Public Policy & NGOs
Here's a look at documents from public policy and non-governmental organizations
Public Policy & NGOs
Featured Stories
Save the Children: Sudan - At Least 18 Children Killed in Wave of Airborne Attacks
WESTPORT, Connecticut, Oct. 22 -- Save the Children, an organization that says it is giving children a healthy start in life, opportunity to learn and protection from harm, issued the following news release:
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Sudan: At Least 18 Children Killed in Wave of Airborne Attacks
KHARTOUM (Oct. 21, 2026)--At least 18 children are among hundreds of people reportedly killed in a wave of drone attacks and airstrikes across Sudan in the past week.
According to the UN, at least 10 children were reportedly killed in drone attacks over the weekend, with a further three children reportedly killed on Monday ... Show Full Article WESTPORT, Connecticut, Oct. 22 -- Save the Children, an organization that says it is giving children a healthy start in life, opportunity to learn and protection from harm, issued the following news release: * * * Sudan: At Least 18 Children Killed in Wave of Airborne Attacks KHARTOUM (Oct. 21, 2026)--At least 18 children are among hundreds of people reportedly killed in a wave of drone attacks and airstrikes across Sudan in the past week. According to the UN, at least 10 children were reportedly killed in drone attacks over the weekend, with a further three children reportedly killed on Mondayin the capital Khartoum. On Thursday, five children from the same family were reportedly killed in North Kordofan in an airstrike, with their mother surviving with injuries.
Claire Henery, Save the Children's Country Director in Sudan, said:
"The recent wave of drone attacks across Sudan is deeply worrying for children and families already living through one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises.
"Beyond the tragic loss of life, these attacks risk further disrupting hospitals, schools and other critical services, endangering children and families already struggling to survive the consequences of war.
"Drones are changing the reality of this conflict for children. With drone and aerial attacks increasingly reaching communities far from active front lines and striking with little warning, children and families can no longer feel safe even in areas previously considered less exposed to conflict. As children return to school, this growing threat adds to their fear and insecurity. Every child should be able to go to school and return home safely."
Children should never have to live in fear of attack, whether at home, on their way to school, or while accessing health care, said Save the Children. The international community cannot look away as civilians continue to bear the brunt of this violence. All parties to the conflict must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and end attacks that put children's lives and futures at risk. Sudan's children have already endured far too much loss, fear and disruption.
The ongoing conflict has caused the world's largest displacement crisis, forcing about 11 million people from their homes, reducing access to farmland, damaging infrastructure and irrigation systems and causing shortages of seeds, fertilizers and equipment. Last week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that conflict, displacement and severe El Nino-induced drought are increasing the risk of famine in parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan.
Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and provides programming for children and families affected by conflict, displacement, extreme poverty and hunger.
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Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Since our founding more than 100 years ago, we've been advocating for the rights of children worldwide. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children - every day and in times of crisis - transforming the future we share. Our results, financial statements and charity ratings reaffirm that Save the Children is a charity you can trust. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and YouTube.
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Original text here: https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/media-and-news/2026-press-releases/sudan-at-least-18-children-killed-in-airborne-attacks
[Category: Sociological]
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Sudan: At Least 18 Children Killed in Wave of Airborne Attacks
KHARTOUM (Oct. 21, 2026)--At least 18 children are among hundreds of people reportedly killed in a wave of drone attacks and airstrikes across Sudan in the past week.
According to the UN, at least 10 children were reportedly killed in drone attacks over the weekend, with a further three children reportedly killed on Monday ... Show Full Article WESTPORT, Connecticut, Oct. 22 -- Save the Children, an organization that says it is giving children a healthy start in life, opportunity to learn and protection from harm, issued the following news release: * * * Sudan: At Least 18 Children Killed in Wave of Airborne Attacks KHARTOUM (Oct. 21, 2026)--At least 18 children are among hundreds of people reportedly killed in a wave of drone attacks and airstrikes across Sudan in the past week. According to the UN, at least 10 children were reportedly killed in drone attacks over the weekend, with a further three children reportedly killed on Mondayin the capital Khartoum. On Thursday, five children from the same family were reportedly killed in North Kordofan in an airstrike, with their mother surviving with injuries.
Claire Henery, Save the Children's Country Director in Sudan, said:
"The recent wave of drone attacks across Sudan is deeply worrying for children and families already living through one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises.
"Beyond the tragic loss of life, these attacks risk further disrupting hospitals, schools and other critical services, endangering children and families already struggling to survive the consequences of war.
"Drones are changing the reality of this conflict for children. With drone and aerial attacks increasingly reaching communities far from active front lines and striking with little warning, children and families can no longer feel safe even in areas previously considered less exposed to conflict. As children return to school, this growing threat adds to their fear and insecurity. Every child should be able to go to school and return home safely."
Children should never have to live in fear of attack, whether at home, on their way to school, or while accessing health care, said Save the Children. The international community cannot look away as civilians continue to bear the brunt of this violence. All parties to the conflict must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and end attacks that put children's lives and futures at risk. Sudan's children have already endured far too much loss, fear and disruption.
The ongoing conflict has caused the world's largest displacement crisis, forcing about 11 million people from their homes, reducing access to farmland, damaging infrastructure and irrigation systems and causing shortages of seeds, fertilizers and equipment. Last week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that conflict, displacement and severe El Nino-induced drought are increasing the risk of famine in parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan.
Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and provides programming for children and families affected by conflict, displacement, extreme poverty and hunger.
* * *
Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Since our founding more than 100 years ago, we've been advocating for the rights of children worldwide. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children - every day and in times of crisis - transforming the future we share. Our results, financial statements and charity ratings reaffirm that Save the Children is a charity you can trust. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and YouTube.
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Original text here: https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/media-and-news/2026-press-releases/sudan-at-least-18-children-killed-in-airborne-attacks
[Category: Sociological]
Massachusetts Biotechnology Council: Pancreatic Cancer Has a New Drug and Women Need Earlier Detection
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct. 22 -- The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council issued the following news:
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Pancreatic cancer has a new drug and women need earlier detection
Oct 21, 2026
Five weeks after the FDA approved a pill that extends survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the physicians who led its development joined a patient, an industry scientist and a state legislator at the MassBioHub to ask a harder question: what will it take to reach patients before the disease has spread?
The 2026 Women's Health Symposium, co-hosted by MassBio and the Massachusetts Caucus of Women ... Show Full Article CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct. 22 -- The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council issued the following news: * * * Pancreatic cancer has a new drug and women need earlier detection Oct 21, 2026 Five weeks after the FDA approved a pill that extends survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the physicians who led its development joined a patient, an industry scientist and a state legislator at the MassBioHub to ask a harder question: what will it take to reach patients before the disease has spread? The 2026 Women's Health Symposium, co-hosted by MassBio and the Massachusetts Caucus of WomenLegislators on Oct. 1, focused on pancreatic cancer in women. Rep. Carole Fiola, House chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, moderated a panel with Dr. Brian Wolpin of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Michael D'Amore of Genentech and patient advocate Katie Torrence.
Why it matters: Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Among adults under 55, incidence has been rising about 2.4% a year in women, compared with 0.6% in men, and five-year survival has barely moved.
Fiola dedicated the discussion to two colleagues the Legislature lost to the disease last year, Reps. Ann-Margaret Ferrante and Carol Doherty.
From "undruggable" to a daily pill
Almost 95% of pancreatic cancers are driven by mutations in a single gene, KRAS. Researchers identified the RAS gene family as a cause of cancer in the early 1980s, but for decades no one could design a drug to block it. The field called it undruggable.
Wolpin, who has studied pancreatic cancer at Dana-Farber for more than 20 years, credited chemists for finding a new way in. Dana-Farber led the Phase I and Phase II trials of daraxonrasib, and Wolpin served as overall principal investigator for the Phase III trial.
The results: a once-daily pill outperformed chemotherapy on survival, on how long it controlled the cancer, on tumor shrinkage and on quality of life. The FDA approved it Aug. 26.
"I was in clinic yesterday seeing patients, and I wrote two prescriptions, just standard prescriptions," Wolpin said.
He also called for retiring the old label. "We should not be calling it undruggable," he said. The better answer, in his view, is "not yet."
The half it doesn't reach
The new drug extends life, but it does not cure metastatic disease. "Eventually, in almost all patients, the cancer will figure out a way around that," Wolpin said.
Dana-Farber is working with three other cancer centers, Breakthrough Cancer and the Lustgarten Foundation to learn how. Patients on the drug are volunteering for repeat tumor biopsies, and the data are already pointing toward combination therapies. Wolpin expects those trials to open within the next year.
D'Amore, a principal medical science liaison at Genentech, explained why the industry is also moving upstream. Early tumors carry fewer mutations and have not yet built up their defenses against the immune system. Pancreatic tumors are also wrapped in dense surrounding tissue that keeps drugs out. That makes early disease a more promising target for approaches such as personalized cancer vaccines, which are built from a patient's own tumor and given after surgery.
Why women, and why younger
Ten years ago, Wolpin said, he rarely saw a patient under 50. Now it is not uncommon, and many of those patients are younger women.
Torrence sees the same pattern. She has become the person friends call when someone they know is diagnosed, and nearly everyone she has supported through the disease has been a woman.
Diet, obesity and diabetes explain part of the rise, but many of his young patients have none of those risk factors. Researchers are studying the microbiome, microplastics and other environmental exposures, without conclusive answers so far.
Women who have had breast cancer face higher pancreatic cancer risk later in life, partly because of shared genetic drivers such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Wolpin said that overlap calls for greater awareness among breast cancer survivors.
"This disease is hard at any age, but when you start seeing patients in their 30s and 40s, it's really quite tough," he said.
Finding it sooner
Most early diagnoses today come down to chance: a small tumor that blocks the bile duct and causes jaundice, or a scan ordered for something else. The exception is families with inherited risk, who can be screened with MRI and endoscopic ultrasound. They account for only about one in 10 patients.
Wolpin's lab is working to close that gap. Warning signs in symptoms, blood work and imaging can appear up to 18 months before diagnosis. AI models that combine those signals could flag at-risk patients for primary care doctors, who may see only a handful of pancreatic cancer cases in a decade. The tools are in early testing and not yet in clinical use.
