Health
Marla Maples advocates for healthier food choices for Americans amid RFK Jr. hearings
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Marla Maples supports MAHA on Capitol Hill
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the confirmation hearing for HHS Secretary, Marla Maples spoke with Fox News Digital about her hopes for a healthier America.
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the confirmation hearing for HHS Secretary, supporters and leaders in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement gathered to show their support.
Among the supporters was Marla Maples, ex-wife of President Donald Trump and mother of Tiffany Trump. Maples co-founded the Global Wellness Forum.
The organization “unites and empowers groups and activists worldwide, amplifying their efforts to promote health, sovereignty, truth and transparency,” according to its website.
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Fox News Digital talked to Maples in an on-camera interview on Wednesday; she shared her excitement for the MAHA movement and her hopes for a healthier America under the guidance of her friend Kennedy.
“I have to support America’s health, our children’s health… We suffered [for] so long with what they’re putting in our food supply without having consent on what we’re getting medically,” said Maples.
Maples spoke with Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview sharing her excitement for the MAHA movement and her hopes for a healthier America under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Fox News)
Maples added, “It’s the most important thing I think we have for ourselves [and] our children … and I have a little grandbaby coming, so I want to make sure we leave a cleaner world for our children’s children, too.”
Tiffany, 30, is expecting a child with her husband Michael Boulos, President Trump announced in October.
Maples shared that Americans should “read every label” of the foods they are consuming.
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“Just make sure you stay away from corn syrups, any artificial colors. I’ve been telling people forever. No refined sugars.”
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Marla Maples, left, will soon become a grandmother, as her daughter, Tiffany, is expecting a child with husband Michael Boulos. (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Taoray Wang)
Maples said she believes Americans should rely on their own intuition when it comes to their health.
“Truly, you have an inner sense of what’s good for us, and really trusting that, taking time and just caring enough about yourself.”
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She added, “It’s about maintaining your own health and being your own best doctor.”
Maples also advocated for people to grow their own food when possible.
“If you have the chance to grow your own garden, that’s the best. I used to do it growing up. Now I live in a condo and I have little herbs growing.”
The wellness advocate is also a big believer in the power of prayer. “Be really sure before you put anything in your body and pray over it all,” she told Fox News Digital.
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To stay fit both physically and mentally, Maples shared that she does handstands and lots of stretching.
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“I have to support America’s health, our children’s health… We suffered so long with what they’re putting in our food supply without having consent on what we’re getting medically,” Maples told Fox News Digital. (Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)
“If I have a chance to play a sport during the week, I’ll get out and do that because it keeps my mind very clear and helps my mind be very focused.”
Representatives of the Global Wellness Forum were also seen supporting Kennedy at his confirmation hearing.
“We’re going to be helping support Bobby and Bobby’s initiatives in the government… making sure there’s a way we can bring teams together to support what he’s going to be doing in the government, so we can support the community,” Maples added.
Sydney Borchers of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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Health
Accessibility Is Taking a Hit Across the Sciences
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Tyler Nelson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida, studies the neurobiology of pain, a choice partly motivated by his own frustrations with a neuromuscular disability. Last October, he applied for a grant at the National Institutes of Health that, if awarded, would support his dream of someday running his own lab.
But, earlier in February, he learned that his application, which took six months to pull together, was about to be thrown out.
The reason: Dr. Nelson had applied for a version of the award that supports researchers who are historically underrepresented in science, including people with disabilities. That funding avenue now violates President Trump’s executive order banning federal agencies from activities related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or D.E.I.A.
Dr. Nelson was tipped off by an N.I.H. affiliate, but he has received no official notice about the situation. “I’ve tried to call probably 150 times,” he said. Unofficially, he learned that the agency was planning to pull his submission altogether rather than move it to the general award pool for consideration. This has happened with at least one other type of award offered by the agency, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Thanks to the tip, Dr. Nelson was able to withdraw his application and resubmit it to the general award pool before its deadline — but he is unsure if others were so lucky.
“What this does is discriminate against people who are underrepresented,” said an N.I.H. reviewer who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The reviewer added that the evaluation criteria for the general and diversity award pools were the same, with no priority given to either pool. “I can’t stress enough,” the reviewer said, that an undeserving grant “is not going to get funded, whether it’s ‘diversity’ or not.”
