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We explain the administration’s cuts to research.Late yesterday, Sethuraman Panchanathan, whom President Trump hired to run the National Science Foundation five years ago, quit. He didn’t say why, but it was clear enough: Last weekend, Trump cut more than 400 active research awards from the N.S.F., and he is pressing Congress to halve the agency’s $9 billion budget.The Trump administration has targeted the American scientific enterprise, an engine of research and innovation that has thrummed for decades. It has slashed or frozen budgets at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NASA. It has fired or defunded thousands of researchers.The chaos is confusing: Isn’t science a force for good? Hasn’t it contained disease? Won’t it help us in the competition with China? Doesn’t it attract the kind of immigrants the president says he wants? In this edition of the newsletter, we break out our macroscope to make sense of the turmoil.An investmentAmerican research thrives under a patronage system that funnels congressionally approved dollars to universities, national labs and institutes. This knowledge factory employs tens of thousands of researchers, draws talent from around the world and generates scientific breakthroughs and Nobel Prizes.It’s a slow-moving system, because science moves slowly. Discoveries are often indirect and iterative, involving collaboration among researchers who need years of subsidized education to become expert. Startups and corporations, which need quick returns on their investment, typically can’t wait as long or risk as much money.Science is capital. By some measures, every dollar spent on research returns at least $5 to the economy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

32 minutes agoShareSaveEleanor LawrieSocial Affairs ReporterShareSaveGetty ImagesSupported housing, which helps vulnerable or disabled people live independently, is in crisis, an open letter signed by more than 170 organisations in the sector claims.Services at one in three providers in England had to shut last year, adding to a total shortfall of about 325,000 places, says the letter, which will be delivered to Prime Minister Keir Starmer today. Signatories to it include Refuge, Age UK and the National Housing Federation (NHF).Blaming cuts to council funding and rising costs, the NHF says a further one in three providers fear they may close unless the government pledges more money.The government says supported housing is vital and it is focused on building more homes.About half a million people in the UK currently live in supported housing, including young care leavers, army veterans, people with learning disabilities and those escaping homelessness or domestic abuse.”Supported housing plays an indispensable role in cutting NHS waiting list backlogs, and reducing pressure on social care, temporary accommodation, and other vital public services,” the open letter says.However, it says the future of supported housing is now at risk following “years of funding cuts” and that local authorities have now been forced to “decommission vital services”.”Rising costs alongside reduced funding have rendered many services unviable, forcing many to close, while demand for supported housing continues to rise. The decision to increase employers’ National Insurance contributions has placed even further pressure on providers’ budgets.”The organisations are calling for long-term increased funding for housing-related support of at least £1.6bn per year for councils and for supported homes to be among the 1.5 million new houses planned by the government.”We recognise the vital role played by supported housing in helping vulnerable people to live independently and well, and the contribution it makes to tackling rough sleeping and timely hospital discharge,” a spokesperson for the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government said.The spokesperson said the government was putting £2bn into increasing social and affordable housebuilding in 2026-27, with further details to be set out in a long-term housing strategy later this year.Family pictureProponents of austerity measures say tough funding choices need to be made to balance the UK’s finances.However, Shaoxiong Liu says his family do not know what they would have done without a supported housing place for his son Jason.Aged 39, Jason has autism, a learning disability and mental health challenges. As he grew older, this became increasingly unmanageable for his family. After falling ill, Jason was admitted to hospital with sepsis in 2017.Due to his challenging behaviour and a condition that induces severe vomiting, he remained in hospital for months as they struggled to find somewhere long term that could accommodate his needs.He was eventually placed with Advance Housing, where his family says Jason has flourished in the intervening eight years. His weight has risen from 35kg to 53kg, he can go on bus trips and attends social events organised by the housing provider.”Jason’s behaviour is so much better now. He’s lived there so long and he’s happy there,” Mr Liu says. “Jason is an adult now and we are in our 70s, so his behaviour could be quite dangerous for us if he lived with us – we couldn’t look after him.”The NHF says one in three providers in England it surveyed say they may have to stop providing services altogether, meaning the loss of 70,000 supported homes across the country.In 2009, ringfenced council funding for housing-related support was removed. When council budgets were cut during austerity from 2010, funding was needed in other areas, meaning some councils had to cut supported housing services.The NHF says that means there are now fewer supported homes than in 2007, including a net loss of 3,000 supported homes in the last three years. It calculates there is a total shortfall of up to 325,000 supported homes, based on unmet need.

