WE DODGED A HUGE BULLET WITH TRUMP'S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

President Donald Trump proudly announced in a December Oval Office meeting with Congressional leaders that he would own this shutdown. Now that it's over, after the longest shutdown in U.S. history...35 days...we should all take a collective breath about what didn't happen during this shutdown that Trump initiated in order to fulfill a campaign promise to build a "big, beautiful, concrete wall across our 2,000 mile Southern Border....and Mexico would pay for it." Relax! I'm not going to write about the pro's and con's of building a wall as part of our overall border security strategy. But, what I am going to point out is just how lucky we as a country were during this extended shutdown.

Although a few airports closed runways or put brief halts on departing and arriving aircraft, causing enormous lines at airports and forcing passengers to arrive almost 3 hours prior to the departure of a domestic flight, and even longer for an international flight, with all the TSA and Air Traffic workers "calling in sick", we were very lucky that no planes crashed into each other or had risky landings that could easily have resulted in disaster. Although FBI agents, forced to work without pay, complained of what they believed would harm ongoing investigations, including tracking potential terrorists. Think about this for a moment. Trump had demanded a border wall to increase our border security, and yet, our best law enforcement organization, the FBI, was forced to curtail investigations into potential terrorist operations in the Homeland. And, again, we dodged a bullet in that there was no terrorist attack in the U.S. during the shutdown. If the shutdown had gone another week or two, the IRS would not have been able to send out our tax refunds on a timely basis; despite Trump mandating these workers show up, again without pay, over 40,000 called in "sick".

No greater example of the impact of a government shutdown on all of our lives, during the shutdown, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) was forced to cut back or postpone mandatory food inspections on foods for American consumers. While the FDA announced they were postponing inspections on low risk products, such as cookies and crackers which are rarely linked to food-borne illness. However, we all remember the recent romaine lettuce crisis that delivered, along with the lettuce, a risky strain of bacteria that sickened people in 11 states. And those contaminated lettuces somehow snuck through the FDA's normal inspection process. Imagine if the shutdown continued, how many foods would get through the inspection process (forced to be cut back due to a lack of inspectors calling in "sick." Consider that under the best of circumstances (without a government shutdown), the FDA typically inspects only 50 of the more than 80,000 high risk food sites containing things like fish or chicken. USDA inspectors inspect about 8,000 facilities, and last week, during the shutdown, they did so without pay.

When I say we dodged another bullet, there are approximately 3,000 of us who die annually here in the U.S. from food-borne illnesses. That alone is only a fraction of the almost 3 million Americans who die in a typical year, but this does NOT include the fact that almost 150 Million million of us suffer through, and typically recover, from symptoms of food-borne illnesses (which we fondly call "food poisoning"). In another example, just before the shutdown began, and in time for our holiday season, last December more than 200 people fell ill (84 of them hospitalized) from a salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey products. Another 52 people from 26 states and the District of Columbia also got ill. Before the CDC identified the source of the contaminated turkey, 216 people in 38 states and the D.C. became sick, and one died from California. Imagine how either the romaine lettuce or raw turkey episodes could have grown to catastrophic levels of illness and possible death, if the CDC workers, working without pay, had also called in "sick."

Yes, we dodged not just one bullet, but several during this recent government shutdown. For example, if the shutdown had not ended, millions of Americans who depend on food stamps to eat, may not have gotten their stamps, causing a nutritional/food crisis the likes of which we have never seen in the U.S. The lesson to be learned is simple and basic: the U.S. Government should never be shut down, especially for political purposes. We may have dodged a few bullets this time, but maybe we won't be so lucky if this happens again.

WARNING: ARE MUSK, KENNEDY, AND TRUMP IGNORING THE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF SLASHING PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDING?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • April 14, 2025
Recent budget cuts at the Health and Safety Science Services (HSSS) have sent shockwaves through the scientific and public health communities, threatening the very infrastructure designed to protect us from disease outbreaks, food contamination, and medical crises. These cuts have affected food inspectors, vaccine scientists, Alzheimer’s researchers, and experts studying bird flu, among others—positions that are essential to ensuring public safety and advancing critical medical research. The consequences of these decisions will be dire, potentially reversing years of progress and exposing society to increased health risks.

