My personal experiences seem to lag a bit behind the general population. I have not, until recently, noticed too many people succumbing to strange cancers. Now, quite a few have come up in my personal life, as well as in my professional life (experiences of my psychotherapy patients).

We have, of course, heard for years that one of the fallouts from the irresponsible release of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was the possibility of increased cases of all sorts of cancers. Reports from doctors to support this reality have increased over the years, and of course, our personal experiences with friends and family, and news reports of people dying of cancer in mysterious ways (too young, death too quickly, rare cancers) have corroborated the doctors' concerns.

Proponents of this view argue that the vaccines, introduced globally in late 2020, have triggered an unprecedented increase in cancer diagnoses, particularly among younger individuals, with cancers presenting as unusually aggressive and resistant to treatment. They point to anecdotal reports from clinicians and pathologists who claim to have observed a rise in rare and rapidly progressing cancers, such as cholangiocarcinoma, lymphomas, and triple-negative breast cancer, since the vaccine rollout.

For instance, Dr. William Makis, a Canadian oncologist, has publicly stated that he and colleagues have seen an "explosion" of such cases, particularly in vaccinated individuals, describing cancers that progress so rapidly that patients often die within weeks of diagnosis. Similarly, Dr. Angus Dalgleish, an oncologist in the UK, has expressed concerns about the resurgence of cancers in previously stable patients following booster doses, suggesting a potential immune system disruption caused by the vaccines. These are just a few examples among what I would expect to be many.

The proposed mechanisms linking mRNA vaccines to "turbo cancers" often center on the spike protein produced by the vaccine or the presence of trace contaminants like Simian Virus 40 (SV40) DNA fragments. Some argue that the spike protein may induce chronic inflammation or impair immune surveillance, potentially reactivating latent oncogenic viruses like Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or human papillomavirus (HPV), which are known to contribute to certain cancers.

Athletes are kicking, running, biking, jumping, flipping and otherwise pushing themselves to their physical limits during the Olympic Games this summer. For some athletes, those events could push the limits of their heat tolerance.

"[The] combination of heat and humidity can really overwhelm an athlete fairly quickly," says Dr. Francis O'Connor, a professor of military emergency medicine and medical director for the Consortium for Health and Military Performance at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md. He's co-author of a recent piece in the medical journal JAMA on heat-related illness in athletes.

Severe flu seasons in recent years have brought to light a little-known danger of influenza infections in kids: a rare brain disease called acute necrotizing encephalopathy, or ANE.

It's a fast-moving condition usually triggered by the flu, causing sudden brain swelling. It's thought that the virus prompts the immune system to go haywire.

Affected children can go from having mild flu symptoms to seizures, coma or even death within days. Most are kids without any other health problems.

Historically, the inflammatory disease is diagnosed in just a handful of children each year. But this past January and February, pediatric neurologists began to see an unusual uptick in ANE cases — and started comparing notes.

Thousands of people have been infected with a painful mosquito-borne virus in China, prompting a response not seen since COVID — including mass quarantines even though the virus is not spread by humans.

The chikungunya virus has rapidly spread to about 8,000 patients in just four weeks, mainly across China's Guangdong province to the south, with the city of Foshan hit the hardest, according to the New York Times.

But Hong Kong's first case was confirmed Monday, and the increasingly worrisome situation is stoking fears of a potential pandemic.

Infected residents are being sent to "quarantine wards" in hospitals where they're placed in beds covered by mosquito nets. They have to then remain there for a week, unless they test negative beforehand.

In a sweeping signal that Americans are waking up to the dangers of coerced medicine and captured regulation, a new KFF (formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation) poll reveals that the majority of Americans do not intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine this fall, and less than half trust the CDC or FDA to ensure vaccine safety.

The nationwide erosion of confidence in federal health agencies and their pharmaceutical partnerships is welcomed by those who have long called for accountability, transparency, and the restoration of informed consent in American medicine.