The Women’s Health Initiative has produced thousands of research papers, altering medical care for patients around the world.Federal health officials plan to cut funding to the Women’s Health Initiative, effectively shuttering one of the largest and longest studies of women’s health ever carried out. Its findings changed medical practice and helped shape clinical guidelines, preventing tens of thousands of cases of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.The study, which began in the 1990s when few women were included in clinical research, enrolled over 160,000 participants across the nation. It continues to follow some 42,000 women, tracking data on cardiovascular disease and aging, as well as frailty, vision loss and mental health.Researchers have hoped to use the findings to learn more about how to maintain mobility and cognitive function and slow memory loss, detect cancer earlier and predict the risks of other diseases.The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating contracts for the W.H.I.’s regional centers in September. The clinical coordinating center, based at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, will be funded through at least January 2026.Whether it will continue to receive support next year remains uncertain. Even if funding continues, the coordinating office relies on the regional centers to gather data from participants, and so its functions will be limited.H.H.S. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Recently, a spokeswoman said cuts to such funding “are designed to ensure that every dollar is used more efficiently while continuing to focus on our core mission of improving public health and services.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Every Monday, Maurine Gentis, a retired teacher, waits for a delivery from Meals on Wheels South Texas.“The meals help stretch my budget,” Ms. Gentis, 77, said. Living alone and in a wheelchair, she appreciates having someone look in on her regularly. The same group, a nonprofit, delivers books from the library and dry food for her cat.But Ms. Gentis is anxious about what lies ahead. The small government agency responsible for overseeing programs like Meals on Wheels is being dismantled as part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Roughly half its staff has been let go in recent layoffs and all of its 10 regional offices are closed, according to several employees who lost their jobs.“I’m just kind of worried that the whole thing might go down the drain, too,” Ms. Gentis said.In President Trump ’s quest to end what he termed “illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” one of his executive orders promoted cracking down on federal efforts to improve accessibility and representation for those with disabilities, with agencies flagging words like “accessible” and “disability” as potentially problematic. Certain research studies are no longer being funded, and many government health employees specializing in disability issues have been fired.The downsizing of the agency, the Administration for Community Living, is part of far-reaching cuts planned at the H.H.S. under the Trump administration’s proposed budget.While some federal funding may continue through September, the end of the government’s fiscal year, and some workers have been called back temporarily, there is significant uncertainty about the future. And some groups are reporting delays in receiving expected federal funds.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Acadia Healthcare’s chief executive was awarded a $1.8 million bonus to respond to “unprecedented governmental inquiries” into allegations of holding psychiatric patients against their will.Last year was tough for Acadia Healthcare, one of the country’s largest providers of mental health services.A slew of federal agencies opened investigations into whether Acadia illegally held patients against their will in its psychiatric hospitals, as described in a New York Times investigation in September. The federal inquiries rattled investors, causing Acadia’s stock to plummet.But Acadia’s troubles have been a boon to the company’s chief executive, Christopher Hunter. Its board of directors awarded him a $1.8 million bonus to help respond to “unprecedented governmental inquiries,” according to a financial filing this month. The bonus comes on top of his regular compensation, which totaled more than $7 million in 2024.Acadia’s chief financial officer and general counsel were also granted bonuses of about $1 million, and the chief operating officer was promised $600,000. Acadia said the bonuses, which will be paid in March of next year, were awarded to ensure that the leaders did not leave before the investigations were completed.The company’s board decided that keeping its leadership team was “in the best long-term interest of the company and the patients and communities it serves,” said Tim Blair, a spokesman for Acadia. “The company follows a pay-for-performance philosophy, using peer market data for benchmarking and calibration,” he added.The Times reported that Acadia was holding patients against their will in order to maximize insurance payouts. Some patients arrived at emergency rooms seeking routine mental health care but were sent to Acadia facilities, where they were locked inside and isolated from their families. The practices began before Mr. Hunter became chief executive, in April 2022, but continued under his watch, The Times found.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