"When we find it early, we can cure this cancer," Wolpin said, pointing to Torrence as living proof. She immediately offered up her own medical records for his research. "I'm an open book. Sign me up for everything."
In the meantime, Wolpin's advice was direct: "If you are losing weight and you don't know why, that's not normal."
"I should be what everybody has"
Katie Torrence was diagnosed in August 2020, at 53, in the middle of the pandemic. She lived alone and saw friends and family only on screens. Her symptoms were vague: itchy hands, an unusual stool color.
Her new primary care doctor had never met her in person. "She didn't know if I was a little dramatic, which I am," Torrence said. The doctor ordered blood work right away. Elevated bilirubin led to imaging, then a referral to a liver specialist. Fifteen days after that first visit, she learned doctors had found a tumor. Her surgeon told her she was young and healthy enough to fight it aggressively. Her answer: "Sign me up. I'll be your patient X." She started treatment 23 days after diagnosis, after spending six of those days hospitalized alone. She is healthy today.
She has told legislators she should not be a unicorn. "I'm the messenger," she said. "I should be what everybody has."
Her ask of the policymakers in the room was simple: "Behind every policy, behind every piece of legislation, there's a person who's going to benefit from the decisions that you make."
Policy can move the standard of care
Wolpin served on the Commonwealth's Special Commission on pancreatic cancer, which issued its recommendations in 2019. Two of them, genetic testing for every patient and DNA sequencing of every tumor, were once routine only at academic centers. Today, he said, a much higher share of patients referred to Dana-Farber arrive with both already done.
The Women's Caucus is now backing legislation to create a standing Pancreatic Cancer Advisory Council at the Department of Public Health. Wolpin said its first job should be spreading what already works to every community, while sustaining the research that produced this year's breakthrough.
Fiola closed with a precedent. Massachusetts removed cost as a barrier to breast cancer screening because early detection is where survival is decided. "The same logic applies here," she said, "and the science is finally catching up to the ambition."
What's next: MassBio's Patient Advocacy Summit returns to the MassBioHub on Nov. 12.
Thank you to our sustaining sponsors Lilly, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Vertex, and to our supporting sponsors Genentech, Ipsen, Manatt and UCB.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.massbio.org/news/recent-news/pancreatic-cancers-breakthrough-year-and-the-half-it-doesnt-reach-yet/
[Category: Biology]
* * *
Pancreatic cancer has a new drug and women need earlier detection
Oct 21, 2026
Five weeks after the FDA approved a pill that extends survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the physicians who led its development joined a patient, an industry scientist and a state legislator at the MassBioHub to ask a harder question: what will it take to reach patients before the disease has spread?
The 2026 Women's Health Symposium, co-hosted by MassBio and the Massachusetts Caucus of Women ... Show Full Article CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct. 22 -- The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council issued the following news: * * * Pancreatic cancer has a new drug and women need earlier detection Oct 21, 2026 Five weeks after the FDA approved a pill that extends survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the physicians who led its development joined a patient, an industry scientist and a state legislator at the MassBioHub to ask a harder question: what will it take to reach patients before the disease has spread? The 2026 Women's Health Symposium, co-hosted by MassBio and the Massachusetts Caucus of WomenLegislators on Oct. 1, focused on pancreatic cancer in women. Rep. Carole Fiola, House chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, moderated a panel with Dr. Brian Wolpin of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Michael D'Amore of Genentech and patient advocate Katie Torrence.
Why it matters: Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Among adults under 55, incidence has been rising about 2.4% a year in women, compared with 0.6% in men, and five-year survival has barely moved.
Fiola dedicated the discussion to two colleagues the Legislature lost to the disease last year, Reps. Ann-Margaret Ferrante and Carol Doherty.
From "undruggable" to a daily pill
Almost 95% of pancreatic cancers are driven by mutations in a single gene, KRAS. Researchers identified the RAS gene family as a cause of cancer in the early 1980s, but for decades no one could design a drug to block it. The field called it undruggable.
Wolpin, who has studied pancreatic cancer at Dana-Farber for more than 20 years, credited chemists for finding a new way in. Dana-Farber led the Phase I and Phase II trials of daraxonrasib, and Wolpin served as overall principal investigator for the Phase III trial.
The results: a once-daily pill outperformed chemotherapy on survival, on how long it controlled the cancer, on tumor shrinkage and on quality of life. The FDA approved it Aug. 26.
"I was in clinic yesterday seeing patients, and I wrote two prescriptions, just standard prescriptions," Wolpin said.
He also called for retiring the old label. "We should not be calling it undruggable," he said. The better answer, in his view, is "not yet."
The half it doesn't reach
The new drug extends life, but it does not cure metastatic disease. "Eventually, in almost all patients, the cancer will figure out a way around that," Wolpin said.
Dana-Farber is working with three other cancer centers, Breakthrough Cancer and the Lustgarten Foundation to learn how. Patients on the drug are volunteering for repeat tumor biopsies, and the data are already pointing toward combination therapies. Wolpin expects those trials to open within the next year.
D'Amore, a principal medical science liaison at Genentech, explained why the industry is also moving upstream. Early tumors carry fewer mutations and have not yet built up their defenses against the immune system. Pancreatic tumors are also wrapped in dense surrounding tissue that keeps drugs out. That makes early disease a more promising target for approaches such as personalized cancer vaccines, which are built from a patient's own tumor and given after surgery.
Why women, and why younger
Ten years ago, Wolpin said, he rarely saw a patient under 50. Now it is not uncommon, and many of those patients are younger women.
Torrence sees the same pattern. She has become the person friends call when someone they know is diagnosed, and nearly everyone she has supported through the disease has been a woman.
Diet, obesity and diabetes explain part of the rise, but many of his young patients have none of those risk factors. Researchers are studying the microbiome, microplastics and other environmental exposures, without conclusive answers so far.
Women who have had breast cancer face higher pancreatic cancer risk later in life, partly because of shared genetic drivers such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Wolpin said that overlap calls for greater awareness among breast cancer survivors.
"This disease is hard at any age, but when you start seeing patients in their 30s and 40s, it's really quite tough," he said.
Finding it sooner
Most early diagnoses today come down to chance: a small tumor that blocks the bile duct and causes jaundice, or a scan ordered for something else. The exception is families with inherited risk, who can be screened with MRI and endoscopic ultrasound. They account for only about one in 10 patients.
Wolpin's lab is working to close that gap. Warning signs in symptoms, blood work and imaging can appear up to 18 months before diagnosis. AI models that combine those signals could flag at-risk patients for primary care doctors, who may see only a handful of pancreatic cancer cases in a decade. The tools are in early testing and not yet in clinical use.
"When we find it early, we can cure this cancer," Wolpin said, pointing to Torrence as living proof. She immediately offered up her own medical records for his research. "I'm an open book. Sign me up for everything."
In the meantime, Wolpin's advice was direct: "If you are losing weight and you don't know why, that's not normal."
"I should be what everybody has"
Katie Torrence was diagnosed in August 2020, at 53, in the middle of the pandemic. She lived alone and saw friends and family only on screens. Her symptoms were vague: itchy hands, an unusual stool color.
Her new primary care doctor had never met her in person. "She didn't know if I was a little dramatic, which I am," Torrence said. The doctor ordered blood work right away. Elevated bilirubin led to imaging, then a referral to a liver specialist. Fifteen days after that first visit, she learned doctors had found a tumor. Her surgeon told her she was young and healthy enough to fight it aggressively. Her answer: "Sign me up. I'll be your patient X." She started treatment 23 days after diagnosis, after spending six of those days hospitalized alone. She is healthy today.
She has told legislators she should not be a unicorn. "I'm the messenger," she said. "I should be what everybody has."
Her ask of the policymakers in the room was simple: "Behind every policy, behind every piece of legislation, there's a person who's going to benefit from the decisions that you make."
Policy can move the standard of care
Wolpin served on the Commonwealth's Special Commission on pancreatic cancer, which issued its recommendations in 2019. Two of them, genetic testing for every patient and DNA sequencing of every tumor, were once routine only at academic centers. Today, he said, a much higher share of patients referred to Dana-Farber arrive with both already done.
The Women's Caucus is now backing legislation to create a standing Pancreatic Cancer Advisory Council at the Department of Public Health. Wolpin said its first job should be spreading what already works to every community, while sustaining the research that produced this year's breakthrough.
Fiola closed with a precedent. Massachusetts removed cost as a barrier to breast cancer screening because early detection is where survival is decided. "The same logic applies here," she said, "and the science is finally catching up to the ambition."
What's next: MassBio's Patient Advocacy Summit returns to the MassBioHub on Nov. 12.
Thank you to our sustaining sponsors Lilly, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Vertex, and to our supporting sponsors Genentech, Ipsen, Manatt and UCB.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.massbio.org/news/recent-news/pancreatic-cancers-breakthrough-year-and-the-half-it-doesnt-reach-yet/
[Category: Biology]
K-9 Shot in Placer County Prompts PETA Call to Retire Dogs, Get Robotics
NORFOLK, Virginia, Oct. 22 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued the following news release:
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K-9 Shot in Placer County Prompts PETA Call to Retire Dogs, Get Robotics
October 20, 2026
Penryn, Calif. - Following reports that a K-9 named Sonic was shot during a standoff with a suspect in Penryn on Friday, PETA sent a letter today to Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, urging him to retire Sonic--and phase out the use of dogs altogether. In the letter, PETA encourages the department to replace K 9s with state-of-the-art policing technology, such as tactical robots, drones (already ... Show Full Article NORFOLK, Virginia, Oct. 22 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued the following news release: * * * K-9 Shot in Placer County Prompts PETA Call to Retire Dogs, Get Robotics October 20, 2026 Penryn, Calif. - Following reports that a K-9 named Sonic was shot during a standoff with a suspect in Penryn on Friday, PETA sent a letter today to Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, urging him to retire Sonic--and phase out the use of dogs altogether. In the letter, PETA encourages the department to replace K 9s with state-of-the-art policing technology, such as tactical robots, drones (alreadyused by the department), and portable mass spectrometers. In a growing trend, law enforcement departments across the country now use tactical robots, which can be deployed in situations that could otherwise result in serious injury or death for K-9s and human officers.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the suspect barricaded herself inside a home, and law enforcement deployed drones, tear gas, and other tactics during the hours-long standoff. Deputies later entered the home with Sonic, who was shot in the leg before deputies returned fire. Sonic underwent emergency surgery and is now recovering at home.
