What We’re Reading: Conservative Caucus Budget Criticism; New Drug Overdose Record; Pig Kidney Transplant

White House Calls Out House’s Conservative Caucus Budget for “Extreme” Abortion Proposals

The White House has called out the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) budget proposal on Friday for backing legislation that would put restrictions on abortion access, according to The Hill. The group, which consists of nearly 80% of all House Republicans, proposed a budget released Wednesday that endorses the Life at Conception Act, which would implement protections for unborn humans. The budget also threatens veterans’ access to abortion care, funding for contraception for low-income Americans, and access to the abortion pill, mifepristone. The White House is arguing that the RSC budget shows that Republicans want a national abortion ban in place and announced that President Biden wants to restore and codify Roe v Wade if elected to another term.

US Drug Overdoses Reach Another Record in 2022

The CDC reported on Thursday that nearly 108,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2022, according to The Associated Press. The official number for 2022 was 107,941 deaths, which is about 1% higher than the nearly 107,000 overdose-related deaths in 2021, but an increase not considered statistically significant. Also, the rate of overdose-related deaths fell among females for the first time in 5 years, but still slightly rose among males, who account for about 70% of US overdose deaths. Over the last 2 decades, the number of US overdose deaths has risen almost every year and continues to break annual records, making it the worst overdose epidemic in American history.

Surgeons Transplant Pig Kidney Into a Patient

Surgeons in Boston have transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into an ailing 62-year-old man, the first procedure of its kind, according to The New York Times. If successful, this offers hope to hundreds of thousands of Americans whose kidneys have failed. Physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital reported that the new kidney began producing urine shortly after the surgery last weekend, and they noted that the patient’s condition continues to improve and he may be discharged soon. The kidney came from a pig engineered by biotech company eGenesis, which removed 3 genes involved in potential organ rejection and inserted 7 human genes to enhance human compatibility; pigs carry retroviruses that may infect humans, and the company also inactivated the pathogens. If kidneys from genetically modified animals can be transplanted on a large scale, dialysis would become obsolete and kidneys would become accessible to more patients.