24 minutes agoShareSaveAlix HattenstoneBBC News, EnglandShareSaveBBCMore than six million illegal vaping products have been seized by Trading Standards officers across England in the past three years, new analysis by the BBC has found. We joined one of the teams responsible for tracking down the illicit goods as they prepare for a ban on the sale of single-use disposable vapes.Paul Leighton is packing his rucksack with a heavy-duty hammer, pry bar and evidence bags for what he describes as “just an average day out”.As the senior Trading Standards officer at Newcastle City Council, he has learned the hiding places used to conceal illegal vapes can be sophisticated. Sometimes, he has to force his way in.He has found them hidden everywhere from inside fridges and barbecues to behind fake fuse boxes and tiled panels complete with hydraulic lifts.”I’ve seen entire kitchens come away from walls and off the floor as well… so all sorts of hiding places,” he says.Classified as illicit or non-compliant vapes, the products he will be searching for today fail to meet the legal requirements for sale in the UK.More than six million of them were seized in England between 2022 and 2024, according to analysis by the BBC.The health risks posed to unwitting customers are summed up by Connor Lamb, a senior technician for licensing also taking part in the unannounced checks on shops.If you get a normal vape, he says, “they’ve got a capacity which is enough for 600 puffs – the equivalent to 20 cigarettes”.But if you get an illegal one, “it can be anything from 200 cigarettes in one vape. Obviously someone buying this to go on a night out or a kid might just be chuffing on it all day and you can imagine the drastic effect that’ll have on someone’s lungs.”According to Trading Standards, illicit or non-compliant vapes can be anything with tank sizes greater than 2ml, a nicotine strength of more than 20ml or labels that do not display manufacturer details and health warnings.The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency strongly advises consumers not to use them as the true content – and any possible health risk – is unknown.On the road, Paul and Connor quickly find a stash of between 12 and 20 packs of illegal vapes at the back of a shop counter.”It would be unusual to have so few in a shop that sells quite frequently like this, so it’s just a case of where they’re hiding the rest,” says Paul.We head to a room at the back of the shop. There is a stench of urine. It is full of litter and we are deep in seemingly empty cardboard boxes.Paul’s hunch is proven right though as a search among the rubbish unearths a box of illegal vapes.How widespread are illegal vapes?Of 136 local Trading Standards bodies in England, 133 responded to BBC Freedom of Information requests, showing that between 2022 and 2024:At least 6,169,822 illicit or non-compliant vaping products were seized, including those taken at ports as well as in shopsThere were 3,766 records of retailers selling vapes to children making test purchases, with some retailers potentially caught more than onceRetailers were recorded 7,594 times as selling illicit or non-compliant vapes on test purchasesSelling illegal vapes was a factor in at least 316 shop closures during that period, while selling to children was a factor in at least 67. Most of the closures were temporary and some retailers may have been shut down more than once.The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) insists the majority of vape shops operate within the law, serving adults who would otherwise be smoking.A spokesperson said: “These business owners would never knowingly involve themselves in criminal activity. Rather, it is since the resurgence of popularity of single-use vapes, and therefore a popular ‘cash market’, that we’ve seen organised crime gangs get involved in importing and distributing vapes.”They said IBVTA had long called for greater enforcement action at borders to stem the flow of illegal products entering the country.The Department of Health and Social Care said it was allocating an extra £10m this financial year for Trading Standards to tackle underage and illicit sales, with an expected 80 additional apprentice enforcement officers to be funded.Paul and Connor agree single-use vapes are among the main driving forces of the illegal trade and hope the coming ban will improve the situation.”These are quite sophisticated networks that we’re up against who are also involved in lots of quite serious activities as well as modern day slavery, trafficking, drug supply,” says Paul.”I think we’ll see a lot less product taken off the street because we haven’t really had a massive issue with reusable vapes for quite some time.”They’ve always been broadly compliant in terms of the devices that are being