When police departments send dogs into dangerous situations, they put living, feeling beings at risk of being shot, injured, or killed, and dogs who survive can be left with lasting pain and trauma," says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Deputies choose to take on the risks of their duties, but K-9s like Sonic aren't given a choice, and PETA is urging the Placer County Sheriff's Office to immediately retire him and seize the opportunity to reassess its use of dogs."
* * *
PETA--whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to abuse in any way"--points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
* * *
PETA's letter to Woo follows.
October 20, 2026
The Honorable Wayne Woo
Sheriff of Placer County
Dear Sheriff Woo:
I hope this message finds you well. I'm writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) regarding K-9 Sonic, who was injured during a suspect pursuit. We wish him a speedy recovery. Would you please retire Sonic into a safe and loving home, and consider this an opportunity to reassess the use of dogs?
Sonic is not the only police dog who has been injured in the line of duty, but he's among the few who have survived. Just last month, K-9 Kylo of Portland, Oregon, was reportedly shot and killed during a suspect pursuit. In May, K-9 Knight of Chesterfield County, Virginia, reportedly died from injuries sustained when a suspect opened fire on him and officers responding to a domestic violence call. Earlier this year, K-9 Sheik of the Wheeling Police Department in West Virginia died after she was struck by a car. There certainly have been more fatal assaults against K-9s that weren't reported publicly.
Unlike their human counterparts, K-9s do not sign up to risk their lives. They are loyal and protective, but they cannot consent to be used in violent encounters they did not cause or escalate. Veterinary experts and the U.S. military recognize that dogs, in addition to suffering the immediate physical pain and other effects of life-threatening injuries, can experience fear and anxiety from post-traumatic stress for the rest of their lives.
Will you please plan now to use state-of-the-art technology, such as tactical robots, drones, or portable mass spectrometers, which enhance safety and operational efficiency without risking anyone's life, once your current K-9s have been retired? Your department may be able to secure grant funding for new technology through the California Grants Portal, the DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. You might also find private or equipment-specific grant funding opportunities through PoliceGrantsHelp.com.
Thank you for your consideration and for all that you do to keep your community safe.
Most respectfully,
Allison Fandl
Manager of Special Projects
Cruelty Investigations Department | PETA
* * *
Original text here: https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/k-9-shot-in-placer-county-prompts-peta-call-to-retire-dogs-get-robotics/
[Category: Animals]
* * *
K-9 Shot in Placer County Prompts PETA Call to Retire Dogs, Get Robotics
October 20, 2026
Penryn, Calif. - Following reports that a K-9 named Sonic was shot during a standoff with a suspect in Penryn on Friday, PETA sent a letter today to Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, urging him to retire Sonic--and phase out the use of dogs altogether. In the letter, PETA encourages the department to replace K 9s with state-of-the-art policing technology, such as tactical robots, drones (already ... Show Full Article NORFOLK, Virginia, Oct. 22 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued the following news release: * * * K-9 Shot in Placer County Prompts PETA Call to Retire Dogs, Get Robotics October 20, 2026 Penryn, Calif. - Following reports that a K-9 named Sonic was shot during a standoff with a suspect in Penryn on Friday, PETA sent a letter today to Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo, urging him to retire Sonic--and phase out the use of dogs altogether. In the letter, PETA encourages the department to replace K 9s with state-of-the-art policing technology, such as tactical robots, drones (alreadyused by the department), and portable mass spectrometers. In a growing trend, law enforcement departments across the country now use tactical robots, which can be deployed in situations that could otherwise result in serious injury or death for K-9s and human officers.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the suspect barricaded herself inside a home, and law enforcement deployed drones, tear gas, and other tactics during the hours-long standoff. Deputies later entered the home with Sonic, who was shot in the leg before deputies returned fire. Sonic underwent emergency surgery and is now recovering at home.
When police departments send dogs into dangerous situations, they put living, feeling beings at risk of being shot, injured, or killed, and dogs who survive can be left with lasting pain and trauma," says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Deputies choose to take on the risks of their duties, but K-9s like Sonic aren't given a choice, and PETA is urging the Placer County Sheriff's Office to immediately retire him and seize the opportunity to reassess its use of dogs."
* * *
PETA--whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to abuse in any way"--points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
* * *
PETA's letter to Woo follows.
October 20, 2026
The Honorable Wayne Woo
Sheriff of Placer County
Dear Sheriff Woo:
I hope this message finds you well. I'm writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) regarding K-9 Sonic, who was injured during a suspect pursuit. We wish him a speedy recovery. Would you please retire Sonic into a safe and loving home, and consider this an opportunity to reassess the use of dogs?
Sonic is not the only police dog who has been injured in the line of duty, but he's among the few who have survived. Just last month, K-9 Kylo of Portland, Oregon, was reportedly shot and killed during a suspect pursuit. In May, K-9 Knight of Chesterfield County, Virginia, reportedly died from injuries sustained when a suspect opened fire on him and officers responding to a domestic violence call. Earlier this year, K-9 Sheik of the Wheeling Police Department in West Virginia died after she was struck by a car. There certainly have been more fatal assaults against K-9s that weren't reported publicly.
Unlike their human counterparts, K-9s do not sign up to risk their lives. They are loyal and protective, but they cannot consent to be used in violent encounters they did not cause or escalate. Veterinary experts and the U.S. military recognize that dogs, in addition to suffering the immediate physical pain and other effects of life-threatening injuries, can experience fear and anxiety from post-traumatic stress for the rest of their lives.
Will you please plan now to use state-of-the-art technology, such as tactical robots, drones, or portable mass spectrometers, which enhance safety and operational efficiency without risking anyone's life, once your current K-9s have been retired? Your department may be able to secure grant funding for new technology through the California Grants Portal, the DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. You might also find private or equipment-specific grant funding opportunities through PoliceGrantsHelp.com.
Thank you for your consideration and for all that you do to keep your community safe.
Most respectfully,
Allison Fandl
Manager of Special Projects
Cruelty Investigations Department | PETA
* * *
Original text here: https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/k-9-shot-in-placer-county-prompts-peta-call-to-retire-dogs-get-robotics/
[Category: Animals]
Children's Health Defense Issues Commentary: Groups Launch Pesticide 'Bill of Rights' as EPA Accused of Failing to Protect Kids' Health
FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Henrick Karoliszyn, an investigative reporter for The Defender:
* * *
Groups Launch Pesticide 'Bill of Rights' as EPA Accused of Failing to Protect Kids' Health
Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are urging Congress to strengthen federal pesticide laws, warning that existing regulations leave Americans -- particularly children -- vulnerable to potentially ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Henrick Karoliszyn, an investigative reporter for The Defender: * * * Groups Launch Pesticide 'Bill of Rights' as EPA Accused of Failing to Protect Kids' Health Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are urging Congress to strengthen federal pesticide laws, warning that existing regulations leave Americans -- particularly children -- vulnerable to potentiallyharmful chemicals in food, drinking water, schools and neighborhoods. An EPA adviser says the Trump administration has failed to deliver on its Make America Healthy Again promises.
October 21, 2026
Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are urging Congress to strengthen federal pesticide laws, warning that existing regulations leave Americans -- particularly children -- vulnerable to potentially harmful chemicals in food, drinking water, schools and neighborhoods.
The groups recently unveiled a Consumer Pesticide Safety Bill of Rights, which calls for cancer warnings, advance notice of pesticide spraying, stricter safeguards for children, the right to sue manufacturers for injuries and other protections.
They want Congress to incorporate the protections into the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act, which expires in September 2027.
"These are reforms that are long overdue," said Scott Faber, EWG's senior vice president of government affairs.
The proposal arrives just as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces criticism for failing to reconvene its Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC), despite the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) pledge to prioritize children's health.
70+ experts, groups urge EPA to restore child protection committee
In a recent opinion column in The Hill, CHPAC committee member Jean-Marie Kauth, Ph.D., said the panel has not met since August 2025 and that members expected to be appointed by March have received no word from the agency.
"The Trump administration has failed to actualize this bipartisan mission," Kauth wrote.
She said more than 70 children's environmental health experts and organizations recently urged EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to restore the committee, which advises the agency on pesticide exposure, plastics and other environmental hazards that threaten children's health.
Kauth, whose 8-year-old daughter Katherine died of leukemia, said her family attributes the illness to exposure to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide previously used for mosquito control. The suspected connection has not been independently established. However, studies exist linking the pesticide to pediatric leukemia and other health issues.
Kauth accused federal regulators of failing to protect children from chemical exposures while allowing industry influence to undermine public health safeguards.
The EPA told The Defender the agency's CHPAC nomination review process is ongoing and the agency anticipates announcing new membership in the coming weeks.
The EPA said it "does not compromise on public safety, and to suggest our pesticide review process puts the public at risk is a fundamental distortion of the science and our robust regulatory processes."
According to the EPA statement:
"Let's be absolutely clear: EPA evaluates every single pesticide with using gold standard science. We map out exactly what effects occur at what specific exposure levels and regularly set exposure limits hundreds or thousands of times below where it would present a health risk. If a proposed use ever poses a human health risk of concern, it does not get approved."
Despite EPA claims, thousands of pesticides lack cancer warnings
A 2026 analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity found that the EPA required cancer warnings on just 69 -- only 1.4% -- of 4,919 pesticide products containing ingredients the agency classified as likely human carcinogens.
Kayla Nichols, communications director at Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, told The Defender existing pesticide laws fall short and fail to explain "how much we do not know about where, when, what, and how much pesticides are applied in our communities."
Nichols added:
"In order for families and communities to protect themselves from pesticide exposure and advocate for stronger regulations, we must first know that we are being exposed in the first place. There are no federal requirements to notify the public of pesticide application, and most states do not require this either ... this proposed Bill of Rights advocates for the public's right to know when pesticides are applied and where."
The groups fighting for the bill also cited inadequate safeguards for children. The Food Quality Protection Act generally requires an additional tenfold safety margin when assessing pesticide risks to children unless reliable evidence supports a different margin.
However, a 2020 EWG analysis found the EPA retained that additional protection in only a small minority of assessments examined and "failed to add the mandated children's health safety factor to the allowable limits for almost 90 percent of the most common pesticides."
