LIVE From EnviroMed 2026, Medical Speech Victory, Autism Diagnoses Triple, Prenatal Metal Exposure, 8th Grader Fentanyl, mRNA Flu Shot Approved, AAP Corruption Investigated, Science is Never Settled, Conspiracy Theory Study, and MORE!
by Mark Dillinger | Aug 7, 2026 | Government and Media, Health Concerns, Natural Remedies, Show Notes, Social Issues & Policy, Social Issues & Politics, Vaccines |
Aug 7, 2026 3-5pm ET
Friday on The Robert Scott Bell Show:
Hour 1
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks California From Disciplining Doctors for COVID Medical Advice That Contradicts Public Health Officials Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on Wednesday granted a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit Kory v. Bonta, temporarily prohibiting California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, and those acting on their behalf from investigating, prosecuting, accusing, or sanctioning physicians Dr. Pierre Kory, Dr. Le Trinh Hoang, and Dr. Brian Tyson based on the viewpoint of the information, recommendations, or advice they give patients about COVID-19, even when that advice contradicts positions of public health authorities. The injunction, which applies only to these three doctors funded by Children’s Health Defense and remains in effect pending a final decision on the merits, also bars regulators from treating a physician’s refusal to communicate the government’s position on disputed COVID-19 issues as an informed-consent violation or a departure from the standard of care. It does not prevent the boards from pursuing other disciplinary actions unrelated to COVID-19 viewpoints, such as failures to obtain informed consent regarding material risks or treatment alternatives. Attorney Rick Jaffe, representing the doctors, stated that while the order is limited to the plaintiffs, it notifies the boards that a federal judge has found their COVID misinformation policy unconstitutional under the First Amendment. CHD CEO Mary Holland called it a victory affirming that doctors can treat patients rather than serve as state mouthpieces, and Kory wrote that free speech prevailed so physicians need not parrot official positions to retain their licenses. The case follows the earlier challenge to California’s repealed AB 2098, which had allowed discipline for disseminating COVID-19 “misinformation,” and continues after a 9th Circuit panel ruled against a prior injunction effort and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari; a final decision is expected within weeks.
Autism diagnoses more than tripled in 15 years – study A University of Otago study published in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry found that autism spectrum disorder diagnoses in New Zealand more than tripled between 2009 and 2023, identifying more than 30,800 people with ASD across three national health and disability databases and recording increases in every age group, gender, and ethnicity. By 2023, 1.3 percent of New Zealand children and 0.14 percent of adults had an ASD diagnosis in national databases, with no evidence the upward trend is slowing, prompting researchers led by Associate Professor Ben Beaglehole to warn that health and disability services must prepare for continued growth in demand through workforce training and improved planning for both child and adult care. The study was not designed to determine causes, but Beaglehole stated there is unlikely to be a single explanation and that genetic change alone is improbable; possible contributors include increased awareness, broader diagnostic criteria, better access to assessment, changing healthcare patterns, and broader environmental or societal influences that are not yet fully understood. More pre-school children are being diagnosed, indicating earlier recognition, while adult diagnoses continue to rise, underscoring that autism is a lifelong condition requiring greater expertise and capacity in adult services. Diagnoses remain more common among males, though rates among females increased faster over the period; among Māori, rates rose almost fivefold from initially lower levels to overtake non-Māori by 2023, and higher rates were also observed in more socio-economically deprived communities.