used, the batteries, the liquids, the odd oversized tank here.”When does the disposable vapes ban start?From 1 June, it will be illegal for businesses in the UK to sell, supply or possess single-use vapes for sale.Those caught doing so will get a £200 on-the-spot fine in the first instance, rising to an unlimited fine and/or a prison sentence of up to two years for repeat offences.The government has said Trading Standards will be able to keep the full value of the on-the-spot fines, to reinvest into enforcement.Extra enforcement powers and funding are something IBVTA says it welcomes, noting “not all Trading Standards teams are equally or adequately resourced” and “some areas with low regulatory compliance are unable to carry out the enforcement they would want to”.But a national spokesperson for Trading Standards said its work was “definitely having an impact”.Government funding had enabled “extra boots on the ground” at Heathrow Airport and Dover Port, the spokesperson said, which explained the high number of seizures by the local authorities home to those border points – Hillingdon and Kent. In Hillingdon alone, 2,099,248 vaping products were seized between 2022-2024, making up a third of the total. They said Salford was home to a number of vape warehouses supplying products across England, meaning “seizing at this stage in the supply chain is really effective”.However, they said there was still a “huge challenge in terms of retailers prepared to sell illegal products as well as those who persistently sell to children”.Back in Newcastle, Paul offers a similar assessment of the task faced nationally.He estimates the number of illegal vapes still circulating in the country is “easily in the millions at the moment”, adding: “It’s a constant battle trying to make a difference.”Additional reporting by Jonathan Fagg and Miguel Roca-TerryMore on this story

6 minutes agoShareSaveNick TriggleShareSaveGetty ImagesExtreme tiredness and exhaustion among NHS staff poses a significant risk to patients, England’s NHS safety watchdog warns. The Health Services Safety Investigations Body said medication errors, impaired decision-making, reduced attention and rude and disrespectful behaviour were the most common problems associated with fatigued staff in hospitals.It said there was limited data on the scale of the problem, but cited evidence from staff surveys and information provided by safety experts that it was a contributory factor in safety incidents.In its report, the watchdog gave examples of mistakes being made with pregnancy scans and chemotherapy drugs.In one case a mother and baby were harmed after an inaccurate scan, with the staff member saying fatigue and workload contributed.In the chemotherapy case the staff were nearly nine hours into a 12.5-hour day shift and had only managed five to six hours of sleep between shifts and had limited breaks because of staffing pressures.The hospital investigation found fatigue was “likely to have been a factor”.Sleep-deprivedSome staff reported being sleep-deprived on a daily basis.And one doctor told the watchdog: “When it gets to that third day of doing these 12-hour nights it’s dangerous from 2am onwards… do I have the energy or the brain space or the mental space to even make a life-changing decision for a patient at this point?”The watchdog said exhaustion was also a risk to staff themselves with some complaining of nodding off at the wheel on the way home and reports of staff dying in road accidents after work.Shift work, long working hours, lack of breaks, caring responsibilities and financial pressures were all cited as factors in staff fatigue.The watchdog said the issue was often misunderstood in the NHS and thought of more as a wellbeing issue rather than a safety issue.It said the government and NHS England needed to introduce better systems to monitor fatigue and work with unions and employers to raise awareness about it.Support availableSenior safety investigator Saskia Fursland said: “Fatigue is more than just being tired – it can significantly impair decision-making, motor skills, and alertness. “We must move away from viewing fatigue as an individual issue and putting the onus on personal responsibility and instead treat it as a system-level risk that deserves urgent attention.”Dr Latifa Patel, of the British Medical Association, said the findings were concerning, but not surprising with doctors facing long shifts back-to-back with little respite.She said there needed to be better rota design to ensure staff could rest properly between shifts and improved rest facilities in hospitals. But she said fatigue was also “often driven by workforce shortages” too.A spokesperson for NHS England said it recognised staff were at risk of burnout and was “committed” to ensuring they got the support they needed to provide safe care.”Staff should always feel confident to report patient safety concerns, including those that are linked to fatigue, and we will work with local NHS systems to address any issues,” he added.He said the NHS was offering more flexible working options than ever before and there was a range of mental health support available for staff.

