Elizabeth Matsui

There is No Scientific Justification to Revoke the Endangerment Finding The U.S. EPA's decision to repeal the Endangerment Finding will limit the government's ability to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

As I say here, there is no scientific justification to revoke the engagement finding. In fact, over the last 15+ yrs, the evidence of how climate change affects our health has only grown. Higher risk of allergies, dementia, fertility, heart disease, and death: that’s what’s on the line. @nature.org

Congratulations, Drs. S. Rosenberg @rosenberglabbcm.bsky.social and E. Matsui @elizabethmatsui.bsky.social, recipients of 2026 Hill Prizes in Biological Sciences and Public Health, respectively! Learn more about this, here: tamest.org/news/2026-hi... #TAMEST

Peanut Allergies Have Plummeted in Children, Study Shows

This paper has been getting a lot of press but I think there are reasons to be skeptical (1/n) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/w...

Read "Effects of Human-Caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions on U.S. Climate, Health, and Welfare" at NAP.edu Read chapter Summary: The scientific community has been studying the question of how human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases are affecting the climate ...

I'm so proud of @nationalacademies.org for having rapidly produced this comprehensive report which definitively demonstrates that CLIMATE CHANGE HARMS HUMAN HEALTH--which is the basis of the "Endangerment Finding" that EPA is now looking to eliminate.

@docsforclimate.bsky.social

Congratulations @mmccormackmd.bsky.social - Hopkins is lucky to have you!

New study: researchers looked at hospital visits after a coal plant was closed near Pittsburgh
--> immediate 20.5% decrease in weekly respiratory emergency dept visits
--> immediate 41.2% decrease in pediatric asthma ED visits
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40691837/

Hill Country flooding: Here’s how to give and receive help Catastrophic flooding in the Texas Hill Country has killed 79 people. Rescue crews are searching for missing girls from Camp Mystic. Here is a guide on how to help those affected.

As heartbreaking news continues to emerge from central Texas, @chastenbuttigieg.bsky.social and I are thinking of everyone affected and grateful for the extraordinary work of first responders.

Here are some ways all of us can help:

Promo graphic for episode 916 of Public Health On Call podcast, titled Childhood Asthma

An estimated 8% of American children have asthma. Pediatrician and immunologist @elizabethmatsui.bsky.social talks about how factors like poor housing conditions and a lack of care worsen conditions and undermine lung development.

Listen to the episode🎧 podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/916-childhoo...

Studies show that just one exposure to tear gas can increase the likelihood of respiratory illnesses. That's why in 2020, the ATS called for a moratorium on the use of tear gas and other chemical agents.

Learn more about the damage tear gas causes (via @wired.com‬): www.wired.com/story/what-t...

It’s hard to put into words just how comprehensively this bill is going to hurt public colleges and universities in Texas—especially UT.

Thanks - I was hoping someone would do this so I could cut and paste

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."

Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.

I wrote about my decision in TIME.

time.com/7285045/resi...

Fighting for air: keeping health and justice at the forefront of Canadian environmental policy The air we breathe is a shared resource, and in many ways each breath we take connects us to people across Canada.

Asthma is on the rise. Rates are soaring in the oil sands region: patients feel it, data confirms it. Canada’s new government must prioritize clean air and health equity. Read our op-ed in @TheHillTimes. Accessible only today! 🔗 loom.ly/rP6GcwU
#WorldAsthmaDay #OilSands

And there it is for the rest of the COVID vaccines.

Incredibly disappointing news to hear

New NIH grant rules override the Civil Rights Act of 1964, barring recipients from DEI activities The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is rolling out rules that block new grants for any researcher or institution ad | The National Institutes of Health is rolling out rules that block new grants f...

This feels existential for US science:

To get any future medical research funding, an entire university would need to certify that it won't have programs doing DEIA work

(e.g. note-takers for blind students, veteran's support, women's resource groups, etc.)

No institution could *ever* comply.

NIH terminates $13 million grant on dementia A $12.9 million grant for a study on dementia risks among at-risk U.S. populations was terminated by the National Institutes of Health.

“Older Black Americans are twice as likely as white patients to develop [dementia]. Just as it is not illegal to research breast cancer in women, Mezuk said, it should not be illegal to research dementia in Black and lower-income white Americans.”

www.michigandaily.com/news/researc...

How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.

There are so many ways one could provide context for this data.

For example, in the last five years universities have received 52-55% of their research funding from the federal government. That's the lowest percentage since the 1950s. 1/x ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/high...

A headline that reads "Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change".

Four maps. 2015, 2017, which shoe substantial pollution, 2020 which shows it reduced a good deal, and 2024 which shows it reduced even more

Worth sharing

COMPARE: the results of fighting back to the results of not fighting back

Opinion | Why DOGE Slashed the National Endowment for the Humanities Eliminating federal funding for the humanities saves next to no money, but it will cost the American people something precious.

"Eliminating federal funding for the humanities saves next to no money, but it will cost the American people something precious: one of the few federal institutions whose whole purpose is to foster community and thoughtful discussion." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...

I am gifting this superb piece today, “President’s Third Term Talk Defies Constitution and Tests Democracy,” by Peter Baker of The New York Times. Looking back over the past four years from the President’s latest reckless talk that he is serious about serving a third term in office,

A Second Child Dies of Measles in Texas It is the second confirmed measles death in the U.S. in a decade. If the outbreak continues at the current pace, the nation may lose its “elimination” status.

A second child has died in the current US measles outbreak: An entirely avoidable tragedy and one more sign that this outbreak is probably much larger than reported numbers suggest and not going anywhere soon...
#IDsky 🧪

Absolutely incredible turn out at MN State Capitol! #HandsOff

This is Utah in case anyone’s wondering how pissed off people are. I have never seen anything like this.

The image is a screenshot of a tweet from Brandon Bradford (@BrandonLBradfor ). The tweet reads: "Deporting Americans without due process then saying they no longer get due process because they aren’t in America means no one has rights, FYI. Nightmare scenario."

If you think this can’t happen, remember that of the 125,000 Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII for years without charge or trial, two-thirds were U.S. citizens. Including me.

The Clean Air Act — and your family's health and safety — are under attack The Clean Air Act is under attack from the Trump administration and its EPA chief, Lee Zeldin.

Lee Zeldin, the new head of the EPA, announced plans to take a broad swipe at this bedrock law that protects people across the U.S. from harmful pollution. Here’s what you need to know: vitalsigns.edf.org/story/clean-...

Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.

No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.

1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.

I don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the okay. Booker is doing a thing to draw attention to Trump's abuses of power and GOP complacency.

Should they have done this weeks ago with the CR? Yes.

Should they have done this over many nominations? Yes.

Should they actually filibuster? Yes.

‘One of the darkest days’: NIH purges agency leadership amid mass layoffs In shock move, four institute directors at the US biomedical agency are removed from their posts.

"This will go down as one of the darkest days in modern scientific history."

NIH purges agency leadership www.nature.com/articles/d41...

To be clear: this is a revenge tour. Those we feel wronged by evidence, reason, & critical thinking are throwing a (massively damaging) tantrum.