How Does Prenatal Metal Exposure Influence Autism-Related Outcomes? A study published in Environmental Epidemiology by Debra A. Mackenzie, PhD, of the University of New Mexico and colleagues examined associations between prenatal metal exposure and autism-related outcomes in 479 mother-child dyads from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort. Researchers measured maternal blood (n=479) and urinary (n=482) metal concentrations and assessed outcomes using Social Responsiveness Scale—Second Edition total and subscale T-scores as well as ASD diagnosis. Linear and logistic regression linked individual metals to outcomes, showing associations between maternal blood lead and mercury and higher SRS-2 total T-scores (lead β=0.11; mercury β=0.19) and between maternal blood cadmium and higher odds of ASD diagnosis (odds ratio 2.42). Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression analysis of metal mixtures identified joint effects of blood arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead on autism-related traits including social awareness and cognition. Gender differences emerged, with blood cadmium correlating more strongly with social awareness in females than males and urinary barium correlating with social motivation in females versus males. The findings indicate that prenatal metal exposure contributes to the development of autism-related traits, and the authors recommend that future research incorporate sex differences and sex-stratified approaches when evaluating susceptibility to metal-related neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Most 8th Graders Don’t Think Trying Fentanyl Once Is A Big Deal, Study Finds A nationally representative analysis of 2025 Monitoring the Future survey data from 3,820 U.S. students in grades 8, 10, and 12, published in JAMA Network Open, found that only 47.8 percent of eighth graders attributed great risk to experimental (once or twice) fentanyl use, while 16.6 percent said they did not know what fentanyl was, leaving more than half either underestimating or unaware of the danger despite fentanyl’s involvement in at least 75 percent of adolescent overdose deaths and an average of about 21 high-school-aged deaths per week in 2023. Perceived great risk rose with age and frequency of use: 57.2 percent of eighth graders rated occasional use and 66.5 percent rated regular use as great risk, compared with 63.6 percent, 71.5 percent, and 77.3 percent among tenth graders and 69.8 percent, 78.5 percent, and 84.8 percent among twelfth graders for experimental, occasional, and regular use, respectively. Non-Hispanic White students reported the highest risk perceptions across grades, while Hispanic students showed the lowest in eighth grade and non-Hispanic Black students the lowest in tenth and twelfth grades; both groups also had higher rates of never having heard of fentanyl. Rural students and those with college-educated parents tended to perceive greater risk. Researchers note that the findings identify a knowledge gap rather than a lack of fear and suggest differentiated prevention approaches, including basic education for the unfamiliar, clearer risk messaging for those who underestimate danger, and tailored strategies for sensation-seeking teens, while acknowledging that the survey measured perceived risk only and excluded homeschooled or absent students.
Hour 2
‘Not Ready for Prime Time’? FDA Approves First mRNA Flu Vaccine Despite Safety Concerns The FDA on Wednesday approved Moderna’s mFlusiva, the first messenger RNA-based seasonal influenza vaccine, for adults ages 50 and older, granting traditional approval for ages 50-64 and accelerated approval for those 65 and older pending an additional confirmatory study, with the product expected to be available for the 2026-27 respiratory virus season. Moderna President Stephen Hoge described the decision as a major step that positions the company with mRNA vaccines against the main annual respiratory pathogens and potentially combination products, while noting the platform’s faster production timeline of two to three months after strain selection compared with roughly six months for conventional flu vaccines. Children’s Health Defense CEO Mary Holland stated that mRNA gene therapy injections are not ready for prime time, that no new mRNA shots should enter the market, and that existing ones should have been withdrawn, calling the approval by the Trump administration disheartening given anticipated severe adverse consequences. HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard said Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes mRNA products require heightened scientific scrutiny, pointed to the FDA’s post-market monitoring requirements especially for older adults, and noted that CDC recommendations have not yet been issued, the vaccine is not mandated, and patients should receive transparent safety information to decide with their physicians. Critics raised concerns about long-term safety given published links of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to myocarditis, pericarditis, seizures, and cancers, questioned whether patients will be informed of or able to choose among non-mRNA alternatives such as egg-based, cell-culture, or recombinant shots, and highlighted uncertainty over insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid coverage while the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices remains temporarily blocked from meeting by court order.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Investigates the American Academy of Pediatrics for Deceptively Promoting Childhood Vaccines for Financial Gain Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into the American Academy of Pediatrics over concerns that the organization may be promoting and recommending childhood vaccines for financial gain, issuing a Civil Investigative Demand to examine the basis of its vaccine recommendations and their broader impact on childhood immunization guidance. The AAP, the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States, has issued informal vaccine recommendations since the early 1930s and since 1995 has collaborated on the CDC Childhood Vaccine Schedule while consistently promoting its recommendations to providers and the public. Following changes to the CDC schedule after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reconstituted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the AAP filed suit against HHS in July 2025 alleging the modifications lacked scientific basis and that the reconstitution of ACIP was unlawful, then on August 19, 2025, for the first time published its own evidence-based immunization schedule for infants, children, and adolescents and urged insurers to cover the vaccines listed therein. Paxton noted that the AAP’s top corporate donors are pharmaceutical companies that would face financial losses from a reduced number of recommended vaccines, stating that parents deserve recommendations driven by science and children’s best interests rather than financial incentives or pharmaceutical influence, and that his office will expose and end any such unlawful behavior in coordination with President Trump and Secretary Kennedy. The probe builds on a January 2026 wide-ranging investigation into pediatric providers, insurers, vaccine manufacturers, and related entities for deceptive childhood vaccine recommendations, during which the extent of AAP influence over the pediatric medical industry became evident.