WARNING: IS ELON MUSK'S DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY JEOPARDIZING AIR SAFETY?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • March 12, 2025
As Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DGE) pushes for sweeping reforms and cost-cutting across federal agencies, concerns are mounting over the impact on critical public safety roles. Among the most alarming areas affected is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), where staff reductions may threaten the lives of millions of air travelers. The DGE, established with a mandate to streamline government operations and reduce bureaucratic waste, has come under fire for its aggressive downsizing tactics. Critics warn that essential safety personnel, including air traffic controllers, are being cut under the guise of efficiency, leaving the nation's airspace dangerously understaffed.

WARNING: WILL TRUMP'S SURGEON GENERAL SUPPORT IMPROVED ALCOHOL WARNING LABELS?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • February 11, 2025
Biden Administration former Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, on his way out of office, issued a Surgeon General's Advisory calling for new warnings on alcoholic beverages related to the cancer risk from consuming alcoholic beverages. Given that most individuals are unaware of the connection that consumption of alcoholic beverages can increase the risk for at least seven types of cancer, Murthy said in his advisory: "Given the conclusive evidence on the cancer risk from alcohol consumption and the Office of the Surgeon General's responsibility to inform the American public of the best available scientific evidence, the Surgeon General recommends an update to the Surgeon General's warning label for alcohol-containing beverages to include a cancer risk warning."

WARNING: TRUMP'S RE-ELECTION MEANS A DEREGULATORY NIGHTMARE FOR CONSUMERS

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • December 2, 2024
In my best-selling book, Murder, Inc.: How Unregulated Industry Kills or Injures Thousands of Americans Every Year...And What You Can Do About It , I propose a safety triad consisting of three components: manufacturers, regulators and consumers. All three must function properly in order to keep us safe. Manufacturers must produce and market safe (or safe as possible) products and warn us about any potential hazards so that we can make informed choices about whether or not to purchase their product and/or how to use it safely. Regulators , by imposing and implementing necessary rules and regulations, should hold manufacturers accountable for the above stated actions and to endure that they engage in "principled disclosure" by warning us about any potential hazards and dangers associated with their products. And, finally, Consumers , especially in the absence of well-meaning manufacturers or competent, well-intentioned regulators, must be highly diligent by researching products and learning about potential hazards prior to buying and/or using them. All three, manufacturers, regulators and consumers, must perform their jobs or the safety triad may fail to protect us and our loved ones. Think of a three-legged stool that distributes the weight of a person sitting on the stool, equally among the three legs. But what would happen if we leaned heavily to one side of the stool, essentially spreading the weight that was once borne by three legs to the two legs remaining braced to the floor. Unfortunately the third leg is no longer contributing to the stability of the stool, which may actually collapse because the two remaining legs may not be able to handle the amount of weight that was intended to be equally distributed among all three legs. 

WARNING: FDA RECOMMENDS REMOVING POPULAR DECONGESTANT FROM MARKET

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • November 15, 2024
If you or anyone in your family has used, uses or plans to use such over the counter (OTC) remedies for the flu or common cold as Theraflu, Robitussin, NyQuil, DayQuil, Mucinex, Sudafed or even some versions of Tylenol or Advil, you may want to read this newsletter very carefully.

WARNING: SOCIAL MEDIA IS ASSOCIATED WITH SIGNIFICANT MENTAL HEALTH HARMS FOR ADOLESCENTS

By Gerald Goldhaber • October 2, 2024
In an unprecedented, but, according to many social scientists and parents, a long overdue action, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in a June editorial in the New York Times, called for a warning label to be placed on all social media platforms. In the words of the Surgeon General:

WARNING: DOES YOUR REFRIGERATOR CONTAIN LISTERIA?

By Gerald Goldhaber • September 5, 2024
If you are one of the millions of Americans who recently purchased one of several Boar's Head Deli Products, you may have bought a product containing deadly listeria bacteria. At least nine people have died and 57 have been hospitalized from a listeria outbreak linked to deli meat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In late July, Boar’s Head, a deli meat and cheese company, expanded a previously announced recall to include at least 7 million pounds of deli products the company says may have been contaminated by listeria amid a nationwide outbreak. The recall spans 71 products and includes meat meant to be sliced at retail delis along with prepackaged meat and poultry products sold at retail locations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

WILL THE CHEVRON DECISION CREATE A DEREGULATORY NIGHTMARE FOR CONSUMERS?