The proposed Bill of Rights would also require greater transparency about pesticide residues in food and drinking water, notification of spraying near homes and schools, and prompt EPA reviews of pesticides banned overseas for health reasons.
An interdisciplinary scholar familiar with the EPA children's health advisory process told The Defender, "Many of us were thrilled to see the first MAHA report say out loud that a large portion of the 40% of American children now struggling with a chronic illness can attribute their suffering to industries that play far too large a role in our political processes" but "industries have openly bought our politicians lock, stock, and barrel."
The source said President Donald Trump offered the fossil-fuel industry what it wanted in exchange for a billion-dollar donation to his campaign.
"This scandalous and open indenture of our children to disease and death -- now and for generations to come -- has just received new attention. The grift now enriching those at the very top of government has a price not only in dollars, but in death and disease, including of our most precious and vulnerable -- our children."
Supreme Court ruling limits pesticide lawsuits
The proposal also follows the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell. The court sided with Monsanto, ruling that consumers can't sue pesticide makers for failing to include cancer warnings on product labels.
The case involved a Missouri man who alleged that prolonged exposure to Monsanto's glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The ruling could affect thousands of similar lawsuits against Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018.
The EPA has maintained that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans -- even though the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as probably carcinogenic in 2015.
When asked about this, they said the EPA is "conducting the most rigorous, transparent review in the agency's history, and we are doing it side by side" with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Nichols, who called the Supreme Court decision a "huge blow to those seeking compensation for pesticide injuries," said there is still a path forward to pushing federal and state legislation to hold corporations accountable.
Consumer Reports and EWG want Congress to preserve consumers' ability to seek damages for pesticide-related injuries.
Advocates push for awareness
Anne Riederer, an environmental health scientist who teaches at the University of Washington, welcomed the Bill of Rights but said it should address school-based education programs to ensure safety.
"Any efforts to increase parents' and school administrators' awareness of the benefits of eating organic and the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] national organics program would likely reduce children's dietary pesticide exposures by helping people choose items with fewer pesticides," she told The Defender.
The Bill of Rights is not legislation and does not change existing regulations. But its supporters hope it will shape congressional negotiations over pesticide oversight before the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act expires next year.
When asked if EPA supports any of the protections outlined in the Bill of Rights, an agency representative told The Defender:
"EPA treats our legal obligations seriously and implements our statutory requirements as directed by Congress."
Related articles in The Defender
* Pesticide-Spraying Trucks Cruising Neighborhoods, Helicopters Raining Down Pellets: Mosquito Control Is a $2 Billion Business in the U.S. (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pesticide-spraying-trucks-cruising-neighborhoods-helicopters-raining-down-pellets-mosquito-control-is-a-2-billion-business-in-the-u-s/)
* U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Pesticide Giant Bayer in Landmark Cancer Lawsuit (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/us-supreme-court-ruling-bayer-roundup-landmark-cancer-lawsuit/)
* Activist Goes on 30-Day Hunger Strike, Demands Driscoll's Stop Spraying Pesticides Near School (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hunger-strike-driscolls-berries-stop-spraying-pesticides-schools-omar-dieguez-real-organic-podcast/)
* For Millions of Kids, Back to School Means Back to Pesticide Exposure (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/millions-kids-back-to-school-pesticide-exposure/)
* 6 Children in 1 Town Developed Rare Cancer. After Teen Dies, Families Demand Answers About Routine Use of Pesticides (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/6-children-ladera-ranch-rare-cancer-brody-matteson-death-pesticides-glufosinate/)
* 'Deceptively Toxic': How Regulators, Chemical Companies Get Away With Calling Glyphosate 'Safe' (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/deceptively-toxic-how-regulators-chemical-companies-get-away-with-calling-glyphosate-safe/)
* 'The Advantage Is Real': Regenerative Agriculture Pays Off, Indiana Farmer Tells RFK Jr. (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/regenerative-agriculture-pays-off-indiana-farmer-rick-clark-tells-rfk-jr/)
* * *
Henrick Karoliszyn, DSW, is an investigative reporter for The Defender.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/consumer-reports-ewg-pesticide-bill-of-rights-epa-fail-protect-kids-health/
[Category: Health Care]
* * *
Groups Launch Pesticide 'Bill of Rights' as EPA Accused of Failing to Protect Kids' Health
Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are urging Congress to strengthen federal pesticide laws, warning that existing regulations leave Americans -- particularly children -- vulnerable to potentially ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Henrick Karoliszyn, an investigative reporter for The Defender: * * * Groups Launch Pesticide 'Bill of Rights' as EPA Accused of Failing to Protect Kids' Health Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are urging Congress to strengthen federal pesticide laws, warning that existing regulations leave Americans -- particularly children -- vulnerable to potentiallyharmful chemicals in food, drinking water, schools and neighborhoods. An EPA adviser says the Trump administration has failed to deliver on its Make America Healthy Again promises.
October 21, 2026
Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are urging Congress to strengthen federal pesticide laws, warning that existing regulations leave Americans -- particularly children -- vulnerable to potentially harmful chemicals in food, drinking water, schools and neighborhoods.
The groups recently unveiled a Consumer Pesticide Safety Bill of Rights, which calls for cancer warnings, advance notice of pesticide spraying, stricter safeguards for children, the right to sue manufacturers for injuries and other protections.
They want Congress to incorporate the protections into the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act, which expires in September 2027.
"These are reforms that are long overdue," said Scott Faber, EWG's senior vice president of government affairs.
The proposal arrives just as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces criticism for failing to reconvene its Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC), despite the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) pledge to prioritize children's health.
70+ experts, groups urge EPA to restore child protection committee
In a recent opinion column in The Hill, CHPAC committee member Jean-Marie Kauth, Ph.D., said the panel has not met since August 2025 and that members expected to be appointed by March have received no word from the agency.
"The Trump administration has failed to actualize this bipartisan mission," Kauth wrote.
She said more than 70 children's environmental health experts and organizations recently urged EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to restore the committee, which advises the agency on pesticide exposure, plastics and other environmental hazards that threaten children's health.
Kauth, whose 8-year-old daughter Katherine died of leukemia, said her family attributes the illness to exposure to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide previously used for mosquito control. The suspected connection has not been independently established. However, studies exist linking the pesticide to pediatric leukemia and other health issues.
Kauth accused federal regulators of failing to protect children from chemical exposures while allowing industry influence to undermine public health safeguards.
The EPA told The Defender the agency's CHPAC nomination review process is ongoing and the agency anticipates announcing new membership in the coming weeks.
The EPA said it "does not compromise on public safety, and to suggest our pesticide review process puts the public at risk is a fundamental distortion of the science and our robust regulatory processes."
According to the EPA statement:
"Let's be absolutely clear: EPA evaluates every single pesticide with using gold standard science. We map out exactly what effects occur at what specific exposure levels and regularly set exposure limits hundreds or thousands of times below where it would present a health risk. If a proposed use ever poses a human health risk of concern, it does not get approved."
Despite EPA claims, thousands of pesticides lack cancer warnings
A 2026 analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity found that the EPA required cancer warnings on just 69 -- only 1.4% -- of 4,919 pesticide products containing ingredients the agency classified as likely human carcinogens.
Kayla Nichols, communications director at Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, told The Defender existing pesticide laws fall short and fail to explain "how much we do not know about where, when, what, and how much pesticides are applied in our communities."
Nichols added:
"In order for families and communities to protect themselves from pesticide exposure and advocate for stronger regulations, we must first know that we are being exposed in the first place. There are no federal requirements to notify the public of pesticide application, and most states do not require this either ... this proposed Bill of Rights advocates for the public's right to know when pesticides are applied and where."
The groups fighting for the bill also cited inadequate safeguards for children. The Food Quality Protection Act generally requires an additional tenfold safety margin when assessing pesticide risks to children unless reliable evidence supports a different margin.
However, a 2020 EWG analysis found the EPA retained that additional protection in only a small minority of assessments examined and "failed to add the mandated children's health safety factor to the allowable limits for almost 90 percent of the most common pesticides."
The proposed Bill of Rights would also require greater transparency about pesticide residues in food and drinking water, notification of spraying near homes and schools, and prompt EPA reviews of pesticides banned overseas for health reasons.
An interdisciplinary scholar familiar with the EPA children's health advisory process told The Defender, "Many of us were thrilled to see the first MAHA report say out loud that a large portion of the 40% of American children now struggling with a chronic illness can attribute their suffering to industries that play far too large a role in our political processes" but "industries have openly bought our politicians lock, stock, and barrel."
The source said President Donald Trump offered the fossil-fuel industry what it wanted in exchange for a billion-dollar donation to his campaign.
"This scandalous and open indenture of our children to disease and death -- now and for generations to come -- has just received new attention. The grift now enriching those at the very top of government has a price not only in dollars, but in death and disease, including of our most precious and vulnerable -- our children."
Supreme Court ruling limits pesticide lawsuits
The proposal also follows the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell. The court sided with Monsanto, ruling that consumers can't sue pesticide makers for failing to include cancer warnings on product labels.
The case involved a Missouri man who alleged that prolonged exposure to Monsanto's glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The ruling could affect thousands of similar lawsuits against Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018.
The EPA has maintained that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans -- even though the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as probably carcinogenic in 2015.
When asked about this, they said the EPA is "conducting the most rigorous, transparent review in the agency's history, and we are doing it side by side" with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Nichols, who called the Supreme Court decision a "huge blow to those seeking compensation for pesticide injuries," said there is still a path forward to pushing federal and state legislation to hold corporations accountable.
Consumer Reports and EWG want Congress to preserve consumers' ability to seek damages for pesticide-related injuries.
Advocates push for awareness
Anne Riederer, an environmental health scientist who teaches at the University of Washington, welcomed the Bill of Rights but said it should address school-based education programs to ensure safety.
"Any efforts to increase parents' and school administrators' awareness of the benefits of eating organic and the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] national organics program would likely reduce children's dietary pesticide exposures by helping people choose items with fewer pesticides," she told The Defender.
The Bill of Rights is not legislation and does not change existing regulations. But its supporters hope it will shape congressional negotiations over pesticide oversight before the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act expires next year.
When asked if EPA supports any of the protections outlined in the Bill of Rights, an agency representative told The Defender:
"EPA treats our legal obligations seriously and implements our statutory requirements as directed by Congress."
