Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday asking if the agency would investigate reports from pilots who have claimed they had an adverse response to COVID vaccination. 

Johnson, a strong opponent of vaccine mandates, asked in the letter for more information about recent medical testing decisions from the FAA and if it was aware of any adverse events related to COVID vaccination. The letter was sent to Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen and Federal Air Surgeon Susan Northrup. 

“The vaccine injured deserve to be seen, heard & believed,” Johnson said on Twitter. “@FAANews – are you aware of the COVID-19 vaccine injuries in the aviation industry?”

The vaccine injured deserve to be seen, heard & believed.
@FAANews – are you aware of the COVID-19 vaccine injuries in the aviation industry?

My letter highlights five of these severe adverse events experienced by pilots & an air traffic controller.https://t.co/BBVaxjBTkA pic.twitter.com/NVOFQwqgPi

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) January 28, 2023

The Wisconsin Republican’s letter covered a variety of topics related to the COVID vaccine, including a question about new parameters adopted by the FAA in October related to AV block. AV block occurs when the heart cannot pump blood effectively because the electrical signal controlling the heartbeat is blocked, or partially blocked, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This can cause dizziness, fainting, tiredness, and shortness of breath.

Some had speculated that the new parameters might be linked to COVID vaccination. According to Johnson, a representative from the FAA told him last week that “the change has nothing to do with Covid vaccinations.” 

“New scientific evidence enabled the FAA to safely raise the tolerance used to screen for a certain heart condition. The update was an effort to save pilots the expense of an unnecessary cardiac evaluation that did not contribute to a fly or no-fly decision,” the FAA rep said. 

Yet Johnson said in the letter that “questions still remain regarding the FAA’s decision to issue this change and its awareness of adverse events connected to the COVID-19 vaccines.”

Johnson’s letter also included a list of five pilots who he said had adverse events related to COVID vaccination. The reported reactions of the pilots included erratic heart rate, chest pain, and high blood pressure. 

“It remains unclear what, if anything, the FAA has done as it relates to these individuals’ experiences or if it is actively monitoring COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in the aviation industry,” Johnson wrote. 

The senator later asked the officials if they were aware of any pilots who had “COVID-19 vaccine adverse effects,” or were investigating any incidents of adverse effects. 

The FAA announced on December 12, 2020 that it had “determined that pilots may receive the vaccine under the conditions of their FAA-issue airman medical certification.” Johnson asked for records on how this decision was made. 

Johnson, who has been suspended from YouTube in the past for vaccine “misinformation,” wants a response to his inquiry by February 10.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently showed its support for meat grown in a lab. 

The agency said that it considers chicken cultivated from cells as safe for humans to eat after a review of a chicken product from Upside Foods, which is a company out of Berkeley, California. The FDA said they had “no further questions” about the safety claims that Upside Foods made. However, it will still need to get the sign-off from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) before it can be sold in this country. The USDA and FDA share the supervision of meat cultivated from cells.

Some might wonder what exactly lab-grown meat is. It is cultivated from animal cells, which Uma Valeti, the CEO of Upside Foods says are “like a starter dough.” Lab-grown meat is not vegetarian. The lab still sometimes slaughters animals or copies cells from a fertilized egg or living animal, but far fewer animals need to die to obtain the same amount of meat. 

Businesses use stem cells taken from an animal and then put those into vats filled with materials like amino acids, nutrients, and sugars, where they’re stored at the correct temperature. The cells form tissue, and after about three weeks, they take the cells out and make them into recognizable forms that people out shopping for meat would be used to buying.

There are currently more than 80 start-up companies betting that this type of food will be more popular than plant-based meat products, and there appears to be some demand for it, especially from consumers who rejected plant-based meat for various reasons. 

Those pushing for it say it has the potential to be more sustainable than regular meat, and potentially healthier. When meat is grown in a lab, there might be less of a need for animals to be given antibiotics. Since it requires fewer animals, it could be a way to help with food supply issues, and groups like PETA are happy with the FDA’s findings.

However, there are lots of questions that still need to be answered, and how healthy lab-grown meat is still unknown. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has reportedly highlighted “the need for a better understanding of the long-term health effects of cultured meat and poultry products” in a letter to the USDA. The food Americans eat is highly processed as it is, so this could be an additional layer to that, and whether or not it’s scalable is another big factor. The cost right now is excessively high.

The first lab-grown beef burger cost more than $300,000 to create in 2013, but Valeti said they got that price down to under $2,400 a pound in 2017. The company is hoping to someday offer prices that compete with normal meat.

This is just one of the companies that the FDA is reviewing, so Americans will likely hear more about lab-grown meat soon. They will also likely hear a lot more concerns raised about it as it gets closer to their plates.