From CNN: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has denied a request from Milwaukee’s public health department for assistance in managing unsafe lead levels in the city’s public schools, citing the loss of its lead experts in mass firings last week across federal health agencies. “I sincerely regret to inform you that due to the complete loss of our Lead Program, we will be unable to support you with this EpiAid request,” Aaron Bernstein, director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the CDC, wrote late last week to Milwaukee officials, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
This is such BULLSH*T. Thanks for nothing RFK Jr. You’re such a dick. The CDC shouldn’t have to say NO!!!!! The CDC! No levels of lead are “safe”. We didn’t stop using lead in paint until 1978, so older buildings could very well have it. Lead will mess you up! And in schools? Everyone in them could be exposed. Everyone.
Here is some more information from CNN: EpiAid is a CDC program providing a short-term loan of an officer from the public health agency’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, or EIS. These “disease detectives” are sent to state and local health departments to investigate urgent public health problems. In Milwaukee’s case, the city requested the CDC’s help on March 26 with the investigation of lead exposure in its public schools, after its health department identified hazardous levels of lead contamination in multiple school buildings. CNN reported last week that Milwaukee’s health commissioner, Dr. Michael Totoraitis, had been working with the CDC for two months to address the threat. And now they can’t. The entire department was eliminated.
Now, RFK Jr is trying to pretend it was an accident. “There are some programs that were cut that are being reinstated, and I think that’s one of them,” he said April 3, noting that “there were a number of instances where … personnel that should not have been cut were cut.” He *thinks* that’s one of them, but he doesn’t *know*. Oh, please. That’s not dodging around the question. It’s him flat out saying he doesn’t know. This is starting to sound like what Elon Musk and DOGE have been doing, wreaking havoc on federal employees. It’s sloppy work. Use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer, RFK Jr. You “done” messed up! This is another one of those instances where I want to walk up to someone and slap them silly. He has just as few brain cells as Traitor Tot does. They both don’t know how to think. And I hope the Senate members who approved him for the HHS position are regretting it now!
A little bit more from CNN: A spokesperson for HHS told CNN that day that “HHS is planning to continue the important work of the lead poisoning prevention and surveillance branch that works to eliminate childhood lead poisoning under the Administration for a Healthy America,” a newly created organization within the agency. But that same evening, Milwaukee received the email from the CDC denying its EpiAid request. Jeez. It’s about lead. That isn’t something that needs to be stopped.
“While we’re disappointed, [the Milwaukee Health Department]’s work has not stopped,” Caroline Reinwald, a spokesperson for the department, told CNN by email Friday. “This only underscores the importance of the role local public health plays in protecting communities – and the challenges we now face without federal expertise to call on.” Ya think? I’m so incredibly unhappy to read about this. And just this one has made the news so far. What other divisions have been cut, too? I’d say the CDC is pretty damn important. Now, it seems, most of it is gone.
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I wish we could use him to test an Ebola vaccine. If it works,,and he survives exposure, good. If he dies? No loss. Same with Oz.