Related articles in The Defender
* Pesticide-Spraying Trucks Cruising Neighborhoods, Helicopters Raining Down Pellets: Mosquito Control Is a $2 Billion Business in the U.S. (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pesticide-spraying-trucks-cruising-neighborhoods-helicopters-raining-down-pellets-mosquito-control-is-a-2-billion-business-in-the-u-s/)
* U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Pesticide Giant Bayer in Landmark Cancer Lawsuit (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/us-supreme-court-ruling-bayer-roundup-landmark-cancer-lawsuit/)
* Activist Goes on 30-Day Hunger Strike, Demands Driscoll's Stop Spraying Pesticides Near School (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hunger-strike-driscolls-berries-stop-spraying-pesticides-schools-omar-dieguez-real-organic-podcast/)
* For Millions of Kids, Back to School Means Back to Pesticide Exposure (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/millions-kids-back-to-school-pesticide-exposure/)
* 6 Children in 1 Town Developed Rare Cancer. After Teen Dies, Families Demand Answers About Routine Use of Pesticides (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/6-children-ladera-ranch-rare-cancer-brody-matteson-death-pesticides-glufosinate/)
* 'Deceptively Toxic': How Regulators, Chemical Companies Get Away With Calling Glyphosate 'Safe' (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/deceptively-toxic-how-regulators-chemical-companies-get-away-with-calling-glyphosate-safe/)
* 'The Advantage Is Real': Regenerative Agriculture Pays Off, Indiana Farmer Tells RFK Jr. (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/regenerative-agriculture-pays-off-indiana-farmer-rick-clark-tells-rfk-jr/)
* * *
Henrick Karoliszyn, DSW, is an investigative reporter for The Defender.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/consumer-reports-ewg-pesticide-bill-of-rights-epa-fail-protect-kids-health/
[Category: Health Care]
Children's Health Defense Issues Commentary: 29% of MAHA Parents Say MMR Vaccine Risks Outweigh Benefits, KFF Poll Finds
FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Jill Erzen, associate editor for The Defender:
* * *
29% of MAHA Parents Say MMR Vaccine Risks Outweigh Benefits, KFF Poll Finds
A new KFF poll found that 82% of Americans expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine for children, but 29% of MAHA-supporting parents believe the risks outweigh the benefits. Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines was much lower. Children's ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Jill Erzen, associate editor for The Defender: * * * 29% of MAHA Parents Say MMR Vaccine Risks Outweigh Benefits, KFF Poll Finds A new KFF poll found that 82% of Americans expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine for children, but 29% of MAHA-supporting parents believe the risks outweigh the benefits. Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines was much lower. Children'sHealth Defense CEO Mary Holland questioned the poll's timing shortly before the midterm elections, suggesting KFF was trying to "prop up the narrative that most people still have faith in vaccines."
October 20, 2026
A KFF poll released today found that most Americans remain confident in the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children -- but are not as confident in COVID-19 vaccines.
Eighty-two percent of adults across political parties expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine for children, up slightly from 81% in January and May.
Among parents who support the MAHA movement, 69% said the benefits of MMR vaccination outweigh the risks. However, 29% of MAHA-supporting parents said the risks outweigh the benefits, compared with 16% of parents who do not support the movement.
"The timing of this poll -- shortly before the midterm elections -- suggests that KFF, a pro-vaccine, pro-medical establishment enterprise, is trying to prop up the narrative that most people still have faith in vaccines, regardless of which political party they support," said Mary Holland, CEO of Children's Health Defense.
Meanwhile, only half of adults said they were confident in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for children. That included 77% of Democrats, 50% of independents and 21% of Republicans. A mere 28% of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters expressed confidence in COVID-19 vaccines for children.
Confidence in COVID-19 vaccine safety during pregnancy has declined across political groups since 2022, including a 17-percentage-point drop among Democrats and a 15-point drop among Republicans, according to the poll (https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/kff-tracking-poll-on-health-information-and-trust-fall-2026-update-on-vaccine-views/).
Overall, 39% of adults said they were very or somewhat confident the vaccines are safe for pregnant women, down from 53% in May 2022. Among women ages 18-49, 37% expressed confidence in the vaccine's safety during pregnancy, down from 48% in 2022.
Nearly half of parents favor spacing out vaccines
The poll found that parents are nearly evenly divided over whether children are healthier when their vaccines are spaced out rather than receiving multiple shots during one visit.
Nearly half of parents, 48%, said spacing out vaccines is healthier. The remaining 52% said there is no strong evidence that breaking up vaccines into separate visits is a healthier option.
Political affiliation played a major role in these responses. Among Democratic or Democratic-leaning parents, 68% said there is no strong evidence that spacing out vaccines is healthier. Among Republican or Republican-leaning parents, 69% said children are healthier when vaccines are separated.
KFF noted that parents cite receiving multiple vaccines at once as a leading reason for skipping or delaying childhood vaccinations in previous polling.
In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for changes to childhood vaccine recommendations, including administering MMR vaccines separately rather than as a combined shot.
Trump has also made statements linking the spacing out and separation of childhood vaccines to lower autism rates.
In addition, an October 2025 report by the McCullough Foundation identified vaccination as the leading "modifiable risk factor" for autism in its review of 300 studies on possible causes of the condition. The report's authors said multiple vaccines given in early childhood may overwhelm infants' developing systems.
Confidence in childhood vaccines varies by vaccine
KFF found that 82% of adults also expressed confidence in the polio vaccine. Views of hepatitis B (Hep B) and flu vaccines were more divided, although majorities across political groups still expressed confidence in their safety.
At least 83% of Democrats said they were confident in the safety of those vaccines, compared with nearly 60% of Republicans.
MAHA supporters also expressed different levels of confidence depending on the vaccine. Three-quarters said they were confident in the safety of MMR and polio vaccines for children. The figures were 62% for Hep B vaccines and 54% for flu vaccines.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that kindergarten vaccine exemptions rose nationally from 3.6% in the 2024-2025 school year to 4.2% in 2025-2026.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in several states, including Arizona, Iowa and New Hampshire, have pushed to expand exemptions from school vaccine requirements in recent years.
Americans uncertain about COVID vaccine safety during pregnancy
The poll also examined public views on claims linking COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy to miscarriage.
About one-third of adults said they had heard the claim that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 while pregnant increases the risk of miscarriage. That included 43% of Republicans, 34% of independents and 22% of Democrats. Among women of reproductive age, 31% said they had heard the claim.
When asked whether the claim was true or false, most respondents did not express certainty. Only 9% said it was definitely true, while 8% said it was definitely false.
Another 37% said it was probably true, and 44% said it was probably false.
The responses varied by party. Eighteen percent of Republicans said the claim was definitely true, while 13% of Democrats said it was definitely false.
Women of reproductive age were similarly divided in their less-certain responses: 40% said the claim was probably true, and 42% said it was probably false.
Most Americans know little about proposed schedule changes
Despite the debate over childhood vaccine policy, 59% of adults said they had heard either "not much" or "nothing at all" about the latest efforts to revise the childhood vaccine schedule. That included 30% who had heard "not much" and 28% who had heard "nothing at all."
By comparison, 41% said they had heard "some" or "a lot" about the changes. KFF reported that about half of adults had heard at least some information about similar changes announced in January.
The August executive order -- currently blocked by federal courts -- calls for reducing the number of diseases targeted by routine childhood vaccination from 18 to 11, among other changes.
When asked how the changes might affect children's health in the U.S., 40% of adults said they expected a negative impact, while 12% expected a positive impact. Another 9% said the changes would have no impact, and 38% were unsure.
Views differed by party. Republicans were more likely to expect a positive impact than a negative one, by 27% to 9%. However, half of Republicans said they were unsure how the changes would affect children's health.
Among Democrats and independents, respondents were more likely to expect a negative impact than a positive one.
Parents were also uncertain. Half said the changes would either have no impact on children's health (14%) or that they were unsure of the impact (36%).
Among MAHA supporters, 48% were unsure how the changes would affect children's health. Twenty-three percent expected a positive impact, while 18% expected a negative result.
Among the 41% of adults who had heard at least some information about the executive order, 60% expected the changes to have a negative impact on children's health, compared with 18% who expected a positive impact.
Related articles in The Defender
* New Poll: Americans' Trust in MMR Vaccine Fades (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/new-poll-americans-trust-in-mmr-vaccine-fades/)
* Breaking Up MMR Vaccine Will Benefit Kids -- But It Could Be Years Before Single Shots Are Available (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/breaking-up-mmr-vaccine-single-shots-benefit-kids-could-take-years/)
* Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at Reducing Number of Childhood Vaccines (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/trump-signs-executive-order-reduce-number-childhood-vaccines/)
* COVID Vaccines Triggered Psychiatric Disorders, Including Suicides (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccines-triggered-psychiatric-disorders-including-suicides-mental-health-issues/)
* CDC Official: MMR Vaccine Doesn't Guarantee Protection Against Measles (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cdc-mmr-vaccine-does-not-guarantee-protection-against-measles/)
* COVID Vaccine in Early Pregnancy Led to Higher Rates of Two Birth Defects (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccine-early-pregnancy-higher-rates-two-birth-defects/)
* * *
Jill Erzen is associate editor for The Defender. She earned her B.A. in journalism and English at the University of Iowa. She has 25 years of experience as a copy editor, copy desk chief and multimedia web editor for newspapers and online news publications. Jill lives in Iowa with her husband and four daughters. She joined The Defender in June 2025.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mmr-vaccine-risks-outweigh-benefits-29-percent-maha-parents-kff-poll/
[Category: Health Care]
* * *
29% of MAHA Parents Say MMR Vaccine Risks Outweigh Benefits, KFF Poll Finds
A new KFF poll found that 82% of Americans expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine for children, but 29% of MAHA-supporting parents believe the risks outweigh the benefits. Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines was much lower. Children's ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Jill Erzen, associate editor for The Defender: * * * 29% of MAHA Parents Say MMR Vaccine Risks Outweigh Benefits, KFF Poll Finds A new KFF poll found that 82% of Americans expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine for children, but 29% of MAHA-supporting parents believe the risks outweigh the benefits. Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines was much lower. Children'sHealth Defense CEO Mary Holland questioned the poll's timing shortly before the midterm elections, suggesting KFF was trying to "prop up the narrative that most people still have faith in vaccines."
