Public Health, Now What
Stan, Clarence, Barry, and the Health Chatter team chat with Dr. John R. Finnegan, former dean of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, about the role of public health in today’s changing landscape.
Dr. Finnegan, who holds an MA and PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota, has contributed decades of experience to public health education, research, and service. His work includes leadership roles with organizations such as Children’s HeartLink, HealthEast, and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, as well as involvement in initiatives focused on sexual assault prevention and gun violence research.
Join us for a thoughtful conversation on the challenges and opportunities facing public health today, and how the field continues to adapt to a dynamic political and social climate.
Join the conversation at healthchatterpodcast.com
Brought to you in support of Hue-MAN, who is Creating Healthy Communities through Innovative Partnerships.
More about their work can be found at https://www.huemanpartnershipalliance.org/
Research
Executive Orders Affecting Public Health
- Reducing the federal workforce: A Jan. 20 order by Trump directed agencies to require all of their workers to work in-person rather than remotely, which could cause large numbers of workers to quit or retire, and to freeze hirings.
- Cessation of health communication: The administration ordered a blackout on public health communications, including CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and suspended research grant reviews at the National Institutes of Health, putting scientific studies in jeopardy.
- Electric vehicles: A Jan. 20 order proposed eliminating federal tax credits that encourage Americans to purchase electric vehicles. Trump also rescinded Biden’s 2021 executive order that called for half of all vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric vehicles, which would have significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
- Withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement - again
- Executive Order 14173 directs federal agencies to eliminate all DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) programs and policies, as well as to terminate DEIA-related contracts.
- Executive Order 14148 rescinds prior executive orders related to pandemic response, public health–related environmental protections, DEI initiatives, and more.
- Hours after his inauguration on January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order beginning America’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, known as WHO.
- Withdrawal from WHO could isolate the United States health system, including federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Measles Outbreak
- Immunization efforts across the country were upended after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly canceled $11.4 billion in COVID-related funds for state and local health departments in late March.
- A federal judge temporarily blocked the cuts last week in some states, including Arizona, after a group of state Attorneys General sued. In addition, many of the organizations that receive the funds said they must proceed as though they're gone.
- Jobs at the CDC, which provide expertise for state and local health departments facing such crises, have been cut as part of a massive restructuring plan for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- More than 500 cases of measles so far in a Texas outbreak have led to 57 hospitalizations and the deaths of two school-age children.
- The CDC will study whether vaccines cause autism, despite numerous existing studies already showing there is no link.
Fluoride
- Fluoride has been added to public water supplies for decades to prevent tooth decay. But now, a swirl of new research, legal challenges and political shifts are pushing fluoridation back into the headlines — and under the microscope.
- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this week that he plans to direct the CDC to stop recommending fluoridated drinking water.
- The move comes amid intensifying scrutiny of fluoride’s potential risks to brain development in children, especially in utero. It follows a landmark but contested federal court ruling declaring current fluoride levels an “unreasonable risk” to public health.
- Public health officials warn that rolling back fluoridation could undo decades of progress in dental health — especially in underserved communities
Tariffs
- President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. could have wide-ranging consequences on the drug supply chain, manufacturers and American patients, some experts told CNBC.
- The tariffs could disrupt the complex pharmaceutical supply chain, potentially driving up the prices of drugs in the U.S. and exacerbating shortages of critical medicine.
- There are 270 active drug shortages in the U.S., wh ich has remained unchanged for the past three quarters, according to data from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
- Generic sterile injectable drugs, which are commonly used in hospitals, are already more prone to shortages and have faced persistent supply issues for years.
- These include products like IV saline bags, cancer chemotherapy drugs and lidocaine, which is used to numb pain.
- Many other routine supplies essential to the function of hospitals are manufactured abroad and will be affected by a rise in tariffs.
- U.S. medical facilities are completely reliant on foreign suppliers with less than 1% of gloves being produced domestically. In fact, Malaysia accounts for 60% of the world’s nitrile gloves production.
- Intravenous catheters also represent another essential aspect of patient care and a mainstay of modern medicine that is largely manufactured outside of North America, with China and India being leaders.
- Exempt from these new tariffs:
- Steel, aluminum, auto parts, copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, and energy, which are subject to different taxes.
- Also exempt are imports from Russia
- Non-exempt:
- Food, including packaged foods, fruits, vegetables, and cooking oils; agricultural products; spices; and coffee, tea, and other beverages
- Despite the abundance of food grown in the US, the variety of food we produce is more limited than the average American diet.
- Most fresh produce (including fruit, vegetables, and nuts), seafood, cooking oil, and coffee are imported from other countries.
- The US exports approximately 20 percent of its agricultural products, including grain and animal feed; oilseeds and cooking oils; livestock, meat, and animal products; and horticultural products, a broad category that might include anything from wine to plant seedlings to fresh fruit and essential oils.
References
http://publichealthnewswire.org/?p=public-health-trump-administration
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5266207/trump-paris-agreement-biden-climate-change
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/measles-outbreak-death-kennedy-vaccines
https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2025/04/reporting-on-water-fluoridation-during-an-infodemic/
https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/opinion/withdrawal-from-who-could-bring-tragedy
https://time.com/7275808/trumps-tariff-american-health-care-effects/
https://www.cspinet.org/cspi-news/trumps-tariffs-and-trade-wars-threaten-our-food-security
