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The announcement that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the brand new chief of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers has introduced renewed consideration to many feedback the nominee has made about public well being.
Kennedy was introduced as Trump’s decide on November 14. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he’ll lead a division that oversees myriad companies that regulate necessary public well being packages and conduct scientific analysis. The record contains the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, the Meals and Drug Administration and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. That signifies that Kennedy may have a hand in drug and vaccine approvals, meals security and extra, points that contact just about everybody.
Lots of Kennedy’s views on well being points run counter to a long time of analysis and broad scientific and medical consensus, but he has gained a public following. Right here’s a have a look at the established science behind among the key points Kennedy has raised prior to now and which may be impacted below the brand new administration.
Truth: Vaccines save lives
Kennedy is a dominant drive within the anti-vaccine motion (SN: 5/11/21). He advised podcaster Lex Fridman in a July 2023 interview, “There’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.”
Not true. When it comes to effectiveness, the World Well being Group says, “vaccines have saved more human lives than every other medical invention in historical past” — reward that’s backed by ample proof.
In america, a slew of infectious ailments, together with polio, diphtheria, measles and smallpox, induced lots of of 1000’s of circumstances of sickness within the twentieth century. By the top of that century, cases had dropped by 95 to 100 percent, primarily because of the widespread introduction of vaccines.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19 vaccination prevented 14.4 million deaths globally within the first 12 months it was out there, from December 2020 to December 2021, researchers reported within the Lancet Infectious Illnesses in 2022.
And analysis on the useful affect of vaccines retains coming. Since 1974, vaccination against 14 pathogens has prevented 154 million deaths worldwide, most of them amongst kids: Immunization averted 146 million deaths amongst children youthful than 5, researchers reported within the Lancet in Could.
In america, routine childhood immunizations for kids born from 1994 to 2023 may have staved off an estimated 508 million circumstances of sickness, stopped 32 million hospitalizations and prevented 1.1 million kids from dying, researchers reported within the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in August.
The unfold of misinformation and disinformation on vaccine security has an extended historical past however now reaches many extra individuals through social media (SN: 11/11/21). Kennedy’s personal Instagram account was taken down from 2021 to 2023 for posting debunked claims in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. Frequent misinformation in regards to the security of vaccines has been refuted by a big physique of proof. For instance, vaccines don’t diminish the physique’s skill to mount an immune response.
Vaccines are examined in individuals for security and effectiveness earlier than being licensed by the FDA. After approval, a number of nationwide surveillance systems continue to monitor vaccine safety.
“Vaccines are the most secure and most cost-effective solution to defend kids, households and communities from illness, incapacity and demise,” Benjamin Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, stated in a press release on November 15.
Truth: The measles vaccine doesn’t trigger autism
Anti-vaccine advocates together with Kennedy proceed to push the debunked notion that vaccines trigger autism. A paper printed in 1998 within the Lancet presupposed to discover a hyperlink between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism. The paper, primarily based on falsified information, was later retracted, however the harm was completed, and the concept that vaccines typically may trigger autism took off (SN: 5/11/21).
The science is settled: There may be no evidence that means vaccines — or any of the components in them – trigger autism spectrum problems.
The causes of autism aren’t recognized, however they’re probably complicated (SN: 10/16/18; SN: 7/29/11). Present pondering is targeted on variations in mind growth early in life, in all probability even within the womb. Scientists are exploring genetic variations and variations in how neurons develop as potential hyperlinks, and are investigating methods to search for the dysfunction early in life (SN: 2/27/14; SN: 1/11/19; SN: 4/10/17).
Truth: Fluoride in water strengthens tooth
Earlier this month, Kennedy introduced his aim of eradicating fluoride from ingesting water.
A naturally occuring mineral, fluoride has a particular superpower: It could possibly rebuild tooth. When acid from micro organism eats away at tooth enamel, fluoride can breach the hole and entice different sturdy minerals corresponding to calcium and phosphate to latch on. This course of, known as remineralization, retains cavities at bay.
That’s why fluoride has been added to water provides in america because the Nineteen Forties – a transfer described in 1999 by the CDC as one of many 10 great public health achievements of the twentieth century.
Kennedy and different fluoride skeptics argue that the mineral damages the rising brains of kids. And in excessive doses, it may possibly. There have been experiences of fluoride toxicity from around the world. However because the saying goes, the dose makes the poison. In america, the optimum dose of fluoride is ready at 0.7 milligrams per liter of water, effectively beneath ranges which were linked to hurt.
Some communities which have eliminated fluoride from municipal water provides have famous an increase in tooth decay. In Canada, kids in Calgary, the place fluoridation was stopped in 2011, had more decay than neighboring children in Edmonton, the place fluoride stayed in water. Comparable traits of extra dental decay have turned up in Israel, which stopped fluoridating water in 2014, and in Juneau, Alaska, the place fluoridation was stopped in 2007.
Cavities can result in ache, hassle speaking and consuming, social and psychological hurt. Untreated tooth decay, in children and adults, may cause demise. Fluoridated water is backed by medical organizations together with the World Well being Group, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Affiliation.
Truth: Microbes in uncooked milk could make individuals sick
In an Oct. 25 put up on X, Kennedy accused the FDA of “aggressive suppression” of a laundry record of drugs, one in every of which was uncooked milk.
Uncooked milk hasn’t been pasteurized, a course of that heat-treats meals merchandise to kill dangerous microbes (SN: 11/18/22). Proponents record quite a lot of causes to drink uncooked milk, together with the declare that some bacteria in raw milk could be beneficial for gut health. However these micro organism come from cows or the farm setting, and solely microbes that come from individuals could be an asset to our well being.
Pasteurization to kill the dangerous stuff is vital for food safety, in keeping with each the FDA and CDC. Individuals who drink uncooked milk might be uncovered to foodborne micro organism corresponding to E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria, all of which may trigger extreme sickness.
What’s extra, genetic traces of fowl flu have proven up in milk amid an outbreak in U.S. dairy cows (SN: 4/25/24). Whereas pasteurization kills the virus, it may stick round in uncooked milk and pose an an infection threat. Mice that consume virus-spiked milk can get contaminated with fowl flu, for instance, suggesting people may be in danger, too.
Truth: Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin don’t deal with COVID-19
Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two medicine that gained notoriety throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, had been additionally listed in Kennedy’s Oct. 25 X put up. Whereas early research completed on cells in dishes raised hopes that the therapies would possibly assist COVID sufferers, myriad research have since proven that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, and ivermectin, an antiparasitic, are ineffective towards the coronavirus (SN: 8/2/20).
Regardless of the immense proof towards the medicine’ use for COVID, some individuals, together with Kennedy, proceed to falsely declare that they might have saved lives throughout the pandemic. In a July 2023 interview with Fox News, Kennedy stated that fewer individuals would have died if hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin had been out there to deal with COVID. The FDA had licensed hydroxychloroquine for emergency use within the pandemic’s early days. However the company pulled that authorization as a result of research confirmed it was no higher than a placebo at stopping or dampening the illness (SN: 6/15/20).
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