Overnight Health Care — Presented by Partnership for America's Health Care Future — 1,500 more migrant children separated than previously reported | FDA working 'as quickly as possible' on flavored e-cigarette ban

Welcome to Friday’s Overnight Health Care. 

Over 1,500 additional children were separated from their parents by the Trump administration. Vaping related illnesses are leveling out or declining, but nobody knows why, yet. Meanwhile, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) says releasing its guidance on e-cigarette flavors is a top priority.

We’ll start with family separations:

 

More than 1,500 migrant children separated from parents than previously reported 

More than 1,500 children were forcibly separated from their parents before the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy took effect, government officials told a federal court.

Complying with a court order from a federal judge in San Diego, the administration told the American Civil Liberties Union that 1,556 additional children had been separated. 

Judge Dana Sabraw, a George W. Bush appointee, had given the administration six months to account for potentially thousands of previously unreported children, that were identified in a government watchdog report from January. The administration handed over the new numbers Thursday, just a day ahead of the deadline.

The government initially said it could take up to two years to review the cases of as many as 47,000 unaccompanied children who were taken into custody during an influx that occurred between July 1, 2017 and June 26, 2018 to find the most likely separated.

In the end, the administration found just over 1,500 after being ordered to complete the process in six months. The ACLU does not know if the additional families have been reunited.

According to government figures disclosed through the ACLU’s lawsuit, more than 2,800 children were separated from their parents under the “zero tolerance” as of late 2018. 

Sabraw ordered separations to stop over a year ago, but almost 1,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents since, despite the ruling.

Read more here.

 

 

FDA working ‘as quickly as possible’ on e-cigarette flavor ban

It’s been well over a month since President TrumpDonald John Trump’Veterans for impeachment’ signs seen at World Series game during Trump visit Trump met with boos, ‘lock him up’ chant at Game 5 of World Series Kayla Mueller’s mother: Daughter might still be alive ‘If Obama had been as decisive’ as Trump MORE said the administration was going to ban all flavors of e-cigarettes, and officials promised a plan would be released soon. So far, there hasn’t been any indication that one is coming.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said Friday the agency is working “as quickly as possible” to finalize guidance that would remove flavored e-cigarette products from the market.

“This is a very, very high priority, and we’re trying to complete work on it as quickly as possible,” Mitch Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products for the FDA, said on a call with reporters.

The Trump administration’s announcement was met with fierce opposition from the vaping industry and conservatives, who argue that removing flavors would hurt small businesses and adults who use the products to quit smoking traditional cigarettes.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said last month the ban would include mint and menthol flavors, but the administration is now considering exempting those products, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

Zeller declined to comment on whether the FDA is considering an exemption for those flavors, saying only that deliberations are “ongoing.”

Reaction: Doctors and anti-tobacco advocates are warning the administration not to carve out exemptions for mint and menthol products, arguing those flavors are also popular among kids. 

“A failure to remove mint and menthol e-cigarettes from the market would be a capitulation to Juul and other companies that created the worsening youth e-cigarette epidemic,” reads a joint statement issued Friday by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society Action Network and others. 

The other side: The American Vaping Association, an industry group, said it was “heartened” to see the Trump administration reportedly reconsidering the flavor ban, at least partially. 

But it still argues that no flavors should be banned, because they’re helpful to adults trying to quit smoking traditional cigarettes. 

“President Trump should scrap the flavor ban altogether and work on solutions that actually make sense for both adults and youth,” said AVA President Gregory Conley.

Read more here.

 

In other vaping news…

 

Number of vaping-related illnesses appearing to level off

Cases of vaping-related lung illness appear to be leveling off or declining, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday.

But it’s not clear why that is or what is making people sick, said Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director for the CDC.

Since the outbreak began earlier this year, the CDC says, there have been 1,604 confirmed and probable lung injury cases, including 34 deaths.

That’s an increase of 125 cases from what the CDC reported last week. 