Tony Lyons: The Science Is Never Settled Tony Lyons, President of MAHA Action, opened the week’s MAHA Media Hub by arguing that repeated claims of vaccines being “safe and effective” have treated marketing assertions as settled fact while manufacturers enjoy absolute liability protection that denies recourse to those injured. He contended that no product should receive such immunity, that vaccines described in congressional hearings and Supreme Court arguments as “unavoidably unsafe” require continuous testing, and that the current administration under President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is finally willing to pursue honest research enabling true informed consent and safer practices. Lyons praised Senator Rand Paul as a model of scientific curiosity for questioning authority, declaring that science is never settled, and for releasing more than a thousand pages of Anthony Fauci’s diaries that, despite a preemptive pardon, bring previously hidden accounts into public view. He rejected media assertions such as those by Dana Bash that the vaccine-autism question is closed, citing historical reversals on thalidomide, opioids, and other once-endorsed products, and insisted that rigorous transparent study should be welcomed rather than feared. Lyons described a profound breach of trust caused by large-scale propaganda, censorship, professional penalties against dissenters, and vaccine injuries for which U.S. compensation rates remain under 1 percent compared with far higher rates in Japan, Thailand, and Canada. The Hub featured guests including Del Bigtree, Mary Holland, Stefanie Spear, Mark Gorton, Brian Hooker, Jeff Barke, Liz Mumper, Nic Hulscher, and Rand Paul, and opened with Congressman Andy Biggs outlining his Arizona gubernatorial platform to end medical mandates, protect vaccine freedom, ban gain-of-function research, restrict soda and junk food in SNAP, add nutrition education to medical schools, and establish a state advisory council.
Hard Knocks, Hidden Plots: Life’s Worst Moments May Make Conspiracy Theories Appealing Three studies involving 1,284 participants published in the British Journal of Psychology by researchers led by Daniel Jolley of the University of Nottingham found that greater lifetime hardship is associated with a stronger perception that the world is fundamentally unfair, which in turn is linked to higher belief in conspiracy theories. Study 1, with 275 online participants, used a checklist of 35 adversities spanning childhood to adulthood, including illness, bereavement, financial struggles, domestic violence, and natural disasters, and showed that both cumulative lifetime adversity and recent financial hardship during the UK cost-of-living crisis correlated with elevated injustice perceptions and, through that pathway, greater conspiracy thinking. Study 2 compared 458 participants and found that victims of violent crime reported significantly higher perceptions of injustice than non-victims, an association statistically linked to stronger conspiracy beliefs after controlling for age, gender, and education. Study 3 experimentally assigned 538 participants to read one of two articles about British society, one portraying it as increasingly fair and the other as increasingly unfair; those exposed to the unfair-society framing reported higher general and political conspiracy beliefs, providing experimental evidence that emphasizing societal injustice can temporarily elevate such beliefs, though the predicted interaction with personal hardship history did not emerge. Across the studies, interpretation of hardship rather than the events themselves appeared most relevant, with those viewing suffering as evidence of a rigged system most prone to conspiratorial explanations, while the researchers note that self-report data and concurrent measurement limit causal inferences and call for longitudinal work.
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