alliance II), rev’d and remanded on other grounds, 602 U.S. 367 (2024) (Alliance). That is because FDA permanently removed the in-person dispensing requirement and made other changes based on sources that the agency conceded did not support its decision.

docket here: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71544002/louisiana-v-u-s-food-drug-administration/?order_by=desc

screenshot 2/2 with some words highlighted in yellow. they are offset by asterisks below:
**Second, the 2023 REMS is “otherwise not in accordance with law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). Under 18 U.S.C. § 1462** [NOTE: THIS IS THE COMSTOCK ACT. IT'S 18 U.S.C 1461-1462], Congress prohibits the use of “any express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service” for “any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.” Because a federal agency cannot permit what federal law expressly prohibits, FDA lacked authority to permanently remove the in-person dispensing requirement.
For these reasons, and as set forth fully in Plaintiffs’ Complaint and supporting Memorandum of Law, interim relief is necessary and appropriate to mitigate irreparable injuries caused by the 2023 REMS. Interim relief will serve the public interest and will not harm Defendants.
This Motion is made on the grounds specified in this Motion, the accompanying Memorandum of Law, the exhibits attached to this Motion, the Complaint, and the Complaint’s accompanying exhibits, as well as on such other and further oral or documentary evidence as may be presented to the Court at or before a hearing on this Motion.1 An exhibit list and a proposed order are attached.

docket here: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71544002/louisiana-v-u-s-food-drug-administration/?order_by=desc

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

🚨🚨🚨

Martin McKee @martinmckee.bsky.social · 25d

Is this relevant? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

What is actually the emerging evidence about non-specific vaccine effects in randomized trials from the Bandim Health Project?

www.sciencedirect.com

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

A clear case of "ethics dumping"

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

This study would be unethically to conduct in the US according to federal regulations, importantly it also goes against the International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans (CIOMS): cioms.ch/publications...

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

From

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

There are, of course, other research methodologies that can learn from the fact that SOC is not available in a setting. CIOMS identifies that RCT trials that withhold SOC should be held up to extra scrutiny.

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

From how I understand the ethical guidance, unless there is a local need to study the difference between birth dose and witholding birth dose, then it is unethical. You are not justified in using a population as a convenience sample just because SOC is not widely available locally.

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

There is no plausible local health need that would make it ethical to conduct this study in Guinea-Bissau, but not in the US.

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

CIOMS discusses the situation of when withholding established effective interventions may be appropriate in low-resource settings. The trial must be "responsive to local health needs."

Dana Howard @thedanahoward.bsky.social · 25d

From CIOMS: "when an established effective intervention exists for the condition under investigation, study participants must receive that intervention within the trial."