Oct 31, 2024 11:19 PM
(This post was last modified: Oct 31, 2024 11:21 PM by C C.)
https://www.science.org/content/article/...him-health
INTRO: Concerns about what a second Donald Trump presidency could mean for public health and biomedical research ratcheted up this week after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told supporters Trump has promised to give him “control” over agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The former presidential candidate, who dropped out in August and then joined Trump’s campaign, told supporters that “President Trump has promised me … control of the public health agencies.” He ticked off “HHS and its subagencies, CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], FDA, NIH, and a few others, and then also the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture],” according to a video that CNN reported on Tuesday.
The remarks, made 8 days before election day, followed Trump’s suggestion on Sunday during his campaign event at Madison Square Garden that he would allow Kennedy to “go wild on health” and “the medicines.”
Public health researchers are alarmed, especially given Kennedy’s opposition to vaccines. “I can’t imagine anyone who would be more damaging to vaccines and the use of vaccines than RFK,” University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael Osterholm told CNN.
Kennedy has long claimed that childhood vaccines contribute to autism, despite numerous studies disproving that notion. In 2017, early in Trump’s presidency, Kennedy said he had been asked to head a vaccine safety commission, but that did not come to pass.
This time, however, Kennedy appears to be poised to wield substantial influence should Trump win. Trump has embraced Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, which calls for removing allegedly harmful chemicals in foods and water and cracking down on ultraprocessed food, among other steps... (MORE - details)
INTRO: Concerns about what a second Donald Trump presidency could mean for public health and biomedical research ratcheted up this week after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told supporters Trump has promised to give him “control” over agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The former presidential candidate, who dropped out in August and then joined Trump’s campaign, told supporters that “President Trump has promised me … control of the public health agencies.” He ticked off “HHS and its subagencies, CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], FDA, NIH, and a few others, and then also the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture],” according to a video that CNN reported on Tuesday.
The remarks, made 8 days before election day, followed Trump’s suggestion on Sunday during his campaign event at Madison Square Garden that he would allow Kennedy to “go wild on health” and “the medicines.”
Public health researchers are alarmed, especially given Kennedy’s opposition to vaccines. “I can’t imagine anyone who would be more damaging to vaccines and the use of vaccines than RFK,” University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael Osterholm told CNN.
Kennedy has long claimed that childhood vaccines contribute to autism, despite numerous studies disproving that notion. In 2017, early in Trump’s presidency, Kennedy said he had been asked to head a vaccine safety commission, but that did not come to pass.
This time, however, Kennedy appears to be poised to wield substantial influence should Trump win. Trump has embraced Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, which calls for removing allegedly harmful chemicals in foods and water and cracking down on ultraprocessed food, among other steps... (MORE - details)
![[Image: donald-trump-wisconsin.webp?w=790&f=1de8...e834e379a7]](https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2508776/donald-trump-wisconsin.webp?w=790&f=1de8c68206fe8a25793974e834e379a7)