“Although the epidemic curve … suggests the trajectory may be leveling off or even declining, you may wonder if the peak of cases has passed,” Schuchat said in a call with reporters. 

Possible reasons: 

• The public has listened to the CDC’s warnings to stop using THC vaping products, especially those bought off the street, because they’ve been tied to most of the cases. 
• Local and federal law enforcement efforts have cut off the supply chain in some areas. 
• Health departments are doing less intensive investigations or there is a lag in reporting cases to the CDC. 

Read more here.

 

Poll: Voters rate Sanders most honest on how plan affects health costs

Voters rated Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersBiden: ‘I know I’m the frontrunner’ in 2020 race Democratic lawmakers, 2020 candidates pay tribute to Conyers 2020 Democrats set sights on corporate tax hike MORE (I-Vt.) the most honest of the Democratic presidential candidates when it comes to how their health care plans would affect individuals’ costs. 

The Morning Consult poll finds that 49 percent of all voters rate Sanders as honest on the question, compared to 20 percent who don’t know and 31 percent who say he’s dishonest. 

In comparison, former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden: Trump ‘an idiot’ for saying Russian interference a ‘hoax’ Biden: ‘I know I’m the frontrunner’ in 2020 race 2020 Democrats set sights on corporate tax hike MORE got a rating of 41 percent honest to 38 percent dishonest, Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Ann WarrenBiden: ‘I know I’m the frontrunner’ in 2020 race 2020 Democrats set sights on corporate tax hike Tlaib endorses Sanders at Detroit campaign rally MORE (D-Mass.) was 36 percent honest to 37 percent dishonest and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete ButtigiegPeter (Pete) Paul ButtigiegBiden: ‘I know I’m the frontrunner’ in 2020 race 2020 Democrats set sights on corporate tax hike 2020 Democrats commend US forces on ISIS leader’s death MORE (D) was 30 percent honest to 26 percent dishonest. 

Why this matters: “Medicare for All” is going to be expensive! There’s no denying that fact, and as the primary season heats up, candidates are facing tough questions over how they’ll pay for their health plans. 

Sanders has been upfront about the fact that taxes will have to go up for the middle class to pay for his plan, but he argues middle-class people will save money overall once the elimination of premiums and deductibles is factored in. 

Warren, meanwhile, has taken heat for declining to directly answer the middle-class tax question. She has said she supports Bernie’s plan, and has said she will soon be releasing her own ideas on how to pay for it. 

Read more on the poll here.

 

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Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid pull Johnson & Johnson baby powder from stores

Three major retailers are removing all 22-ounce bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby powder from their shelves following the company’s voluntary recall last week after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found trace amounts of asbestos in the product.

Rite Aid, Walmart and CVS said they have been working to clear their store stock and prevent sales of the baby powder since J&J’s announcement last Friday. 

The companies said they would continue carrying all other sizes of the product. 

Johnson & Johnson last week announced a recall of about 33,000 bottles of its baby powder after small amounts of asbestos were found in a bottle purchased online.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to mesothelioma.

The company said it was initiating the recall “out of an abundance of caution.” It is working with the FDA, which tested the product, and is investigating how and when the product was contaminated.

Read more here.

 

What we’re reading

Facebook axed pro-vaccine ads, let anti-vaxxer conspiracies slip through (Daily Beast)

Pharma sells states on ‘Netflix model’ to wipe out hep C. But at what price? (Kaiser Health News)

Smaller, lighter, cheaper: A serial entrepreneur wants his portable MRI to transform medicine (Stat News)

Behind the scenes of CDC’s vaping investigation (NPR) 

State by state

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer taking vaping case to Supreme Court (WXYZ)

Massachusetts Gov. Baker bows to judge, submits vape ban as emergency regulation (Boston Globe)

TennCare weighing 1,700 public comments on controversial Medicaid block grant proposal (Tennessean)

Several states wary of $48 billion opioid settlement proposal (Reuters)

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