According to Eve Hill, a civil rights lawyer in Washington, D.C., this may violate certain legal protections for people with disabilities, although there is no precedent in court.
“They’ve provided this category to overcome past discrimination,” she said. “By not then considering them in the general award, they are exacerbating that discrimination.”
The predicament is one of many ways that accessibility across the sciences is taking a hit from the D.E.I.A. shutdown. Federal agencies, once proponents for increasing opportunities for scientists with disabilities, are now ceasing programs geared toward that goal. Left uncertain is how funding for disability research — from designing accessible health services to building better prosthetics — will be affected by the order.
People with disabilities make up more than a quarter of the nation’s population and are considered to be the world’s largest minority. But experts say that, until recently, disability has largely been neglected in discussions about marginalized groups.
“Accessibility was always seen as an afterthought,” said Kim Knackstedt, a disability policy consultant in Washington, D.C. “Whether intentional or not, disability has been excluded from a lot of D.E.I. efforts.”
That extends to the sciences. The National Science Foundation reported that, in 2021, people with disabilities made up only 3 percent of the STEM work force. Only in 2023 did the N.I.H. designate people with disabilities as a community that experienced health disparities.
As the first director of disability policy in the Biden administration, Dr. Knackstedt led a push for accessibility to be at the forefront of diversity, equity and inclusion policy. One outcome of this effort was an executive order issued by President Biden that explicitly named accessibility as an area to strengthen in the federal work force.
“That was a win for many of us,” said Bonnielin Swenor, an epidemiologist who founded the Disability Health Research Center at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Swenor, who experienced barriers pursuing a research career because of a visual impairment, added that it was disheartening “to have that progress not just stopped, but rolled back.”
Federal science agencies scrambled to comply with the reversal, leaving scientists and disability advocates apprehensive about the future of accessibility research. Earlier this month, the National Science Foundation began flagging grants that contained buzzwords commonly associated with D.E.I.A., including “disability” and “barrier.”
An N.S.F. program director, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, said that there were “quite a few awards flagged for the word ‘disability,’” including projects to make driving and computing more accessible. The program director added that staff members were unsure if these research activities were banned by the executive order.
A spokesman for the N.S.F. did not answer questions sent by The New York Times regarding the eligibility of such awards.
Robert Gregg, an engineer at the University of Michigan who designs wearable robots for people with mobility impairments, said he had received notification from the N.S.F. to halt D.E.I.A. activities. But he interpreted that to mean supplemental programs aimed at increasing participation of underrepresented groups in science.
“Fundamental research in technology, like robotics and A.I. — my understanding is that that is still perfectly valid and can continue,” he said. But Dr. Gregg also runs clinical trials funded by the N.I.H., and he recently learned that the renewal process for this funding had effectively been frozen again.
Scientists with disabilities are also worried about what the clampdown on accessibility will mean for both their own careers and those of the next generation.
“Disabled people were barely being included,” said Alyssa Paparella, a graduate student at the Baylor College of Medicine who founded an online movement called #DisabledInSTEM. “Now there’s a huge fear of what’s going to be the future of all of us.”
A notice on the N.I.H. website encouraging participation of people with disabilities in the research enterprise has been removed, as has an N.S.F. webpage that listed funding opportunities for scientists with disabilities. Last month, the N.S.F. also indefinitely postponed an engineering workshop to better include people with autism and other neurocognitive differences in the work force.
In the geosciences, many degree programs require students to complete weekslong outdoor field camps that can be difficult to navigate with certain disabilities. This led Anita Marshall, a lecturer at the University of Florida, to found GeoSPACE, an N.S.F.-funded camp that incorporates modern technology and can be completed virtually.
She did not know if GeoSPACE would be able to continue. “This has really knocked me off my feet,” said Dr. Marshall, who described the project as her pride and joy. “I’m not sure what’s next.”
Doubts have sprung up for Dr. Nelson, too. Although he managed to salvage his application for N.I.H. funding, the change has pushed back any clarity about his future in research by at least five months.
“It’s a really dismal time in science for trainees,” he said. “I look at the last 15 years, like, ‘Why did I work this underpaid, high-stress job?’ Do I want to do this forever?”
