NIOSH, Etc…

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We are deeply indebted to the courage of the people curating and adding to this list.

From time to time, we may post updated versions of it. If you look in the comments to the immediately previous post, you can go directly to the as-updated url. Here’s the awful news:

…This is a running list including information shared from employees across HHS.

Have something to add? Message marisakabas.04 on Signal or email MKwrites4000@proton.me

Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)

Karen Hacker, Center Director – reassigned
Division of Reproductive Health/FSB (Field Support Branch)
Division of Population Health
BCSB
Epi branch
Office of Smoking and Health
Division of Oral Health
Translation Branch

National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention (NCHHSTP)

Jono Mermin, Center Director – reassigned/admin leave
Division of TB Elimination
Communication, Education, and Behavioral Studies Branch
Division of Viral Hepatitis
Lab
Division of STD Prevention
Lab
Disease Intervention and Response Branch
Division of HIV Prevention
Prevention Communication Branch
Division of Behavioral & Clinical Surveillance Branch
Capacity Development Branch
Qualitative Sciences Branch
HIV Research Branch
GHC

Kayla Laserson, Center Director – reassigned
Division of Global HIV and TB
SPIN (Special Initiatives Branch)
All Detailees to State/GHSD riffed
SPC: Strategic Policy and Communications Branch
PBEMB (Program Budget and Extramural Management Branch)
MCHB (Maternal and Child Health Branch) – Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems, Associate Administrator Michael Warren
HIDMSB (Health Informatics, Data Management and Statistics Branch)
EHSRB (Economics and Health Services Research Branch)
SIB: Scientific Integrity Branch

NCEH

Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice (DEHSP) entire division
Asthma and Air Quality Branch
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
Emerging Environmental Hazards and Health Effects Branch (includes radiation program)
Environmental Public Health Tracking Branch
Water, food and EH services branch
The Climate and Health Program was in the division OD
Division OD is gone (comms, policy, management)

NCIRD

Immunization Services Division (ISD)/Partnerships Branch

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) – all of NIOSH except World Trade Center and DCAS

Miner safety
Health effects lab division
Respiratory health division
National Personal Protective Technology Lab (PPE)
NIOSH Office of the director
Office of extramural coordination
Office of DDMOCP
Human capital management office
Facilities management office
Fiscal resources management office
IT
Policy planning and evaluation
Division of science integration
Education and information division
Information resources branch
Science application branch
Social science and translation
Training research and evaluation
Risk evaluation branch
Emerging technologies branch
Office for Agriculture Safety and Health
Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies
Western States Division
National Center for birth defects and developmental disabilities (NCBDDD)

Office of the Director
Disability Health
Division of Blood Disorders and Public Health Genomics
Division of Human Development and Disability (one Branch, not certain which one)
NCIPC

Division of Violence
Prevention (except for surveillance branch)
Division of Injury Prevention (except for suicide prevention)
Office of Informatics

IOD

Office of Health Equity (All: OD, Office of Women’s Health, Office of Minority Health)
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
CDC Office of Communications

Media Office
Digital (web, social/content engagement, CDC-INFO, visual design/graphics, enterprise technology branch)
Broadcast

OCOO

Freedom of Information Act Office (FOIA) – entire office
OCIO – Chief Information Officer (reassignment), customer engagement office, digital services office
OFR Office of Acquisition Services (only OD remains)
OHR (in and out processing, transformation activity, CareerReady, human capital workforce solutions, performance management, training and development, hiring policy and quality review, executive services/ESRO, comms, data analytic sand technology, and more)
CFA

Dylan George, Center Director – reassigned
Technology Branch
NCHS

Office of Informatics, Governance, and Assurance
OLSR

National Laboratory Response – one staff member impacted
NCEZID

Seth Kroop, DDMOCP – reassigned
OPHDST

Sue Lin, DDMOCP – reassigned
CDC Washington

Jeff Reczek, Director – reassigned

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

• Communications

• GCS/procurement

• SSBG

• LIHEAP

• Office of regional operations- NYC, Chicago, Boston, Seattle/SF

• Family & Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)

NIH Office of Science Policy

• Division of Clinical and Healthcare Research Policy

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)

• Health Care Financing and Public Health divisions within Health Policy

• Data and Technical Analysis division within Human Services Policy

• Office of Science and Data Policy

• Office of Planning and Policy Support

HRSA, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)

-Division of state and community health (DSCH) Eastern branch

-Office of strategy, innovation and external affairs

-Office of Communications at the agency level

-Program Coordination Branch, Division of Women’s Health

-Office of Special Health Initiatives

-Bureau of Primary Healthcare

FDA:

Center for Tobacco Products:

-Office of Management

-Office of Health Communication and Education

-Office of Regulations

-Office of Compliance and Enforcement

-Division of External Programs and -Resource Management

-Division of Business Operations

Office of the Commissioner:

-Office of Digital Transformation

-FDA Library

-Office of Minority Health

Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC)

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

-Health Services & Value Research

Office of Science

-Director Matthew Farrelly

-Deputy Director Todd Cecil

-Center Director Brian King

Center for Veterinary Medicine

-Office of the Director

Office of Management

Office of investigation and inspection (OII)

-Office of management

NIH/NIAID:

NIAID Office of the Director

-Only Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo (Director)

Office of Administrative Services (OAS)

-Office of Property and General Services (OPGS)

Office of Administrative Services (OAS)

-Human Capital Branch (HCB)

Office of Communications and Government Relations (OCGR)

-Legislative Affairs and Correspondence Management Branch (LACMB)

Office of Communications and Government Relations (OCGR)

-New Media and Web Policy Branch (NMWPB)

Office of Communications and Government Relations (OCGR)

-News and Science Writing Branch (NSWB)

Office of Communications and Government Relations (OCGR)

-Communications Services Branch (CSB)

Office of Workforce Effectiveness and Resources (OWER) Workforce Planning and Analysis Branch (WAPB)

-Possibly all of the division

Division of AIDS (DAIDS)

-Workforce Operations, Communications, and Reporting Branch (WOCRB)

Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID)

-Dr. Emily Erbelding (director) so far, maybe more

Division of Extramural Activities (DEA)

-Office of Acquisitions (OA)

-Office of Knowledge and Educational Resources (OKER)

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

-Office of Communications and Public Liaison

-All leadership at NIA scientific director Luigi Ferrucci

National Center for Toxicological Research

-Office of Management

Department of Clinical Bioethics

-Christine Grady, Director

National Institute on Drug Abuse

-Office of Acquisition (OA)

-Office of Science Policy and Communication (OSPC)

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)

-DDI gone except PHS (15-20)

-Call center phones off

-Most of ORP gone

-Most of OCOMM gone

-Cutting 39% of contract

-External and media affairs

OMQ policy

-Most of OSP

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

-Legislative affairs team

-National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory

-Office of Minority Health

-Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ)

-Office of Population Surveys and Office of Treatment Services

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ):

-Office of the Director (except Acting Director)

-Staff from Office of Commissioner

-Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations (OEREP)

-Division of Priority Populations (DPP) and Division of Scientific Review (DSR)

-Office of Management Services….

Now you know. What an absolute disaster this will turn out to be. Count on that, for our nation. Damnation.

नमस्ते

A Unanimous Supreme Court Delivers A Sharp Rebuke To The MAGA / Activist Wing In The Fifth Circuit… AGAIN — On Vape Products.

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We haven’t mentioned this case before, but the activist/”rad” right Texas/Louisiana wing of the Fifth Circuit had ruled against the FDA — despite a clear statutory command, of long-standing — purportedly for not approving a certain novel brand of e-cigarette, or vape. In doing so, it went well-beyond the decision in the Texas trial court below, and ignored copious evidence that FDA had solid scientific bases for the decisions it made. [And an ADA challenge brought years later would not be the appropriate vehicle to complain about the FDA ruling, in any event.]

So, this morning, as expected, the Supremes reaffirmed FDA’s primacy, when looking at novel devices that directly impact human health.

What is a little unexpected is that all NINE Justices agree that this is a central function of FDA. Even Thomas and Alito.

Here’s the opinion, and a bit:

…The FDA has long had the responsibility to determine whether manufacturers may market new drugs, but it was the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (TCA) that first gave the FDA broad jurisdiction to regulate tobacco products.

Although the Act barred the FDA from banning all regulated tobacco products outright, see 21 U. S. C. §387g(d)(3), it prohibited a manufacturer from marketing any “new tobacco product” without FDA authorization, see §387j(a)(2)(A). One pathway to authorization of a “new tobacco product” is the submission of a premarket tobacco product application. See §387j(c)(1)(A)(i). The TCA requires the FDA to deny such an application unless an applicant shows that its product “would be appropriate for the protection of the public health.” §387j(c)(2)(A)….

That is… game over. Onward — on a soggy gray day, here. Resolute — just the same.

नमस्ते

Hey Hinderaker: Who Did These Judges… Beat, With Billy Clubs?!