18 minutes agoShareSavePhilippa RoxbyHealth reporterShareSaveBBCChris Brookes-Smith, 28, used to live in fear of dying from eating even the smallest trace of peanut.Ten years ago he had his worst allergic reaction after ordering a curry at a local Indian takeaway. The trauma of it is seared into his memory.”I knew I was in trouble after one bite,” he says. “Within seconds there were spots on my lips. Within minutes I was vomiting. I could feel my throat closing up, hives forming in my armpits then over my whole body… My face going all puffy with the swelling.”His voice tails off, full of emotion. “I thought I was going to die.”Photos taken in hospital later that day show the toll the reaction took on his body. “I looked like a plucked turkey because my skin had blistered so much,” Chris says.But the most painful thing were the hives – red, raised bumps on the skin – which felt “like boiling water had been poured over me”.Chris Brookes-SmithTrying to avoid peanuts, one of the most common food allergies, has been a way of life for Chris and millions of other adults with a serious allergy. Eating out, going to social events and travelling abroad are all fraught with anxiety. As many as one in 200 adults and one in 50 children have a nut allergy, charities say. Some children grow out of their allergies, but many don’t – and they continue into adulthood, often getting worse.An allergic reaction occurs when the body reacts to the protein in peanuts, thinking it’s a threat, which triggers a sudden release of chemicals. Symptoms can range from the mild to very serious.Chris’s allergy first came to light as a baby, when he developed a rash as his mum made peanut butter sandwiches. Each reaction since has been worse than the one before, which means he’s become accustomed to living every day “on high alert hoping nothing bad happens”. Activities such as going out with friends or eating in restaurants, which should be enjoyable, turned into stressful, potentially life-threatening experiences.Despite a love of travel, Chris avoided going to countries where peanuts are commonly used, like south east Asia, after three allergic reactions on a trip to Italy.As Chris grew up, his family constantly worried about him. But then his mum heard about a clinical trial at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London that would change her son’s life.It would test whether adults like Chris with serious peanut allergies could be desensitised by training their bodies to tolerate the very thing that could kill it, calming down the immune system when it would usually over-react.Despite being “really nervous”, Chris agreed to sign up.From milligrams to whole nutsUnder the watchful eye of doctors, Chris started by eating a fraction of a milligram of peanut powder mixed with yoghurt. Over many months, the amount of peanut was gradually increased, slowly building up to Chris eating fractions of nuts and, finally, whole nuts.By the end of the nine-month study, 14 of the 21 patients could eat the equivalent of five peanuts without having allergic reactions – including Chris.Professor Stephen Till, who led the research, says the treatment “has potential to have a real impact on patients’ lives”.”Most severe reactions occur because of mistakes, usually by somebody else, and miscommunication. So it provides them with some protection against that.”They’ve taken control, if you like, of their peanut allergy now.”The method – called oral immunotherapy – is already proven to work for allergies to pollen, wasp and bee stings. It’s only been used on food allergies in the last 20 years, and mostly in children whose immune systems are still developing. Adult allergies are thought to be harder to shift.”Peanut allergy is very common in children and almost never goes away,” says Prof Till. “Those young people are going to become adults, so we need treatments for adults too.” This trial, published in the journal Allergy, shows adults with serious allergies can increase the amount of peanut they can tolerate by 100 times.Chris Brookes-SmithChris had no idea how he would react to even the slightest trace of peanut. Increasing that dose – willingly – every day was something he couldn’t imagine.”The first time I went there and I ingest this stuff, my heart’s going a million miles an hour,” he says. “The big jump in fear was going from peanut dust to half a whole nut.” But he was reassured by having a team of doctors and nurses present, with drugs such as adrenaline standing by in case of a severe, life-threatening reaction.”You’ve got 100 eyes on you – nothing is gonna happen.”However, experts stress no one should try this at home on their own because of the risk of a serious