By I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
MONDAY, April 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Some recent cuts at U.S. government health agencies may be reversed, including a key program that tracks lead exposure in children, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/a>. said last week.<\/p>\n The lead poisoning prevention and surveillance branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was among offices hit by layoffs last week. It has worked with cities like Milwaukee, Wisc., to address lead contamination in schools, and critics warned the cuts would leave communities without much-needed support.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some programs that were cut that are being reinstated, and I think that’s one of them,” Kennedy said at an event late last week, according to a CNN <\/em>report.<\/p>\n Kennedy explained that most of the cuts focused on administrative roles that were seen as redundant. <\/p>\n But, he added, \u201cthere were a number of instances where studies that should not have been cut were cut, and we\u2019ve reinstated them. Personnel that should not have been cut were cut. We\u2019re reinstating them. And that was always the plan.\u201d <\/p>\n He said the potential for mistakes had been talked about from the beginning. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstalled because we\u2019ll make mistakes,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n Still, CDC sources told CNN<\/em> they had not yet received any official notice that the lead program positions would be reinstated.<\/p>\n What’s more, it\u2019s unclear whether the program would return to the CDC or be moved to a new office called the Administration for a Healthy America, which Kennedy is forming under HHS.<\/p>\n The Milwaukee Health Department also said it had not received word about whether the CDC\u2019s lead experts would be coming back.<\/p>\n Andrew Nixon<\/a>, a spokesperson for HHS, said in a statement that \u201cHHS is planning to continue the important work of the lead poisoning prevention and surveillance branch that works to eliminate childhood lead poisoning under the Administration for a Healthy America.\u201d<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n Learn more about the Health and Human Services Department’s transformation<\/a>.<\/p>\n