Before beginning today’s note, a word about the SPH This Week publishing schedule. As we have in years past, we will pause SPH This Week for the next four weeks, recommencing on August 26. We do this to acknowledge the heart of summer, a time to relax and reflect before the bustle of fall.

In 2018, of course, on many days it is not so easy to relax. Amid the swirling outrages of the last two years, the sheer number of health threats that emerge from the actions of the Trump administration have been truly concerning. From its recent actions against breastfeeding, to its rollback of environmental standards, to its determination to place an opponent of reproductive freedom—and progressive change more broadly—on the US Supreme Court, to its assault on the well-being of migrant families, the Trump administration has allowed little peace to those who care about creating a healthier world.