Dr. Peter Lurie
@drpeterlurie.bsky.social
300 followers 56 following 52 posts
President of @cspinet.org, America’s food and health watchdog. Previously: FDA, Public Citizen, and HIV policy research.
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drpeterlurie.bsky.social
America's strip malls and Main Streets are filling up with these "hydration spas," with little evidence that they have any health benefits as well as little regulation at the state/federal level.
yalecrrit.bsky.social
We are excited to share a recently published study in @jamainternalmed.com which investigates state-level policies related to intravenous (IV) hydration spa regulation. Information regarding the safety of IV spas is limited (1/5)
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
Like the previous report, this should not be taken seriously as science. But as a political document, we have not seen the last of it.
cspinet.org
Today, RFK, Jr., USDA, and other leaders at HHS released the final "MAHA" Report, but the only thing this plan seems to make healthy again is industry profits, while ignoring the actual causes of chronic diseases and proven interventions.

From CSPI president @drpeterlurie.bsky.social 👇
RFK, Jr.’s MAHA report favors voluntary industry action over regulation
www.cspi.org
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
Secretary Kennedy is right that conflict of interest is an important issue, but he is wrong that it is present at substantial levels on HHS vaccine advisory committees.
cspinet.org
At RFK, Jr.'s disastrous hearing yesterday, Senator Bill Cassidy cited a study co-authored by CSPI president @drpeterlurie.bsky.social and USC's @profgenkanter.bsky.social regarding conflicts of interest. Is RFK, Jr. right when he says that 97% of members of vaccine panels had conflicts of interest?
Reposted by Dr. Peter Lurie
cspinet.org
At RFK, Jr.'s disastrous hearing yesterday, Senator Bill Cassidy cited a study co-authored by CSPI president @drpeterlurie.bsky.social and USC's @profgenkanter.bsky.social regarding conflicts of interest. Is RFK, Jr. right when he says that 97% of members of vaccine panels had conflicts of interest?
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
Secretary Kennedy has chosen to foist his own personal pet theories onto the whole country with his reckless campaign to undermine vaccines and public trust in them. Read my statement on the news coming out of the CDC 👇
cspinet.org
RFK, Jr. is systematically dismantling the public health infrastructure that keeps us safe from pandemics and vaccine-responsive diseases like Covid-19.
CDC purge and Covid vaccine restrictions threaten public health
www.cspi.org
Reposted by Dr. Peter Lurie
cspinet.org
CSPI President @drpeterlurie.bsky.social appeared on CNN yesterday to discuss RFK Jr.'s stunning decision to pull $500 million in funding away from development of mRNA vaccines - a decision that will have far-reaching impacts beyond just vaccines for COVID.

Video source: CNN
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
The job of Surgeon General of the United States is not an entry-level position.
cspinet.org
Today, CSPI joined with @publiccitizen.bsky.social to co-lead a letter, signed by over 30 other organizations, to urge U.S. senators to reject the nomination of health and wellness digital personality Casey Means for Surgeon General.
Dozens of advocacy, health, and consumer groups urge senators to reject Trump nominee Casey Means for U.S. Surgeon General
www.cspi.org
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
RFK, Jr. continues the trend of plucking new hires from unscientific spaces and placing them in positions where they can spread their fringe ideas on a national scale. So-called medical journals like the "Journal of the Academy of Public Health" are the canary in the coal mine here.
RFK Jr. Turns to Fringe Medical Journal to Find New Hires
George Tidmarsh is a millionaire co-founder of a biotech firm, serial entrepreneur, neonatologist and adjunct professor at Stanford University. But his part in creating a fringe medical journal is the...
www.bloomberg.com
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
“Restoring Gold Standard Science” is a move from the same toolbox as RFK, Jr.’s “radical transparency.” That is to say, it will do the exact opposite of what it says it will do. Excellent piece from @drdavidmichaels.bsky.social and Wendy Wagner.
theatlantic.com
Trump's "gold standard" for science gives political appointees—most of whom are not scientists—the authority to define scientific integrity and then decide which evidence counts and how it should be interpreted, David Michaels and Wendy Wagner argue:
Trump’s ‘Gold Standard’ for Science Manufactures Doubt
By emphasizing scientific uncertainty above other values, political appointees can block any regulatory action they want to.
bit.ly
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
Just four months into his role as secretary, RFK, Jr. has already cast doubt on established science, fired staff across HHS, slashed funding for research, and pursued fringe health policies while showing no signs of producing and following scientific evidence that would improve the public's health.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
The FDA routinely allows substances to remain in foods long after evidence of harm emerges, but the Food Chemical Reassessment Act would ensure the FDA completes those evaluations in a timely manner and begins with chemicals that already have evidence of harm.
schakowsky.house.gov
Consumers deserve to know that the foods they're eating are safe, but right now, thousands of harmful chemicals in our foods are going unchecked.