HHS will instead prioritize 'safer, broader' vaccine strategies in lieu of the canceled mRNA research

A total of 22 mRNA vaccine development contracts totaling roughly $500 million have been canceled, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Tuesday.

The mRNA investments were part of the government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of HHS that drives some of the country's most advanced scientific research,such as the development of vaccines, drugs and other tools to fight national health threats. The termination of the 22 BARDA contracts follows a several-weeks-long internal review to determine a path forward when it comes to these investments.

For decades, proponents of psychedelic drugs have come to Washington with a provocative message: Illegal, mind-altering substances like LSD and ecstasy should be approved for Americans grappling with depression, trauma and other hard-to-treat conditions.

A presidential administration finally seems to agree.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently told members of Congress:

"This line of therapeutics has tremendous advantage if given in a clinical setting and we are working very hard to make sure that happens within 12 months."

His suggested timeline for green-lighting psychedelic therapy surprised even the most bullish supporters of the drugs. And it comes as psychedelics are making inroads in deep red states like Texas, where former Trump cabinet secretary and ex-governor Rick Perry has thrown his full support behind the effort.

The administration's embrace of psychedelics has sparked both excitement as well as concern from those in the field, who worry the drugs might be discredited if they appear to be rushed onto the market or are too closely linked with Kennedy, who is known for controversial views on vaccines, antidepressants and fluoride.

"I'm quite optimistic," says Rick Doblin, whose organization has pursued the medical use of MDMA (or ecstasy) since the 1980s. "But I'm also worried that the message the public might get is 'Well, RFK likes psychedelics and now it's approved.'"

This newsletter was created with the goal of helping others, and over time, I've received many messages from people with important questions I'd love to answer. However, writing each article takes a considerable amount of time — just as an example, I've spent the past month working on the final installment of the DMSO series, and it's still not quite finished. Because of this, I'm not always able to respond individually to every inquiry I get.

While I truly wish I could, the most practical solution I've found is to host monthly open threads. These provide readers with a space to ask any outstanding questions — especially those left over from previous content — and I make it a priority to respond. Having all the questions in one place also makes it easier for others to benefit from those answers as well.

For each of these open threads, I like to tie in a topic I've been meaning to discuss — usually something I've been thinking about but haven't felt warrants a full-length article. This time, I want to focus on a topic near and dear to my heart, healthy children.

But experts question scant data

A new federal estimate shows a rise in prediabetes among American adolescents, a finding that is spurring concerns about the health of U.S. children — and the way Trump administration health officials are conducting research and communicating information, experts said.

In 2023, nearly 1 in 3 U.S. youngsters ages 12 to 17 had prediabetes, according to recently released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is far higher than a previous estimate that the condition affects about 1 in 5 kids.

There's no question that prediabetes in U.S. youth is a serious concern. The condition puts them at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, plus heart disease, stroke and other metabolic problems.

But scientists who study and treat diabetes noted that CDC officials released only a 600-word online summary of their new findings — not the raw data nor a peer-reviewed published paper describing how they arrived at the new figure. The agency also changed the methodology used to calculate the higher estimate without a detailed explanation.

Asian needle ants found in the southeastern states of the U.S. have been spreading north and west for years, but experts now consider them to be a medically important pest and urge caution.

Invasive ants whose sting can cause fatal allergic reactions in humans are surging across the U.S. Southeast and beyond — and experts are growing increasingly alarmed.

Asian needle ants (Brachyponera chinensis) went relatively unnoticed for many years following their introduction to the U.S. roughly a century ago, but entomologists recently documented their spread from a handful of southeastern states to New England and the Midwest. Asian needle ants are capable of invading many of North America's temperate forests, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and with the spring swarming season about to start, there's a chance that these ants could trigger medical emergencies up and down the country.

"We are now considering it a medically important pest," Dan Suiter, a professor of urban entomology at the University of Georgia, told Fox Weather on April 29.