October 20, 2026
A KFF poll released today found that most Americans remain confident in the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children -- but are not as confident in COVID-19 vaccines.
Eighty-two percent of adults across political parties expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine for children, up slightly from 81% in January and May.
Among parents who support the MAHA movement, 69% said the benefits of MMR vaccination outweigh the risks. However, 29% of MAHA-supporting parents said the risks outweigh the benefits, compared with 16% of parents who do not support the movement.
"The timing of this poll -- shortly before the midterm elections -- suggests that KFF, a pro-vaccine, pro-medical establishment enterprise, is trying to prop up the narrative that most people still have faith in vaccines, regardless of which political party they support," said Mary Holland, CEO of Children's Health Defense.
Meanwhile, only half of adults said they were confident in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for children. That included 77% of Democrats, 50% of independents and 21% of Republicans. A mere 28% of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters expressed confidence in COVID-19 vaccines for children.
Confidence in COVID-19 vaccine safety during pregnancy has declined across political groups since 2022, including a 17-percentage-point drop among Democrats and a 15-point drop among Republicans, according to the poll (https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/kff-tracking-poll-on-health-information-and-trust-fall-2026-update-on-vaccine-views/).
Overall, 39% of adults said they were very or somewhat confident the vaccines are safe for pregnant women, down from 53% in May 2022. Among women ages 18-49, 37% expressed confidence in the vaccine's safety during pregnancy, down from 48% in 2022.
Nearly half of parents favor spacing out vaccines
The poll found that parents are nearly evenly divided over whether children are healthier when their vaccines are spaced out rather than receiving multiple shots during one visit.
Nearly half of parents, 48%, said spacing out vaccines is healthier. The remaining 52% said there is no strong evidence that breaking up vaccines into separate visits is a healthier option.
Political affiliation played a major role in these responses. Among Democratic or Democratic-leaning parents, 68% said there is no strong evidence that spacing out vaccines is healthier. Among Republican or Republican-leaning parents, 69% said children are healthier when vaccines are separated.
KFF noted that parents cite receiving multiple vaccines at once as a leading reason for skipping or delaying childhood vaccinations in previous polling.
In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for changes to childhood vaccine recommendations, including administering MMR vaccines separately rather than as a combined shot.
Trump has also made statements linking the spacing out and separation of childhood vaccines to lower autism rates.
In addition, an October 2025 report by the McCullough Foundation identified vaccination as the leading "modifiable risk factor" for autism in its review of 300 studies on possible causes of the condition. The report's authors said multiple vaccines given in early childhood may overwhelm infants' developing systems.
Confidence in childhood vaccines varies by vaccine
KFF found that 82% of adults also expressed confidence in the polio vaccine. Views of hepatitis B (Hep B) and flu vaccines were more divided, although majorities across political groups still expressed confidence in their safety.
At least 83% of Democrats said they were confident in the safety of those vaccines, compared with nearly 60% of Republicans.
MAHA supporters also expressed different levels of confidence depending on the vaccine. Three-quarters said they were confident in the safety of MMR and polio vaccines for children. The figures were 62% for Hep B vaccines and 54% for flu vaccines.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that kindergarten vaccine exemptions rose nationally from 3.6% in the 2024-2025 school year to 4.2% in 2025-2026.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in several states, including Arizona, Iowa and New Hampshire, have pushed to expand exemptions from school vaccine requirements in recent years.
Americans uncertain about COVID vaccine safety during pregnancy
The poll also examined public views on claims linking COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy to miscarriage.
About one-third of adults said they had heard the claim that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 while pregnant increases the risk of miscarriage. That included 43% of Republicans, 34% of independents and 22% of Democrats. Among women of reproductive age, 31% said they had heard the claim.
When asked whether the claim was true or false, most respondents did not express certainty. Only 9% said it was definitely true, while 8% said it was definitely false.
Another 37% said it was probably true, and 44% said it was probably false.
The responses varied by party. Eighteen percent of Republicans said the claim was definitely true, while 13% of Democrats said it was definitely false.
Women of reproductive age were similarly divided in their less-certain responses: 40% said the claim was probably true, and 42% said it was probably false.
Most Americans know little about proposed schedule changes
Despite the debate over childhood vaccine policy, 59% of adults said they had heard either "not much" or "nothing at all" about the latest efforts to revise the childhood vaccine schedule. That included 30% who had heard "not much" and 28% who had heard "nothing at all."
By comparison, 41% said they had heard "some" or "a lot" about the changes. KFF reported that about half of adults had heard at least some information about similar changes announced in January.
The August executive order -- currently blocked by federal courts -- calls for reducing the number of diseases targeted by routine childhood vaccination from 18 to 11, among other changes.
When asked how the changes might affect children's health in the U.S., 40% of adults said they expected a negative impact, while 12% expected a positive impact. Another 9% said the changes would have no impact, and 38% were unsure.
Views differed by party. Republicans were more likely to expect a positive impact than a negative one, by 27% to 9%. However, half of Republicans said they were unsure how the changes would affect children's health.
Among Democrats and independents, respondents were more likely to expect a negative impact than a positive one.
Parents were also uncertain. Half said the changes would either have no impact on children's health (14%) or that they were unsure of the impact (36%).
Among MAHA supporters, 48% were unsure how the changes would affect children's health. Twenty-three percent expected a positive impact, while 18% expected a negative result.
Among the 41% of adults who had heard at least some information about the executive order, 60% expected the changes to have a negative impact on children's health, compared with 18% who expected a positive impact.
Related articles in The Defender
* New Poll: Americans' Trust in MMR Vaccine Fades (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/new-poll-americans-trust-in-mmr-vaccine-fades/)
* Breaking Up MMR Vaccine Will Benefit Kids -- But It Could Be Years Before Single Shots Are Available (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/breaking-up-mmr-vaccine-single-shots-benefit-kids-could-take-years/)
* Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at Reducing Number of Childhood Vaccines (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/trump-signs-executive-order-reduce-number-childhood-vaccines/)
* COVID Vaccines Triggered Psychiatric Disorders, Including Suicides (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccines-triggered-psychiatric-disorders-including-suicides-mental-health-issues/)
* CDC Official: MMR Vaccine Doesn't Guarantee Protection Against Measles (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cdc-mmr-vaccine-does-not-guarantee-protection-against-measles/)
* COVID Vaccine in Early Pregnancy Led to Higher Rates of Two Birth Defects (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccine-early-pregnancy-higher-rates-two-birth-defects/)
* * *
Jill Erzen is associate editor for The Defender. She earned her B.A. in journalism and English at the University of Iowa. She has 25 years of experience as a copy editor, copy desk chief and multimedia web editor for newspapers and online news publications. Jill lives in Iowa with her husband and four daughters. She joined The Defender in June 2025.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mmr-vaccine-risks-outweigh-benefits-29-percent-maha-parents-kff-poll/
[Category: Health Care]
Children's Health Defense Issues Commentary: 'Stunningly Irresponsible' - Hospitals Push Parents to Vaccinate Kids While They're Knocked Out for Surgery
FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Suzanne Burdick, senior reporter for The Defender:
* * *
'Stunningly Irresponsible': Hospitals Push Parents to Vaccinate Kids While They're Knocked Out for Surgery
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs a "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize" program that encourages parents to consent to vaccinating their child against the flu while the child is sedated or under anesthesia ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Suzanne Burdick, senior reporter for The Defender: * * * 'Stunningly Irresponsible': Hospitals Push Parents to Vaccinate Kids While They're Knocked Out for Surgery The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs a "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize" program that encourages parents to consent to vaccinating their child against the flu while the child is sedated or under anesthesiafor a medical procedure. The program team hopes to expand to other vaccines, including COVID-19 and RSV vaccines. Other U.S. hospitals are piloting similar initiatives.
October 21, 2026
Highlights:
* Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs a program, "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize," that offers parental-consent flu vaccinations (and plans to add COVID-19 and RSV shots) to children while they are under sedation or anesthesia.
* Critics said that vaccinating sedated children is irresponsible because side effects (such as fevers or rashes) could be confused with severe reactions to anesthetic drugs, compounding surgical stress and inflammation.
* Pediatricians and health advocates criticized the program's branding and questioned the depth of informed consent, given that stressed parents face time constraints during preoperative discussions.
* Program leaders reported delivering thousands of doses and generating over $60,000 during the 2024-2025 season, while similar initiatives are being adopted or tested by other children's hospitals across the U.S.
-
A Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) program that encourages parents to consent to vaccinating their child against the flu while the child is sedated or under anesthesia for a medical procedure drew sharp criticism from anesthesiologists and pediatricians who spoke with The Defender.
Dubbed "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize," the initiative has helped boost flu vaccination rates amid declining vaccine acceptance, its leaders said in a May newsletter article spotlighting the program.
In the 2025-2026 flu season, the team delivered 2,054 flu vaccine doses to children undergoing sedation or anesthesia. Roughly a third of those wouldn't have otherwise received the flu vaccine due to needle phobia, limited healthcare access or vaccine hesitancy, the leaders said.
After launching the program in 2023, its leaders are seeking to expand the program by including COVID-19, RSV and other catch-up shots for kids whose vaccinations aren't up to date with federal vaccine recommendations.
Families are informed in writing about the program as part of preoperative communications from the hospital staff. On the day of the child's surgery, staff speak with the parents about the program, assess the parents' interest and ensure the child is eligible.
Children are excluded if they have a severe allergy to the flu vaccine or a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Also, some procedures -- including bone marrow transplants -- are excluded from the program.
If the parents consent, staff administer the flu vaccine to the child while the child is sedated.
Dr. Madhava Setty, a board-certified anesthesiologist with 24 years of clinical experience, called CHOP's program "stunningly irresponsible."
There is "absolutely no justification" for giving a child a vaccine "which carries a risk of harm and contributes nothing to the success of the operation," Setty said. After The Defender interviewed Setty for this story, he posted this on X:
Anesthesia and whatever other medications are required for an operation carry enough risk as it is, because the drugs used in the operating room are especially potent, Setty said. That's especially true for children. "We simply cannot know how an individual child will respond to these drugs for the first time."
