The US health agency has updated its official website to reflect the vaccine skepticism of a senior Trump official, a move that medical and public health experts widely condemned.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Wednesday revised its site with language that undermines its previous, scientifically grounded position that immunizations do not cause the developmental disability autism.Years of research demonstrate that there is no causal link between vaccinations and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.But Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the nation’s health chief, has long voiced anti-vaccine rhetoric and inaccurate claims connecting the two.The CDC webpage on vaccines and autism had previously stated that studies show “no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder,” citing a body of high-quality research including a 2013 study from the agency itself.That text reflects medical and scientific consensus, including guidance from the World Health Organization.But the changes rebuke it. The website now asserts that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”The revised language accuses health authorities of having “ignored” research supporting a link and said the US health department “has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism.”The notion linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism stems from a flawed study published in 1998, which was retracted for including falsified data. Its results have not been replicated and are refuted by subsequent research.Amid the rewrite, one header remained: “Vaccines do not cause Autism.”But a footnote explains that the line wasn’t cut due to an agreement Kennedy had made with the Republican lawmaker Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who chairs the Senate committee focused on health.- ‘Do not trust this agency’ -The CDC website edits were met with anger, fear and concern by career scientists and other public health figures who have spent years combatting such false information, including from within the agency.”Staff are very worried and upset about everything happening surrounding vaccines,” a CDC union member, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told AFP.Helen Tager-Flusberg, director of Boston University’s Center for Autism Research Excellence, called the changes “terribly disturbing.””I feel like we are going back to the Dark Ages. I feel like we are undermining science by tying it to people’s political agendas,” the psychologist told AFP.”We’re going to see a significant increase in these childhood diseases.”Demetre Daskalakis — the former director of the agency’s arm focused on immunization and respiratory diseases, who resigned earlier this year in protest — was unequivocal: “DO NOT TRUST THIS AGENCY.”Susan Kressly, president of American Academy of Pediatrics, said “we call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”Pointing to “40 high-quality studies,” she said that “the conclusion is clear and unambiguous: There’s no link between vaccines and autism.”The anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense meanwhile praised the revisions. The organization’s CEO Mary Holland said “thank you, Bobby” on X.Kennedy is the founder and former chairman of the nonprofit.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday vehemently denied South Africa’s announcement that the United States was ending a boycott of this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, saying no US official would take part in talks.President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier Thursday described an 11th-hour about-turn by the Trump administration, which had relentlessly attacked South Africa over treatment of white minority farmers by the post-apartheid government.The White House said the US ambassador would attend but only for a handover ceremony as the United States will next year host the summit of the club of global economic powers, at a golf club owned by Trump in Florida.”The United States is not participating in official talks at the G20 in South Africa,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.”I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team,” she said.Ramaphosa earlier said that the United States had a “change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other, in the summit.”Ramaphosa said the supposed change of heart was “a positive sign”. “All countries are here, and the United States, the biggest economy in the world, needs to be here,” he said. Ramaphosa’s remarks came despite the US embassy in Pretoria sending a notice that it would not attend.In the weekend message, it said South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency.”The agenda included improving debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a “just energy transition” and harnessing “critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development”.- Trump pulls US from world gatherings -The Group of 20 represents some 85 percent of the global economy, with its summits becoming major gatherings for world leaders since the economic crisis of 2008.Trump had initially agreed to send Vice President JD Vance before ruling out any participation.The G20 summit is the latest major international gathering to be snubbed by the United States under Trump.The United States is also shunning the ongoing COP30 climate talks in Brazil, with Trump instead defending fossil fuels and rejecting the scientific consensus on the planet’s rising temperatures.Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment since he returned to the White House in January, often seizing on far-right commentary on the internet.Trump has repeated debunked claims that white Afrikaners are being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country, which has high levels of violence. The Trump administration also expelled South Africa’s ambassador after he accused Trump of racism.Trump has imposed 30 percent trade tariffs on South Africa, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.Despite Trump’s boycott, US businesses are well represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) event that wound up in Johannesburg on Thursday.  The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering “real collaboration between G20 nations during a time of rapid change” during its presidency.”The US Chamber of Commerce will use our B20 leadership to foster international collaboration,” Clark said.The United States has significant business interests in South Africa with more than 600 US companies operating there, according to the South African embassy in Washington. bur-ho-ub-sct/iv

US President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that Democratic lawmakers who urged the military to refuse illegal orders could be executed, calling them traitors and accusing them of “seditious behavior.”Democrats immediately slammed Trump’s “absolutely vile” threats against the six senators and representatives, who made the comments in a video posted on X on Tuesday.”This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump said on Truth Social. He then added in a later post: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”The 79-year-old also reposted a message from a user urging him to “hang them” and saying that the first US president, George Washington, would have done the same.The Democratic lawmakers all have backgrounds in the military or intelligence services and included Senator Mark Kelly, a former member of the Navy and NASA astronaut, and Senator Elissa Slotkin, who served with the CIA in Iraq.”You can refuse illegal orders,” they said in the video, accusing Trump of “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”They did not specify which orders they were referring to, but Trump has ordered the National Guard into multiple US cities, in many cases against the wishes of local officials, in a bid to bring allegedly rampant unrest under control.Abroad, Trump has ordered strikes on a series of alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that have left more than 80 people dead and which experts say are illegal.- ‘Lighting a match’ -White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later walked back Trump’s suggestion, saying that the president did not want to see members of Congress executed.She still lashed out at the lawmakers, saying: “Why aren’t you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence?”The Democratic Party reacted furiously to Trump’s remarks.”Trump just called for the death of Democratic elected officials. Absolutely vile,” the party posted on its official X account.The lawmakers in the video vowed not to be deterred by Trump’s threats, saying they were “veterans and national security professionals who love this country” and had sworn an oath to defend the US constitution.”That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation,” they said.Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of fanning the flames of violence among his supporters.”He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.Trump previously evoked the death penalty in 2023 in relation to his former top US military officer Mark Milley, who became an outspoken critic of the president.After Milley told journalist Bob Woodward that he had secretly called his Chinese counterpart amid tensions after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in January 2021, Trump said “in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”Trump’s death penalty comments came as he faces perhaps the most political pressure since his return to the White House in January.In recent weeks his grip on the Republican party has been shaken by the scandal over disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and by off-year elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia in which Democrats scored major wins.