allergic reaction occurring.’Wonderful feeling’Not everyone who tried the treatment was desensitised, and larger trials in more people will have to work out why that is.”For some people, there were reactions and we had to slow down or go back a step,” explains Prof Till. “But the message is that you can desensitise adults to peanuts -and there should be more focus on adults in the future.”Being able to eat peanuts safely had a huge impact on the lives of those who took part, the researchers say. It has given them freedom to travel, reduced their anxiety when eating out and removed their fear of food.How to develop this into a practical treatment on the NHS is more of a challenge. First, larger trials are needed to prove it can work for more people.And researchers are looking at whether putting drops of peanut in solution under the tongue could be a safer way of achieving the same end result.Chris now eats four peanuts every morning with his breakfast granola to keep his allergy at bay – as recommended by his doctors.He’s grateful for having had the opportunity to take part in the trial and hopes many others with serious peanut allergies can also benefit from the treatment.While he admits he still hates the flavour of peanuts, he says knowing he can now eat something that once sent his body into “nuclear meltdown” has changed his life.”It’s a wonderful feeling,” Chris says. “I’m no longer afraid of dying.”

The few domestic companies that still make protective gear for health care workers have clamored for federal intervention. But they worry President Trump’s trade war with China won’t help.Few domestic industries have been as devastated by the flood of cheap Chinese imports as manufacturers of face masks, exam gloves and other disposable medical gear that protects health care workers from infectious pathogens.The industry’s demise had calamitous consequences during the Covid pandemic, when Beijing halted exports and American hospital workers found themselves at the mercy of a deadly airborne virus that quickly filled the nation’s emergency rooms and morgues.But as President Trump unveiled his tariff regimen earlier this month, and Beijing retaliated with an 84 percent tax on American imports, the few remaining companies that make protective gear in the United States felt mostly unease.“I’m pretty freaked out,” said Lloyd Armbrust, the chief executive of Armbrust American, a pandemic-era startup that produces N95 respirator masks at a factory in Texas. “On one hand, this is the kind of medicine we need if we really are going to become independent of China. On the other hand, this is not responsible industrial policy.”The United States once dominated the field of personal protective equipment, or P.P.E. The virus-filtering N95 mask and the disposable nitrile glove are American inventions, but China now produces more than 90 percent of the medical gear worn by American health care workers.Despite bipartisan vows to end the nation’s dependency on foreign medical products — and to shore up the dozens of domestic manufacturers that sprung up during the pandemic — federal agencies and state governments have resumed their reliance on inexpensive Chinese imports. Earlier this year, when California purchased millions of N95 masks for those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, it chose masks made in China.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. escalated his war against the food industry on Tuesday, declaring that “sugar is poison.”Mr. Kennedy’s comment came during a highly publicized news conference where he also asserted that he has “an understanding” with major food manufacturers to remove petroleum-based food colorings from their products by 2026.No one from the food industry attended the event, and none have publicly agreed to Mr. Kennedy’s demands, although the International Dairy Foods Association has pledged to eliminate artificial colors in milk, cheese and yogurt sold to schools as part of the federal lunch and breakfast programs by the start of the 2026 school year.However, Mr. Kennedy and his advisers said that every major food manufacturer and some fast-food companies have contacted the agency looking for guidance.“Four years from now, we are going to have most of these products off the market, or you will know about them when you go to the grocery store,” Mr. Kennedy said.Mr. Kennedy’s push to get food manufacturers to remove dyes from their products is his first effort at sweeping reform of the food industry, which he has long blamed for creating and marketing ultra-processed foods that he says are making Americans obese and contributing to a host of diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.