Dr. Larry Palevsky, a pediatrician, called it a "very bad idea" to administer a flu vaccine to a child under anesthesia. "Anesthesia and surgery increase stress levels and inflammation in children's bodies -- so do vaccines."
Vaccinating children while under anesthesia and surgery will only increase the potential for significant adverse events, since it will be harder for children to detoxify from vaccination while under anesthesia, he said. "This is a perfect storm to use a setting like the stress of anesthesia and a surgical procedure to further injure children."
Palevsky also questioned the thoroughness of the program's informed consent process. He asked:
"How well will parents understand the pros and cons of vaccinating their children while they are already stressed and panicked about their children having to undergo anesthesia and a surgical procedure? How well will the hospital staff explain the pros and cons of vaccination to parents?"
In the May newsletter article, the CHOP program leaders acknowledged that "time constraints in the perioperative setting can limit the opportunity for detailed discussions."
But they made no mention of how discussions should cover outlining the risks of vaccination. Instead, they wrote that the time crunch didn't allow staff enough of an opportunity to provide "vaccine counseling." They lamented that "some eligible families continue to decline this opportunity."
Pediatrician: Parents need to 'keep your eyes open, ask questions'
Setty said he was "particularly aggrieved" by CHOP's initiative because he completed his pediatric anesthesia rotations at CHOP 25 years ago.
"I feel I received excellent training there," he said. "I simply cannot believe that my mentors would have ever supported this initiative when I was a resident."
Leaders of the initiative include Dr. Logan Grimes, Dr. Elizabeth O'Brien, Dr. Ari Weintraub, Dr. Carol Pasquarillo and Beth Hansell, according to a 2026 CHOP presentation.
Dr. Paul Offit, who directs CHOP's Vaccine Education Center and is an attending physician in the hospital's infectious diseases division, did not immediately respond when asked about his involvement in the program.
Dr. Michelle Perro, a pediatrician, called CHOP's program name -- "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize" -- "deeply troubling." She said:
"I understand that it was probably intended to be clever, but medicine is facing an enormous crisis of trust. A slogan celebrating the vaccination of an unconscious child is precisely the wrong message. Parents should rightly question what else could happen under anesthesia."
Perro advised parents, "Keep your eyes open, ask questions, understand exactly what is being given to your child and why, and then make your own informed decision."
Heather Hudson, a mother of a vaccine-injured son, said, "For families who have experienced severe vaccine-induced injuries, a phrase like 'Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize' represents a failure of transparency."
Hudson's son Cody has suffered six strokes due to an autoimmune blood-clotting disorder he developed after receiving two doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. "Vaccines are not one-size-fits-all therapies, and they should not be administered as such," said Hudson.
CHOP financially profits from the program
CHOP's program is a collaboration between the hospital's perioperative clinical teams, nurses, pharmacists, operations team and revenue integrity service team.
In a 2026 presentation, program leaders pointed out how the initiative generated over $60,000 for the hospital during the 2024-2025 flu season.
Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, said, "Administering flu vaccines -- which most Americans do not want for their children -- seems like a convenient way for hospitals to ring the cash register."
Setty said that $60,000 is just "a tiny drop in the bucket" when it comes to CHOP's revenue, so the money probably isn't the main motivation behind the program.
Instead, it's that "these experts are hypnotized with their cultish beliefs" about vaccine safety and efficacy, Setty said. "Advocating for a flu vaccine while a child is anesthetized reflects the pervasive yet inaccurate attitude among the medical establishment that vaccines are perfectly safe."
Palevsky agreed. "The people behind this initiative already believe vaccines are completely safe. It doesn't occur to them that vaccines could contain toxic ingredients and injure children."
Large hospitals in other states are trying it out, too
CHOP isn't the only hospital piloting a program to increase flu vaccine uptake by vaccinating children under anesthesia.
Over the 2024-2025 flu season, doctors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Children's Hospital boosted vaccination rates by vaccinating kids under general anesthesia. The initiative is scalable, the doctors wrote in an OpenQI article.
Staff at Seattle Children's Hospital piloted a similar initiative in the 2023-2024 flu season, according to a poster presentation about their effort.
Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio has also been running a flu vaccination program for children under anesthesia, according to a 2024 article published in the European Society of Medicine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cautions against administering vaccines when a patient is sedated or under anesthesia, but doesn't go so far as to say the practice is contraindicated. Instead, the agency says that not enough studies have been done to understand how anesthesia impacts vaccination.
For instance, a 2006 review in Pediatric Anesthesia that examined 277 papers found none that directly examined the effect of anesthesia and surgery on vaccine responses.
However, Perro noted that the authors of a 2017 review reported that surgery and anesthesia may decrease vaccine efficacy or lead to vaccine-related complications.
The authors advised that elective surgeries be delayed by at least a week for a patient who receives an inactive vaccine and at least three weeks for a patient who receives a live vaccine.
Vaccination should also be delayed until after surgery to avoid confusing vaccine side effects with surgery side effects, they said.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists' statement on ethical principles does not address whether it's appropriate to give minors a medical intervention, such as a flu vaccine, that isn't required for the operation.
However, the group emphasizes that anesthetized patients -- especially minors -- are "particularly vulnerable" and must be protected.
CHOP's public relations team did not respond to our comment request by the deadline.
Related articles in The Defender
* Can You Trust CDC's Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Estimates? Epidemiologist Says No (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/can-you-trust-cdcs-flu-vaccine-effectiveness-estimates-epidemiologist-says-no/)
* New mRNA Flu Vaccine Produced Much Higher Rates of Adverse Reactions Than Standard Shot (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/new-mrna-flu-vaccine-much-higher-adverse-reactions-standard-flu-shot-campbell/)
* HHS Tells CDC to Yank 'Wild to Mild' Flu Vaccine Ad Campaign, Shift Focus to 'Informed Consent' (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-tells-cdc-remove-wild-to-mild-flu-vaccine-ad-campaign-informed-consent-focus/)
* A Flu Vaccine in Your Dental Floss? Researchers Tout Benefits, Critics Question Safety (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/flu-vaccine-dental-floss-critics-question-safety-informed-consent/)
* Paul Offit Kicked Off Key FDA Vaccine Panel (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/paul-offit-kicked-off-key-fda-vaccine-panel/)
* * *
Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., is a senior reporter for The Defender based in Austin, Texas.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hospitals-push-parents-vaccinate-kids-sedated-surgery-chop-initiative/
[Category: Health Care]
* * *
'Stunningly Irresponsible': Hospitals Push Parents to Vaccinate Kids While They're Knocked Out for Surgery
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs a "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize" program that encourages parents to consent to vaccinating their child against the flu while the child is sedated or under anesthesia ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Oct. 22 -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary by Suzanne Burdick, senior reporter for The Defender: * * * 'Stunningly Irresponsible': Hospitals Push Parents to Vaccinate Kids While They're Knocked Out for Surgery The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs a "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize" program that encourages parents to consent to vaccinating their child against the flu while the child is sedated or under anesthesiafor a medical procedure. The program team hopes to expand to other vaccines, including COVID-19 and RSV vaccines. Other U.S. hospitals are piloting similar initiatives.
October 21, 2026
Highlights:
* Children's Hospital of Philadelphia runs a program, "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize," that offers parental-consent flu vaccinations (and plans to add COVID-19 and RSV shots) to children while they are under sedation or anesthesia.
* Critics said that vaccinating sedated children is irresponsible because side effects (such as fevers or rashes) could be confused with severe reactions to anesthetic drugs, compounding surgical stress and inflammation.
* Pediatricians and health advocates criticized the program's branding and questioned the depth of informed consent, given that stressed parents face time constraints during preoperative discussions.
* Program leaders reported delivering thousands of doses and generating over $60,000 during the 2024-2025 season, while similar initiatives are being adopted or tested by other children's hospitals across the U.S.
-
A Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) program that encourages parents to consent to vaccinating their child against the flu while the child is sedated or under anesthesia for a medical procedure drew sharp criticism from anesthesiologists and pediatricians who spoke with The Defender.
Dubbed "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize," the initiative has helped boost flu vaccination rates amid declining vaccine acceptance, its leaders said in a May newsletter article spotlighting the program.
In the 2025-2026 flu season, the team delivered 2,054 flu vaccine doses to children undergoing sedation or anesthesia. Roughly a third of those wouldn't have otherwise received the flu vaccine due to needle phobia, limited healthcare access or vaccine hesitancy, the leaders said.
After launching the program in 2023, its leaders are seeking to expand the program by including COVID-19, RSV and other catch-up shots for kids whose vaccinations aren't up to date with federal vaccine recommendations.
Families are informed in writing about the program as part of preoperative communications from the hospital staff. On the day of the child's surgery, staff speak with the parents about the program, assess the parents' interest and ensure the child is eligible.
Children are excluded if they have a severe allergy to the flu vaccine or a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Also, some procedures -- including bone marrow transplants -- are excluded from the program.
If the parents consent, staff administer the flu vaccine to the child while the child is sedated.
Dr. Madhava Setty, a board-certified anesthesiologist with 24 years of clinical experience, called CHOP's program "stunningly irresponsible."
There is "absolutely no justification" for giving a child a vaccine "which carries a risk of harm and contributes nothing to the success of the operation," Setty said. After The Defender interviewed Setty for this story, he posted this on X:
Anesthesia and whatever other medications are required for an operation carry enough risk as it is, because the drugs used in the operating room are especially potent, Setty said. That's especially true for children. "We simply cannot know how an individual child will respond to these drugs for the first time."
Dr. Larry Palevsky, a pediatrician, called it a "very bad idea" to administer a flu vaccine to a child under anesthesia. "Anesthesia and surgery increase stress levels and inflammation in children's bodies -- so do vaccines."
Vaccinating children while under anesthesia and surgery will only increase the potential for significant adverse events, since it will be harder for children to detoxify from vaccination while under anesthesia, he said. "This is a perfect storm to use a setting like the stress of anesthesia and a surgical procedure to further injure children."
Palevsky also questioned the thoroughness of the program's informed consent process. He asked:
"How well will parents understand the pros and cons of vaccinating their children while they are already stressed and panicked about their children having to undergo anesthesia and a surgical procedure? How well will the hospital staff explain the pros and cons of vaccination to parents?"
In the May newsletter article, the CHOP program leaders acknowledged that "time constraints in the perioperative setting can limit the opportunity for detailed discussions."
