President-elect Trump's decision to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will put some of the former independent presidential candidate's most controversial views under intense scrutiny.
Kennedy would need 50 votes in the Senate to be confirmed, which is not impossible, but his past statements could cause problems for Democrats as well as some Republicans. Highly sexual.
Here are five issues that could come up in his confirmation hearing:
vaccines and autism
Kennedy is perhaps best known for his opposition to vaccinations, but he balks at being labeled an “anti-vaxxer.” He founded and led the anti-vaccination group Children's Health Defense (CHD), but resigned in 2023 ahead of the presidential election.
Like many vaccine opponents, President Kennedy said he believed the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in vaccines causes neurological disorders, particularly autism, in children.
In 2005, he published an article in Rolling Stone and Salon magazines entitled “Deadly Immunity,” in which he claimed that the federal government was colluding with the pharmaceutical industry to intentionally cover up the alleged harms of thimerosal. claimed to have done so.
The online version of the article was eventually retracted following criticism from former Salon editor-in-chief Joan Walsh. Written in 2011 It claimed it contained “flaws and even fraud that taint the science behind the link” between vaccines and autism.
In 2017, during President Trump's first term, President Kennedy said he was asked to: chair the committee Researching the relationship between autism and vaccines. By 2018, the Trump administration abandon the plan, And that commission never materialized.
Currently, the majority of pediatric vaccines do not contain thimerosal, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there are no studies linking the small amounts of preservatives used in vaccines to autism.
Senate Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) and Patty Murray (Washington), have cited Mr. Kennedy's stance on vaccines as a reason why they believe he is unfit to be secretary of health services.
“RFK Jr. wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles, and his ideas would welcome the return of polio. He has spread conspiracy theories about everything,” Warren said in a statement after Kennedy's nomination was announced.
“Donald Trump's selection of a notorious anti-vaxxer to lead HHS could not be more dangerous. This is a cause for deep concern for all Americans,” Murray said. .
Racial claims due to COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed President Kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric to new heights. as Associated Press reported In 2021, CHD's revenue more than doubled from 2020, reaching $6.8 million.
He is a vocal opponent of coronavirus vaccines and was banned from Instagram in February 2021 for repeatedly spreading vaccine misinformation.
a 2021 survey A study released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that Kennedy was among the top 12 spreaders of anti-vaccine content online.
His rhetoric on the coronavirus has sometimes included racist claims about the virus itself.
In 2022, he Comparison with unvaccinated people To Jewish diarist Anne Frank, the former had less freedom than Jews, who hid from persecution during the Holocaust. He later apologized for the remark.
CHD released a film in 2021 titled “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid,” explaining that Black people have very strong immune systems that are overstimulated by vaccines, and that vitamin D protects them from COVID-19 infections. He suggested that he protect himself.
Kennedy in 2023 He reportedly spoke to officials at a press conference. It claimed that the virus was a bioengineered weapon “ethnically targeted” to avoid Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
The American Jewish Committee said: CNN “Claims that the coronavirus was genetically engineered to save Jews and Chinese people are highly offensive and incredibly dangerous.”
HIV/AIDS denialism
President Kennedy has repeatedly questioned whether HIV causes AIDS and the effectiveness of azidothymidine (AZT), the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat HIV and AIDS. .
A causal relationship between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has long been established. as both federal health agency and world health organization It states that when HIV reaches its most advanced stage and is left untreated, it can lead to AIDS.
President Kennedy has occasionally acknowledged that HIV may cause AIDS, but has also said that the more likely culprit is being deliberately hidden by scientists and the pharmaceutical industry to profit from AZT. claims.
he said. new york magazine In 2023, “there are far better candidates than HIV for the cause of AIDS.”
His deep skepticism about HIV and its treatment is one of the reasons Kennedy spoke out against Anthony Fauci, the former White House chief medical adviser who led the response to the HIV epidemic in the 1980s.
He published a book titled “The Real Anthony Fauci,” in which he discredited Mr. Fauci's efforts to fight the epidemic and claimed that government scientists actually sabotaged effective treatments for AIDS. insisted.
talk to Megyn Kelly in 2022Kennedy alleged that Fauci helped AZT's developer, Burroughs Wellcome, the predecessor to GlaxoSmithKline, use “numerous deceptive tricks” to get the drug approved in the 1980s.
AZT is still used to treat, manage, and prevent HIV infection, but now as part of combination therapy rather than alone.
Fluoride removal
The political scion has railed against water fluoridation, saying just before the election that the Trump administration would recommend all water systems be defluoridated.
The CDC considers water fluoridation one of the 10 most important public health measures of the 20th century, but President Kennedy has called it a “toxic pollutant” and “industrial waste.”
[FluoridehasbeenaddedtoUSwatersystemssince1945]Since then, nearly three-quarters of all community water systems in the United States have adopted water fluoridation.[1945年以来、米国の水道システムにフッ素が添加されてきました。それ以来、米国のすべての地域水道システムのほぼ4分の3で水のフッ素添加が採用されています。
Although the U.S. Public Health Service makes recommendations regarding fluoridation levels, there is no federal law requiring the addition of minerals to local water systems. In the absence of state requirements, it is up to local governments to decide whether to add fluoride to their water.
Some studies have suggested that there may be a link between fluoride exposure and reduced IQ, but these studies are not only observational, but also indicate that water fluoridation levels are It has been noted that this includes cases where the level exceeded 0.7 mg/L, which is the level in water systems in Japan.
Still, some critics argue that more research is needed into whether lower levels of fluoride can have similar effects.
raw milk promotion
President Kennedy said he wanted to increase access to raw milk, or unpasteurized milk, as part of his list of wishes to the Food and Drug Administration.
The pasteurization process heats milk and other foods for a short period of time to kill harmful bacteria and make it safe for consumption.
Some people think raw milk tastes better than pasteurized milk, while others believe false claims that raw milk can somehow cure lactose intolerance or allergies and improve gut health. There is no research I support that raw milk does one of these things.
CDC officials warn that you should not consume unpasteurized dairy products and that doing so poses serious health risks. Raw milk can contain numerous pathogens, including E. coli, salmonella, and both streptococci and staphylococci.
Health authorities are particularly concerned about the harm caused by raw milk after the country's first case of bird flu was detected in March this year.
Earlier this year, the USDA began testing bulk milk matches for avian influenza. And in a press conference in May, the CDC, USDA, and FDA said that recent testing of dairy products found remnants of H5NI avian influenza.