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 ~ condor ~ 2 Comments

Tonight, Hinderaker goes… full-on loon, with this:

“…What these robed rebels are doing is vastly closer to an insurrection than anything that was done by the ragtag protesters of January 6, 2021…”_

John’s knickers are in a twist because by a better than ten to one ratio, federal judges, appointed both by Democrats and Republicans — over the last four decades… are almost uniformly ruling against Tangerine 2.0’s lawlessness.

John, that would be because Tangerine 2.0 is egregiously violating the law. The federal law — of very long-standing.

The law that even Ronald Reagan obeyed, and in the main, Bush 43 obeyed; while his father obeyed it even more than 43 did.

It is an indisputable fact that Donald Trump is a convicted felon. And it shows in every move he makes, about 90% of which are deeply disdainful of the rule of law in America. He believes he’s a king. And he is not.

At bottom that is all Hinderaker is burping about.

Calling esteemed federal judges on both sides of the aisle “insurrectionists” — and likening them to the violent mob that stormed the Capital Rotunda (injuring dozens and dozens of police officers as they charged) back on J6…

Just confirms how completely untethered from reality Johnnie Hinderaker has become.

Out

The Able USDC Judge In Newark Will Wait Just One More Day, To Hear “One Paragraph” Of A View From Noem — As To Appealability — But Mr. Khalil Is Likely Coming Back East…

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We have a very satisfactory 67 page answer, tonight — but ever cautious, the court asks whether Tangerine 2.0 lawyers intend to appeal the order allowing the habeas proceedings in New Jersey.

The able USDC Judge has ruled that venue is proper in New Jersey, given Ms. Noem’s immediate, and blatant, attempts to hide him away from his lawyers, in a private prison in rural Jena, Louisiana. But he will wait until tomorrow afternoon to think through appealbility issues.

Here’s the excellent, plain-English 67 page opinion — and the more salient bits:

. . .A lawful permanent resident was detained, and filed a habeas corpus petition seeking his release.

The respondents, various federal officials, have moved to dismiss, arguing the Court does not have jurisdiction.

The motion to dismiss is denied….

[Team Tangerine 2.0/Noem’s] New Jersey–focused immediate custodian argument is not persuasive. The Petitioner did not name as a respondent his immediate New Jersey custodian. But he did not need to. That custodian was not only unknown to the Petitioner’s lawyer, but virtually unknowable to her. And so the Petition could clear the bar by doing what it did — naming the Petitioner’s ultimate custodian [Kristi Noem], the Secretary of Homeland Security….

[A]pplying the unknown custodian exception in this case is in the interest of the equitable concerns that the Supreme Court has long invoked in habeas law….

Now you know. Not even a $50,000 gold tank / diamond encrusted Rolex… will deliver to Ms. Noem the “time” she wants, in dank Jena, Louisiana now. She must play by the rules Judge Bork (yes, that guy!) interpreted / announced nearly four decades ago. Welcome to the real world, Kristi — the privileges of your old governor’s mansion lie… a long stretch — from here, in bustling Newark.

नमस्ते

Deplorable: HHS/NIH Staff Being Let Go This Morning… Altogether, Over 10,000 Health Care and Science Related Professionals Being RIF-ed. Damn.

April 1, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is thanks to our fine anonymous commenters.

See below. I have very few words left — except that (again!) we will all reap the whirlwind for this (and undoubtedly many will ultimately be reinstated, with all back and front pay):

…RIFs happening now. Across HHS. Long lines of staff waiting at doors to building. Supervisors meeting staff with folders for RIF. Those who are RIFFEd are escorted to desk and given box to move out….

This is deeply idiotic — and dangerous to the nation’s health care. The chaos is the point — and it will last for a good while. Do know that our thoughts and meditations are with you — as are our… federal lawsuits.

नमस्ते

In The Supremes: TRO In Class Action, For People Snatched Away Without Due Process, And Sent To Notorious El Salvador Prison… The Plaintiffs Explain Their Case.

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The plaintiffs are defending the nationwide TRO already entered in DC — one that Tangerine/Noem has improperly taken up with the Supremes this week. TEMPORARY orders (i.e., TROs) cannot be appealed to the Supremes, as they are not “final” orders. Pretty simple.