By Gerald Goldhaber • August 6, 2024
In my best-selling book, Murder, Inc.: How Unregulated Industry Kills or Injures Thousands of Americans Every Year...And What You Can Do About It (Hartford, Ct.:PYP Press, 2020), I discuss the need for "principled disclosure" from corporations about potential hazards that could hurt or kill us. I also discuss the role we as consumers play by seeking information about those hazards and finally, the role various regulatory agencies must play to initiate and enforce meaningful regulations on industry so that they do, indeed, engage in "principled disclosure" (i.e., tell the truth). In order to carry out its mandate, any regulatory agency or department charged with the responsibility of protecting the general public or consumers or workers and so on, must be empowered to both set the safety and hazard warnings rules and take aggressive, impactful action when they are not followed. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark 6-3 vote last month, overturned a 60-year old decision, colloquially known as "Chevron", which has the potential to undermine our government's regulatory agencies' ability to hold corporations accountable. What is the Chevron Decision and how could it impact your safety and well-being? In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court ruled against energy giant, Chevron, who challenged the Clean-Air Act, and instructed lower courts to defer to federal agencies when laws passed by Congress are not crystal clear. The 40-year-old decision has been the basis for upholding thousands of regulations by dozens of federal agencies, but has long been a target of conservatives and business groups who argue that it grants too much power to the executive branch, or what some critics call the administrative state. In the decades following the ruling, Chevron has been a bedrock of modern administrative law, requiring judges to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of congressional statutes. But the current high court, with a 6-3 conservative majority has been increasingly skeptical of the powers of federal agencies. With a closely divided Congress, presidential administrations have increasingly turned to federal regulation to implement policy changes. Federal rules impact virtually every aspect of everyday life, from the food we eat and the cars we drive to the air we breathe and homes we live in. For example, the Biden administration has issued a whole host of new regulations on the environment, including restrictions from emissions at power plants and from vehicle tailpipes. Those actions and others could be opened up to legal challenges if judges are allowed to discount or disregard the expertise of the executive-branch agencies that put them into place. When you consider who was advocating for the overturn of Chevron, it does not bode well for consumers and their safety: groups representing the gun industry and other businesses such as tobacco, agriculture, timber and homebuilding, were among those pressing the justices to overturn the Chevron doctrine and weaken government regulation. Can you imagine the FDA being defanged by Chevron-influenced lawsuits to the point where tobacco could sell their products to teens or resume advertising on television, a practice banned by Congress since 1970. Or imagine OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations being stripped away that protect worker safety? Or a CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) challenged on its stringent toy regulations that are aimed at infant choking hazards? Or a Department of Agriculture no longer able to inspect meat with the rigor that industry now faces? Or a NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) no longer able to regulate the safety of our automobiles, especially now as we address the feasibility and safety of self-driving vehicles?

CAN DEMENTIA BE CURED: NEW DRUG WITH NEW WARNINGS

By Gerald Holdhaber • July 16, 2024
CNN recently featured its medical expert, neurologist Sanjay Gupta, narrating a very thorough documentary entitled "The Last Alzheimer's Patient" which, over a 5 year period, collected data on the latest research related to dementia, highlighting advances in new medications as well as in lifestyle changes, both of which offer promising developments that may, in some cases, reverse or, at least stop the advance of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. What is Alzheimer's Disease (AD)? According to the Yale School of Medicine, AD "is a progressive disorder that damages and destroys nerve cells in the brain. Over time, the disease leads to a gradual loss of cognitive functions, including the ability to remember, reason, use language, and recognize familiar places. It can also cause a range of behavioral changes."

WARNING: SUMMER FUN MAY LEAD TO SUMMER DANGERS!

By Gerald Goldhaber • June 6, 2024
The following story is from one of my cases. I have changed the names to protect my client's identity.
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