We must put the ‘F’ back in the FDA.

That's why @delauro.house.gov and I are introducing a bill to get toxic chemicals out of our foods.
Schakowsky, DeLauro Introduce Legislation to Help Ensure the Food We Eat is Safe
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Ranking Member of the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and U.S. Representativ...
schakowsky.house.gov
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
It’s the CRLs for drugs that have never been approved that are of interest to most people. This is the same move they pulled for chem. contaminants and conflicts on CDC’s vaccine advisory committee – putting out material that was already publicly available.

“Radical transparency” this isn’t. (2/2)
Screenshot of the homepage of the USDA's Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool. Screenshot of the CDC's "Conflicts of Interest Disclosures of ACIP Members" webpage.
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
More sleight of hand on “radical transparency” at HHS.

FDA today published complete response letters for 200 drugs, citing my research when I was at FDA. But they are only disclosing the CRLs for drugs that were subsequently approved – and these are already available on the FDA website. (1/2)
Screenshot of the FDA's website on the page "Complete Response Letters." The body text reads "These records include Complete Response Letters (CRL) issued in response to approved new drug applications (NDAs) and biologics license applications (BLAs) between 2020 and 2024. This is the first ever centralized database of past CRLs."
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
Usually these overrides are meant to be less restrictive, making a product available when reviewers are more cautious. It's hard not to think that antipathy towards COVID vaccines is playing a large role in this override.
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
The MAHA Report is rightly concerned about industry-funded research, but ceding ground to industry won’t help. It’s self-evident that cutbacks in federal funding will leave the field open to the very corporate funding RFK Jr. has decried.
cspinet.org
The Trump administration has declared that it will aggressively combat chronic disease in America. But its actions tell a much different story. How can we "make America healthy again" when we don't fund scientific research?
‘MAHA Report’ calls for fighting chronic disease, but Trump and Kennedy have yanked funding
www.cspi.org
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
The NIH grant terminations were arbitrary and capricious, and have now been ruled unlawful. Judge Young’s ruling thankfully starts researchers getting back to work delivering progress on cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, HIV, and other health challenges facing our diverse population.
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
RFK: Let's question Pharma drugs, which have actual evidence, and open the market to experimental therapies sometimes made by "charlatans."
 
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/h...
Kennedy Says ‘Charlatans’ Are No Reason to Block Unproven Stem Cell Treatments
www.nytimes.com
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
A shocking (or perhaps not so shocking) development for an already questionable report that selectively cherry-picked the literature to support the idiosyncratic biases of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Reposted by Dr. Peter Lurie
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
My latest in @jama.com: recent SCOTUS decisions make it clear that the courts will defer to the FDA less often for regulatory interpretation. Laying out clear justification for agency action in guidance documents will likely be critical for its ongoing role in food and drug regulation.
Assessing US Food and Drug Administration Guidance Practices in Drug Development
This Viewpoint discusses the US Food and Drug Administration’s history of guidance documents, trends in publishing practices, and suggested reforms for further improvements.
jamanetwork.com
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
Kennedy and Trump are pushing policies that will make Americans sicker, hungrier, and more at risk from unsafe food. At this moment, that is the true risk to children’s health. (8/8)
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
And while Americans are consuming too much soda and other ultra-processed junk foods, this administration is actively working to push healthy foods out of reach for millions of people. Who wants to take nutrition advice from someone who’s trying to take food out of your mouth? (7/8)
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
If he wants to address ultra-processed foods, proposed rules on front-of-package labeling and sodium reduction are in the Federal Register awaiting his signature (both proposals go unmentioned in this report). (6/8)
drpeterlurie.bsky.social
We appreciate Secretary Kennedy’s interest in things like synthetic food dyes and aspartame – which, to be clear, we’d be better off without – and his concern over ultra-processed foods may be well intended. But... (5/8)