And now even Noem is admitting that in several cases, including one infamous one out of Maryland, she let her goons grab US citizens without process, at all — and it turns out they are not even Venezuelans, let alone gang members. She did so based on clothing and tattoos — not any form of real police work. The government is going to end up paying tens of millions of dollars to these people wrongfully detained, and deported to brutal prisons — even temporarily. That’s… just disgusting. Here’s the case, as stated by the plaintiffs to Chief Justice Roberts this very morning:

…The government has not satisfied its exceedingly high burden to warrant the extraordinary relief it seeks: vacating unappealable Temporary Restraining Orders (“TROs”) that merely preserve the status quo while a pending preliminary injunction motion is decided on an expedited basis (with a hearing on April 8). The TRO does not order anyone’s release, nor does it prevent the government from carrying out regular removals under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”).

Indeed, the government has apparently been removing individuals it contends are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, using regular immigration procedures, since the TRO went into effect. See Sec’y of State Marco Rubio, X (Mar: 31, 2025, 8:25 AM ET), https://perma.cc/CE6C-ZMDM. Under the circumstances, the court of appeals correctly concluded that the government will suffer no irreparable harm in the short term. In contrast, without the TRO, Plaintiffs will suffer extraordinary and irreparable harms — being sent out of the United States to a notorious Salvadoran prison, where they will remain incommunicado, potentially for the rest of their lives, without having had any opportunity to contest their designation as gang members. See App. 27a-28a (Henderson, J., concurring) (“The Executive’s burdens are comparatively modest compared to the plaintiffs’.”); id. at 68a-70a (Millett, J., concurring) “the injury to the Plaintiffs is great and truly irreparable”); id. at 129a-130a (Boasberg, J.) (plaintiffs face “a high likelihood of suffering significant harm”).

The government cannot explain why the equities are in its favor, particularly since it (now) concedes that individuals are entitled to contest their designation (which is all the district court has thus far held). It argues only that this case should have been brought in habeas, and disputes whether venue is proper in the District of Columbia….

This is a dark time — driven only by irrational, hateful fear on the part of Trump, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem. What a pack of malign sociopaths. Onward, resolutely. The plaintiffs will win out here. Count on that. And we as taxpayers will foot the bill for these crooks in office — to pay damages in compensation for their deprivation of Constitutional rights. Out.

नमस्ते

Good News: The Mpox Vax Can Now Be Shipped In Freeze-Dried Powder Form — But Spread Continues… Next Pandemic, Ahead?

April 1, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

It seems that unlike prior (pre-2022) outbreaks — when the virus mostly skipped solely from animals to a very contained number of humans, Mpox Clade 1b is increasingly like an STD — transfered over and over, by intimate contact — human to human. And with sex workers and their clients both regularly transversing the world, this is a particularly fraught population within which to fight such a contagious viral infection reservoir.

And while being able to transport the powdered vaccine stock overland (in the resulting high temperatures) is a vast leap forward, the public education issues are daunting — doubly so, with Tangerine/Musk ending USAID on these dimensions. Malnourished children in Africa are at very high risk as well, due to weakened immune systems. Here’s the latest, with SciTech Daily summarizing a Nature.com letter:

…Researchers are also concerned because clade I viruses are thought to be more aggressive. These viruses appear to be accumulating specific genetic mutations – driven by enzymes in the human body – that may be changing viral properties, so the longer these viruses circulate amongst us, the higher the chances these mutations help mpox adapt to humans.

Although mpox was once mainly seen in Central Africa, the virus caused an outbreak worldwide in 2022 and is now causing outbreaks in multiple sub-Saharan countries. While it currently affects adults the most, the researchers stress that it has the potential to spread among other groups, including children, a group at greater risk of serious illness….

Unlike smallpox, mpox has an animal reservoir, meaning it can’t be fully eradicated. The authors warn that unless international action is taken now – including investment in point-of-care testing and new treatments – mpox will continue to re-emerge and threaten global health….

Now you know — and onward, to go vote in the primaries, locally. Smile.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Fails To Mention TX Gov. Abbott — But Laments… Marni La Pen’s Fate. Wow.

March 31, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

So, Texas MAGA Gov. Abbott is actually failing to schedule a special election required by state law… because the Democrats are fairly likely to win a majority of the special election seats, and put the GOP super majority in Texas… out of business.

John knows that’s actually, and factually, a subversion of democracy — by the GOP. Right here at home. Yet Hinderaker instead writes about events in… France.

Over there, a convicted felon and fraudster who happens to be frothy hard right has been (all as long-contemplated by the Civil Code there) banned from the ballot.

That’s French law. Not US law. But Hinderaker blames US Democrats… for French law of long standing status… why?!

Because he’s a bitterly malignant old yutz. That’s why.