Health
Children with autism may see speech improvements with off-label prescription drug
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An off-label prescription drug has been shown to help some non-verbal children with autism discover the ability to speak.
The drug, leucovorin, is a prescription vitamin that functions similarly to folic acid, helping to restore folate levels in patients who may have difficulty absorbing or using it, according to Katy Dubinsky, a New York pharmacist and the CEO and co-founder of Vitalize, a private supplement company.
“Leucovorin is FDA-approved to reduce the toxic effects of high-dose methotrexate in cancer treatment and to prevent or treat certain types of anemia caused by folate deficiency,” Dubinsky told Fox News Digital.
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While leucovorin isn’t prescribed for the treatment of autism, some families have found that its off-label use has led to significant improvements in autistic children’s communication skills, experts say.
Richard E. Frye, M.D., PhD, a behavioral child neurologist in Arizona, has studied the drug in his research of experimental treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder.
An off-label prescription drug has been shown to help some non-verbal children with autism discover the ability to speak. (iStock)
“Leucovorin is a special form of vitamin B9 that is water-soluble and does not build up in your body,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Folates have been found to be safe long-term for many years and that is why we supplement our food with folate.”
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The main benefit of leucovorin for children with autism is improvement in language, Frye said, but other advantages may include enhanced social function, reduced repetitive behaviors and stronger attention skills.
“Our goal is to get leucovorin approved by the FDA for autism so it can be widely prescribed to children as one of the first treatments once they are diagnosed.”
“We do find that leucovorin helps a substantial number of children with autism,” he said. “Language is one of the most obvious things, so that is what we measured in our clinical trial.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News’ senior medical analyst, also spoke to Fox News Digital about why the drug may have this positive impact.
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While leucovorin isn’t prescribed for autism treatment, some families have found that its off-label use has led to significant improvements in the communication skills of children with autism. (iStock)
“Central folate deficiency is a lack of folate in the brain, which can interfere with neurological function,” he said. “A high percentage of children with autism spectrum disorder have been found to have antibodies against folic receptor alpha in the brain.”
Leucovorin is converted to folate in the brain by a different pathway, Siegel said.
“Small studies are showing that it improves neurological function and communication skills in kids with ASD, but larger studies need to be done.”
Experts urge caution
The fact that leucovorin has already been used long-term helps to reduce the associated risk, according to doctors.
“One of the advantages of using leucovorin is that it has been used for decades to protect the body from the effects of chemotherapy, so we know what dose to use and any side effects it may produce,” Frye told Fox News Digital.
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However, some children do become “extremely hyperactive,” do not respond to leucovorin and end up needing alternative treatments, the doctor noted.
It’s important for families to work with a medical professional when exploring the use of leucovorin for autism, he advised.
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The drug leucovorin is a prescription vitamin that functions similarly to folic acid, helping to restore folate levels in patients who may have difficulty absorbing or using it, according to a pharmacist. (iStock)
“Leucovorin is given at much higher doses than regular vitamins, so it’s very important to work with a doctor knowledgeable in how to prescribe it,” Frye said.
“It is important to test the patient for abnormalities in the folate pathway, such as the folate receptor autoantibody, so we know that they are a candidate for this medication.”
While leucovorin is available in the pharmacy, Frye noted that some children need a compounded form because they are sensitive to some of the additives in commercial products.
“Our goal is to get leucovorin approved by the FDA for autism so it can be widely prescribed to children as one of the first treatments once they are diagnosed,” he said.
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Frye pointed out that there is “no magic bullet” for autism, with many children benefiting from a combination of multiple treatments. (iStock)
Dubinsky agreed that physicians may prescribe the “widely used and well-tolerated drug” for autism treatment based on their “clinical judgment and emerging evidence,” but she also stressed the importance of clinical trials.
“While doctors can prescribe leucovorin now, FDA approval would provide stronger medical backing, making it a recognized treatment rather than just an off-label option,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“This could lead to insurance coverage, standardized dosing guidelines and broader acceptance in the medical community.”
Siegel added that leucovorin is a “safe drug” and should be considered for large-scale use based on the findings of recent research.
‘No magic bullet’
Frye pointed out that there is “no magic bullet” for autism, with many children benefiting from a combination of multiple treatments.
