FILE – A lone home stands among residences levelled by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
NEW YORK – A federal scientific publication on Thursday returned from a forced two-week hiatus with two papers examining the health effects of wildfires in Hawaii and California.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resumed the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which the Trump administration suspended as part of a “pause” on regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts.
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The CDC has gradually restarted some communications and reports, but the silencing of MMWR, as it it known, prompted a chorus of concern from public health leaders and some legislators.
“Outbreaks are not contained because scientists are ordered to stop talking about them,” Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said in a Wednesday night statement calling for the publication to be restarted.
MMWR issues typically run 20 to 25 pages and contain four or more reports about disease investigations, health trends or other public health developments. Thursday’s publication was slimmer than usual: just over eight pages, with two short reports.
Research on health effects of wildfires
One of the reports was about last year’s Maui wildfire. Researchers measured the blood of responding firefighters, looking for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The manmade chemicals have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
Previous studies have shown firefighters have higher concentrations of some PFAS in their blood. Thousands of firefighters have sued manufacturers and companies that make firefighting gear and foam, seeking damages for their exposure.
The new study looked at about 180 firefighters and 80 other county employees. It found the firefighters’ blood had higher concentrations of some PFAS, but most were still at levels below a medical threshold that triggers the need for further testing. The researchers had no baseline measurements of the people in the study from before the 2023 fire, so it’s hard to know if blaze contributed, the authors acknowledged.
The second article looked at hospital emergency department visits during last month’s Los Angeles wildfires. It found visits decreased 9% over the first six days of the wildfires.
That’s consistent with other research that has shown declines in ER visits immediately after natural disasters. The drop may be due to evacuations that caused people to leave Los Angeles or to get medical care from places other than hospitals. Information from hospitals in surrounding counties was not included in the new report.
Journal has never taken two weeks off
Before the journal went on hiatus, the CDC was expected to soon publish articles about the bird flu outbreak. A CDC spokesperson didn’t say why the articles weren’t published this week but said they
‘Voice of the CDC’ resumes publication, but experts worry about what they’re not hearing
