Robert F Kennedy Jr. named U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Last week, Donald J. Trump announced the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy is known for openly discussing alternative medicine. His appointment is a big change for a system that has historically shown reluctance to this subject.
Up until now, FDA’s stance on holistic approaches has been, “There are no FDA-approved products labeled as homeopathic; this means that any product labeled as homeopathic is being marketed in the U.S. without FDA evaluation for safety or effectiveness.“
It is yet to be clear what changes will be enforced to the public health policy, if Kennedy will loosen up some of the regulations on natural supplements, or whether he will simply roll back the existing health standards.
Since his nomination, Kenedy was reported by Politico to say that he is already working on removing fluoride from municipal water. Recent discoveries have disputed the long-standing belief that fluoride simply helps prevent cavities. Multiple sources have exposed that the chemical is a neurotoxin. Kennedy touched upon this in an interview with NPR.
“Fluoride made sense in the 1940s when they put it in, but now we have fluoride in toothpaste,” he said. “We don’t need fluoride in our water and it’s a very bad way to deliver it because it’s delivered through the blood system,” he said.
Kennedy, who is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy, has been admired in the anti-vaccine community over his stance on personal choice. In 2021, he told Louisiana lawmakers that, “COVID-19 vaccine is the deadliest vaccine ever made.” He cited the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) as his source. His statement was subsequently heavily scrutinized and now that his new position is pending, Kennedy has been quoted as saying he is not anti-vaccine, he just wants people to decide for themselves.
While Kennedy in his new post deliberates what exact changes will take place, all that’s obvious is that change is coming.