“It is unlikely that leucovorin will be used alone — it must be used with behavioral and speech therapy,” he said. “We believe that leucovorin can improve outcomes for these therapies.”
“There is little evidence to suggest that the benefits observed in this individual case can be generalized to the broader autistic community.”
Andy Shih, PhD, chief science officer of Autism Speaks in New York, noted that every child’s experience with autism is unique.
“There is little evidence to suggest that the benefits observed in this individual case can be generalized to the broader autistic community,” he told Fox News Digital.
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“While some small studies have explored leucovorin as a potential treatment for people with autism, larger controlled clinical trials are needed to determine its efficacy and safety. We urge families to consult with their doctors before considering off-label treatments.”
Dubinsky added that if larger studies confirm leucovorin’s effectiveness, it could become a more accessible treatment for children with autism who may benefit from it.
Health
Firings at FDA Decimated Teams Reviewing AI and Food Safety
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In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration hired experts in surgical robots and pioneers in artificial intelligence. It scooped up food chemists, lab-safety monitors and diabetes specialists who helped make needle pricks and test strips relics of the past.
Trying to keep up with breakneck advances in medical technology and the demands of a public troubled by additives like food dyes, the agency enticed scores of midcareer specialists with remote roles and the chance to make a difference in their fields.
In one weekend of mass firings across the F.D.A., much of that effort was gone. Most baffling to many were the firings of hundreds whose jobs were not funded by taxpayers. Their positions were financed through congressionally approved agreements that routed fees from the drug, medical device and tobacco industries to the agency.
Known as user fees, the money provides adequate staffing for reviews of myriad products. While criticized by some, including the nation’s new health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as a corrupting force on the agency, the industry funds are also widely viewed as indispensable: They now account for nearly half of the agency’s $7.2 billion budget.
Though the F.D.A. is believed to have lost about 700 of its 18,000 employees, some cuts hit small teams so deeply that staff members believe the safety of some medical devices could be compromised.
Among the layoffs were scientists supported by the fees who monitor whether tests pick up ever-evolving pathogens, including those that cause bird flu and Covid. They hobbled teams that evaluate the safety of medical devices like surgical staplers, new systems for diabetes control and A.I. software programs that scan millions of M.R.I.s and other images to detect cancer beyond the human eye. The cuts also eliminated positions for employees who have played a role in assessing the brain-implant technology in Elon Musk’s Neuralink devices.
The layoffs affected so many key experts that a major medical device trade group has requested that the Trump administration reconsider the job cuts.
The dismissals also included lawyers who warned retailers about underage tobacco sales and scientists who studied the safety of e-cigarettes and new heat-not-burn devices. The tobacco division — which is fully funded by an excise tax on cigarettes — lost about 85 staff members.
Dr. Robert Califf, the F.D.A. commissioner under President Biden, said the personnel cutbacks seemed scattershot. Taking a not-so-subtle aim at Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is reducing the federal work force, Dr. Califf said the layoffs were, in effect, “anti-efficiency.”
“These are not hires that are done arbitrarily,” he said. “They’re done to meet a need.”
A lawsuit challenging the firings filed by unions, including one that represents some F.D.A. employees, failed to stop the layoffs in a ruling issued Thursday. Other cutbacks reduced the 2,000-member staff of the F.D.A.’s food division, which is supported by tax dollars.
Jim Jones, the former director of the division who resigned on Monday over the cuts, said that he had briefed the Trump transition team on his efforts to create a new office that would review a premier target of Mr. Kennedy and his agenda to Make America Healthy Again: food additives that are already on the market.
Nine people from that food-chemical-safety staff of 30 are gone, including specialized toxicologists and chemists, Mr. Jones said in an interview.
“They’ve created a real pickle for themselves,” by cutting staff members working on a key priority, Mr. Jones said. “You just can’t do an assessment for free and you can’t ban chemicals by fiat.”
In interviews with 15 current and former agency staff members, they said those who were laid off had been probationary employees, a group that included agency veterans who took on new roles, were recently promoted or were hired in the last two years.
Those who remained said that they had been scrambling to pick up pressing medical device reviews and move forward with studies to bulletproof methods for detecting deadly bacteria during inspections at food production sites.
Divisions that review novel medications, vaccines and gene therapies were largely spared. Officials with the F.D.A.’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, did not respond to requests for comment.