But they made no mention of how discussions should cover outlining the risks of vaccination. Instead, they wrote that the time crunch didn't allow staff enough of an opportunity to provide "vaccine counseling." They lamented that "some eligible families continue to decline this opportunity."
Pediatrician: Parents need to 'keep your eyes open, ask questions'
Setty said he was "particularly aggrieved" by CHOP's initiative because he completed his pediatric anesthesia rotations at CHOP 25 years ago.
"I feel I received excellent training there," he said. "I simply cannot believe that my mentors would have ever supported this initiative when I was a resident."
Leaders of the initiative include Dr. Logan Grimes, Dr. Elizabeth O'Brien, Dr. Ari Weintraub, Dr. Carol Pasquarillo and Beth Hansell, according to a 2026 CHOP presentation.
Dr. Paul Offit, who directs CHOP's Vaccine Education Center and is an attending physician in the hospital's infectious diseases division, did not immediately respond when asked about his involvement in the program.
Dr. Michelle Perro, a pediatrician, called CHOP's program name -- "Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize" -- "deeply troubling." She said:
"I understand that it was probably intended to be clever, but medicine is facing an enormous crisis of trust. A slogan celebrating the vaccination of an unconscious child is precisely the wrong message. Parents should rightly question what else could happen under anesthesia."
Perro advised parents, "Keep your eyes open, ask questions, understand exactly what is being given to your child and why, and then make your own informed decision."
Heather Hudson, a mother of a vaccine-injured son, said, "For families who have experienced severe vaccine-induced injuries, a phrase like 'Close Your Eyes, We'll Immunize' represents a failure of transparency."
Hudson's son Cody has suffered six strokes due to an autoimmune blood-clotting disorder he developed after receiving two doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. "Vaccines are not one-size-fits-all therapies, and they should not be administered as such," said Hudson.
CHOP financially profits from the program
CHOP's program is a collaboration between the hospital's perioperative clinical teams, nurses, pharmacists, operations team and revenue integrity service team.
In a 2026 presentation, program leaders pointed out how the initiative generated over $60,000 for the hospital during the 2024-2025 flu season.
Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, said, "Administering flu vaccines -- which most Americans do not want for their children -- seems like a convenient way for hospitals to ring the cash register."
Setty said that $60,000 is just "a tiny drop in the bucket" when it comes to CHOP's revenue, so the money probably isn't the main motivation behind the program.
Instead, it's that "these experts are hypnotized with their cultish beliefs" about vaccine safety and efficacy, Setty said. "Advocating for a flu vaccine while a child is anesthetized reflects the pervasive yet inaccurate attitude among the medical establishment that vaccines are perfectly safe."
Palevsky agreed. "The people behind this initiative already believe vaccines are completely safe. It doesn't occur to them that vaccines could contain toxic ingredients and injure children."
Large hospitals in other states are trying it out, too
CHOP isn't the only hospital piloting a program to increase flu vaccine uptake by vaccinating children under anesthesia.
Over the 2024-2025 flu season, doctors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Children's Hospital boosted vaccination rates by vaccinating kids under general anesthesia. The initiative is scalable, the doctors wrote in an OpenQI article.
Staff at Seattle Children's Hospital piloted a similar initiative in the 2023-2024 flu season, according to a poster presentation about their effort.
Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio has also been running a flu vaccination program for children under anesthesia, according to a 2024 article published in the European Society of Medicine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cautions against administering vaccines when a patient is sedated or under anesthesia, but doesn't go so far as to say the practice is contraindicated. Instead, the agency says that not enough studies have been done to understand how anesthesia impacts vaccination.
For instance, a 2006 review in Pediatric Anesthesia that examined 277 papers found none that directly examined the effect of anesthesia and surgery on vaccine responses.
However, Perro noted that the authors of a 2017 review reported that surgery and anesthesia may decrease vaccine efficacy or lead to vaccine-related complications.
The authors advised that elective surgeries be delayed by at least a week for a patient who receives an inactive vaccine and at least three weeks for a patient who receives a live vaccine.
Vaccination should also be delayed until after surgery to avoid confusing vaccine side effects with surgery side effects, they said.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists' statement on ethical principles does not address whether it's appropriate to give minors a medical intervention, such as a flu vaccine, that isn't required for the operation.
However, the group emphasizes that anesthetized patients -- especially minors -- are "particularly vulnerable" and must be protected.
CHOP's public relations team did not respond to our comment request by the deadline.
Related articles in The Defender
* Can You Trust CDC's Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Estimates? Epidemiologist Says No (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/can-you-trust-cdcs-flu-vaccine-effectiveness-estimates-epidemiologist-says-no/)
* New mRNA Flu Vaccine Produced Much Higher Rates of Adverse Reactions Than Standard Shot (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/new-mrna-flu-vaccine-much-higher-adverse-reactions-standard-flu-shot-campbell/)
* HHS Tells CDC to Yank 'Wild to Mild' Flu Vaccine Ad Campaign, Shift Focus to 'Informed Consent' (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-tells-cdc-remove-wild-to-mild-flu-vaccine-ad-campaign-informed-consent-focus/)
* A Flu Vaccine in Your Dental Floss? Researchers Tout Benefits, Critics Question Safety (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/flu-vaccine-dental-floss-critics-question-safety-informed-consent/)
* Paul Offit Kicked Off Key FDA Vaccine Panel (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/paul-offit-kicked-off-key-fda-vaccine-panel/)
* * *
Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., is a senior reporter for The Defender based in Austin, Texas.
* * *
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hospitals-push-parents-vaccinate-kids-sedated-surgery-chop-initiative/
[Category: Health Care]
CAIR Debunks 'Transparently Dishonest' Attempts to Blame French Economic Protests on Muslims and Immigrants
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted the following news release:
* * *
CAIR Debunks 'Transparently Dishonest' Attempts to Blame French Economic Protests on Muslims and Immigrants
October 21, 2026
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on President Trump, Vice President Vance and other political leaders to stop dishonestly using economic protests led by students in France to stoke anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry.
Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said in a statement:
"Politicians ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted the following news release: * * * CAIR Debunks 'Transparently Dishonest' Attempts to Blame French Economic Protests on Muslims and Immigrants October 21, 2026 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on President Trump, Vice President Vance and other political leaders to stop dishonestly using economic protests led by students in France to stoke anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry. Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said in a statement: "Politicianswho blame immigrants and Muslims for the economic problems those very same politicians caused are using a transparently dishonest, dangerous tactic no different than the hateful tactics once used to scapegoat Catholics and Jews. President Trump, Vice President Vance and other political leaders should be working to solve the cost-of-living crisis that their Iran war escalated rather than blaming Muslims and immigrants for economic protests in France that have nothing to do with Islam or immigrants. We echo the condemnation of these false narratives and urge all public figures to stop weaponizing misinformation for political gain."
CAIR's statement follows widespread nationwide demonstrations and civil unrest in France sparked by growing anger over the cost of living, deteriorating public services, and pressure on household purchasing power. Despite official confirmation that the protests and subsequent clashes stem from domestic economic pressures, various far-right politicians have falsely claimed that the Muslims and immigrants are to blame.
Donald Trump blamed immigration for unrest in France on 19 October 2026, claiming he had warned President Emmanuel Macron to close the borders. He also predicted, 'Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon'.
French President Emmanuel Macron forcefully condemned these remarks, labeling them as "stupid" comments and pointing out that foreign figures are manufacturing misleading narratives and circulating false, AI-generated imagery to score domestic political points.
SEE: Macron says Trump's claim of Paris becoming a Muslim city is 'stupid' | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/france-macron-trump-comments-protests-b46829a8161a4d152124642fd275f595)
'Paris Is Going To Be a Muslim City Very Soon': Trump Blames Immigration for France Riots and Says He Warned Macron | IBTimes UK (https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trump-blames-immigration-france-unrest-1826621)
* * *
Original text here: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-debunks-transparently-dishonest-attempts-to-blame-french-economic-protests-on-muslims-and-immigrants/
[Category: Sociological]
* * *
CAIR Debunks 'Transparently Dishonest' Attempts to Blame French Economic Protests on Muslims and Immigrants
October 21, 2026
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on President Trump, Vice President Vance and other political leaders to stop dishonestly using economic protests led by students in France to stoke anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry.
Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said in a statement:
"Politicians ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted the following news release: * * * CAIR Debunks 'Transparently Dishonest' Attempts to Blame French Economic Protests on Muslims and Immigrants October 21, 2026 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on President Trump, Vice President Vance and other political leaders to stop dishonestly using economic protests led by students in France to stoke anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry. Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said in a statement: "Politicianswho blame immigrants and Muslims for the economic problems those very same politicians caused are using a transparently dishonest, dangerous tactic no different than the hateful tactics once used to scapegoat Catholics and Jews. President Trump, Vice President Vance and other political leaders should be working to solve the cost-of-living crisis that their Iran war escalated rather than blaming Muslims and immigrants for economic protests in France that have nothing to do with Islam or immigrants. We echo the condemnation of these false narratives and urge all public figures to stop weaponizing misinformation for political gain."
CAIR's statement follows widespread nationwide demonstrations and civil unrest in France sparked by growing anger over the cost of living, deteriorating public services, and pressure on household purchasing power. Despite official confirmation that the protests and subsequent clashes stem from domestic economic pressures, various far-right politicians have falsely claimed that the Muslims and immigrants are to blame.
Donald Trump blamed immigration for unrest in France on 19 October 2026, claiming he had warned President Emmanuel Macron to close the borders. He also predicted, 'Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon'.
French President Emmanuel Macron forcefully condemned these remarks, labeling them as "stupid" comments and pointing out that foreign figures are manufacturing misleading narratives and circulating false, AI-generated imagery to score domestic political points.
SEE: Macron says Trump's claim of Paris becoming a Muslim city is 'stupid' | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/france-macron-trump-comments-protests-b46829a8161a4d152124642fd275f595)
'Paris Is Going To Be a Muslim City Very Soon': Trump Blames Immigration for France Riots and Says He Warned Macron | IBTimes UK (https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trump-blames-immigration-france-unrest-1826621)
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Original text here: https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-debunks-transparently-dishonest-attempts-to-blame-french-economic-protests-on-muslims-and-immigrants/
[Category: Sociological]