(Reuters) -Several leading public health, medical, civil rights, education and community organizations sent a letter to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging him to reconsider recent government body reorganizations over concerns related to tobacco regulations. The letter, dated May 21, was signed by 87 organizations — including the American Association for Cancer Research, […]
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Public health and civil rights organizations ask RFK Jr. to reconsider health agency layoffs
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(Reuters) -Several leading public health, medical, civil rights, education and community organizations sent a letter to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging him to reconsider recent government body reorganizations over concerns related to tobacco regulations.
The letter, dated May 21, was signed by 87 organizations — including the American Association for Cancer Research, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the National Medical Association.
The Trump administration recently appealed a federal judge’s block on mass layoffs by federal agencies, which included gutting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by firing 10,000 employees.
“We fear that the recent cutbacks will halt and even reverse the decades of progress our nation has made in reducing the use of lethal and addictive tobacco products,” the letter from the organizations said.
The letter said the reorganization will affect regulation of tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration and the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)