Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr has been nominated to steer america’ high well being company, triggering alarm amongst well being consultants.
On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump introduced Kennedy as his choose for US secretary of well being and human companies, saying he would “Make America Nice and Wholesome Once more!”
RFK Jr — the nephew of former US president John F Kennedy — dropped out of the presidential election in late August
If his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, he’ll oversee a spread of well being organisations with roughly 80,000 staff and a multi-trillion-dollar price range.
Well being consultants have reacted with alarm given RFK Jr’s earlier
Ashwin Vasan, former New York Metropolis well being commissioner, mentioned RFK Jr’s appointment would probably have “devastating penalties for the well being of Individuals”.
“There are facets of our well being that solely work after we’re doing issues collectively … Whereas there are at all times issues to enhance, what I am listening to and what everybody’s mentioned publicly, he is eager about tearing down that infrastructure.”
Listed here are simply a number of the causes Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr has scared well being consultants.
Vaccines and autism
As chair of the Kids’s Well being Protection group, recognized for its anti-vaccination misinformation, Kennedy has aired controversial and unfounded concepts about vaccines.
A 2021 report by the British-American Centre for Countering Digital Hate listed Kennedy among the many high 12 spreaders of on-line anti-vaccine content material
In 2015, Kennedy linked autism to vaccines.
“They get the shot, that evening they’ve a fever of 103 [degrees], they fall asleep, and three months later their mind is gone. It is a Holocaust, what that is doing to our nation,” he mentioned.
Later, he apologised for his “use of the phrase to explain the autism epidemic” however did not backtrack on his claims.
In a 2023 interview with Fox Information, RFK Jr mentioned that he “consider[s] autism comes from vaccines”.
Whereas indicators of autism typically emerge across the time kids obtain the MMR vaccine, many researchers deny any hyperlink between the 2.
A analysis paper revealed in ScienceDirect journal in 2014 discovered that “vaccinations aren’t related to the event of autism or autism spectrum dysfunction”. A 2004 report by the Institute of Medication contained related findings.
In a publish on X in October, RFK Jr mentioned that he “just isn’t going to take anybody’s vaccines away from them”.
“I simply wish to make sure each American is aware of the security profile, the chance profile, and the efficacy of every vaccine. That is it,” he mentioned.
Fluoride and IQ loss
Kennedy has additionally promised that the Trump White Home will advise all US water techniques to take away fluoride from public water.
“Fluoride is an industrial waste related to arthritis, bone fractures, bone most cancers, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental issues, and thyroid illness,” he mentioned in a publish on X.
Fluoridation was first put within the US water system since 1945. In the present day, it is within the water consumed by two-thirds of Individuals.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps strengthen tooth and stop cavities, and the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) has named fluoridation one of many “ten nice public well being achievements” of the twentieth century.
A 2024 literature overview revealed in ScienceDirect discovered 12 of 14 research confirmed no clear hyperlink between fluoride and first bone cancers.
In response to the US Nationwide Toxicology Program, there may be “inadequate knowledge to find out if the low fluoride degree of 0.7 mg/L at the moment advisable for US neighborhood water provides has a unfavourable impact on kids’s IQ”.
A 2023 meta-analysis revealed in ScienceDirect discovered an “general indication of dose-dependent antagonistic results of fluoride on kids’s cognitive neurodevelopment” however mentioned there have been “uncertainties about each the causal nature of such relation and the precise thresholds of publicity concerned”.
Emotional and behavioural improvement, reminiscence and self-control have been the identical in kids who drank fluoridated water and people who didn’t,
In Australia, fluoride was first added to consuming water in Tasmania in 1953 and is now within the faucet water consumed by 90 per cent of Australians
New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, Eire and Canada are simply a number of the different international locations that infuse their water provide with fluoride.
Uncooked milk
RFK Jr has additionally advocated for the well being advantages of consuming uncooked milk.
“Since I used to be right here final 12 months, I solely drank uncooked milk,” he mentioned on the 2022 Kids’s Well being Protection Convention.
In an October publish on X, he accused the US Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) of suppressing uncooked milk.
“FDA’s conflict on public well being is about to finish,” he mentioned.
Analysis revealed by the American Journal of Public Well being in 2011 discovered uncooked milk consumption was associated to quite a few food-borne illness outbreaks reported within the US between 1973 and 1992.
In response to the CDC, from 1998 by means of 2018, within the US “there have been 202 outbreaks linked to consuming uncooked milk. These outbreaks precipitated 2,645 diseases and 228 hospitalisations”.
The sale of unpasteurised milk has been banned in Australia because the Forties. Solely regulated uncooked goat milk is accessible in some states.
Antidepressants and mass shootings
In an interview with Turkish state-owned TRT World, RFK Jr known as for analysis to research a potential connection between mass shootings and antidepressants and different psychiatric medicine.
Not too long ago, he blamed the favored antidepressant Prozac for mass shootings within the US.
“Previous to the introduction of Prozac, we had virtually none of those occasions,” he mentioned in a dialogue area on X.
Researchers have discovered no proof connecting antidepressants to high school shootings.
Analysis revealed in 2019 by the Nationwide Library of Medication within the US, analysing info out there on instructional shootings from 2000 to 2017, confirmed that “most faculty shooters weren’t beforehand handled with psychotropic drugs — and even once they have been, no direct or causal affiliation was discovered”.
– Extra reporting by Reuters.