The F.D.A. employees fired last weekend were notified in uniformly worded emails that their skills were not needed and that their performance was “not adequate to justify further employment by the agency.” Yet many of them said that their performance reviews had said they exceeded expectations.
Tony Maiorana, 37, a chemist, worked on product approval and safety in the fast-changing field of diabetes devices. In the last decade, the field has moved from painful needle pricks and test strips to systems that measure glucose levels just below the skin and automatically infuse the needed insulin.
The work of reviewing new products is painstaking: Novel algorithms measure and dispense insulin; materials implanted in the body must evade rejection by the immune system; and millions of patients from toddlers to the elderly are at risk if devices malfunction.
Still, about half of Dr. Maiorana’s product-review team was eliminated, he said.
“If you’re a patient and you complain, we are the ones that field your complaints,” he said. “We are the ones that monitor the death reports. We’re the ones that are telling companies: ‘Hey, there’s a big pattern of error happening here. People are dying or ending up in the hospital because of your device’ and ‘What has changed? What happened?’”
Dr. Maiorana said that he had expected his government job would be “chill,” but it turned out to be intense. His team had to assess whether studies of new devices that had never been used in humans were safe for adults and children. They also had to watch online marketplaces for diabetes technology that had not been approved by the agency.
“This is the reason the F.D.A. was founded — to protect the public,” Dr. Maiorana said.
Albert Yee, 59, an expert in biomechanics and robotics, was fired on Saturday. In his unit, four of 11 staff members, who review the safety of surgical robots, were let go.
Robotic surgery is increasingly employed in operating rooms across the country, used in cardiothoracic, gynecological and bariatric surgeries. Dr. Yee had worked in the industry and in academia before joining the F.D.A.
He said his team was highly specialized, including an expert with a doctorate in medical robotics and a physician who had conducted robotic operations.
He said that robotic devices had become so complex that the team’s diverse expertise was critical to evaluate not just the safety of such tools but also concerns about cybersecurity.
“All of these devices now — if they’re attached to the hospital network, they become an avenue to get into the hospital network or get into the device itself,” Dr. Yee said.
He said the team also fielded a flood of applications for surgical apparatus developed abroad that were similar to those made by companies based in the United States. He said the applications required close attention to catch problems that could endanger patients.
“The institutional knowledge we’re losing is just horrific,” he said. “I am concerned about public safety with this type of purge.”
Nathan Weidenhamer was a lead reviewer of cardiovascular devices and other high-risk implants.
He said he was shocked and disappointed to be laid off because he and other reviewers in the device division were partly funded by industry-generated fees.
“I naïvely thought we were important, critical public servants and I’d be spared,” he said.
The layoffs clearly did not skip over employee slots created and funded by the agreements negotiated with the industries, congressional lawmakers and F.D.A. officials. The industries provide billions of dollars in return for staff equipped to meet strict deadlines for decisions on product approvals — though not all go in companies’ favor. The money is also used to make the F.D.A. a competitive employer in specialized fields that require advanced degrees.
Some of the deadlines are viewed by F.D.A. staff members as demanding, particularly the 30-day clock requiring them to authorize or add comments to studies of devices that are being implanted in humans for the first time. If the agency does not respond within that time-frame, the study is given a green light under the law.
The depth of cuts to medical device staff prompted AdvaMed, a trade association for the industry, to push back in a letter to a top Health and Human Services official.
The letter detailed about 180 medical device staff cuts, which included 25 experts in artificial intelligence, a 20 percent reduction in biostatisticians who evaluated studies of novel devices and the loss of molecular biologists with expertise in diagnostic tests that pinpoint a cancer subtype. The firings also applied to a top official who was recently recruited to oversee about 10,000 product applications and meeting requests per year.
The group said it appreciated the Trump administration’s efforts to improve efficiency. But “they may have missed the mark on how they rolled it out,” Scott Whitaker, the president of AdvaMed, said in an interview.
Medical device companies benefit when the F.D.A. is well staffed with people who have the expertise to guide the safe development of new technology, he added.
“One that is slow and overregulates is not good,” he said. “One that is under-resourced and doesn’t regulate at all — that’s not good either.”
Alice Callahan contributed reporting.
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