(Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental and anti-vaccine activist, has taken charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with oversight of medicines, vaccines and food safety.
Here are some of the policy positions he has asserted in recent months during Senate confirmation hearings and in editorials, social media posts and interviews:
Vaccines
Kennedy has made false claims that vaccines are linked to autism, which the science does not support. He opposed COVID-19 restrictions and founded the Children’s Health Defense, a group that has sued in federal and state courts over vaccines and mandates.
He says he is not anti-vaccine and that Americans who want vaccines for themselves or their children will have access to them.
To win the vote of a key Republican senator, Kennedy promised to protect existing vaccination programs and pledged to let stand any government health agency statements that autism is not caused by vaccines.
He also pledged to honor decisions on vaccine use by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s outside panel of experts, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, without changes.
Abortion
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he personally viewed “every abortion as a tragedy” and that he would implement whatever Trump’s policies on abortion were regardless of his own beliefs, including whether to protect access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
He said he will ask the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration to look into the safety of mifepristone. He also said he would hire people who are “pro-life” in his office at HHS.
The comments differed from his past positions on abortion. He previously said he supports a woman’s right to choose.
Processed foods
Kennedy calls for banning hundreds of food additives and chemicals. He has called for getting ultra-processed foods out of school lunches as part of a goal to reduce the incidence of diet-related chronic diseases.
Nutrition guidelines
He has said the nutrition department at the Food and Drug Administration that is in charge of nutrition labels on food has “to go. They’re not doing their job. They’re not protecting our kids.”
Weight loss drugs
Kennedy has criticized the popular Novo Nordisk drug Ozempic, which is often prescribed for weight loss, saying it focused on symptoms of the obesity crisis rather than fixing the food system, and that the drugs “gladden the wallets” of pharmaceutical executives.
However, during his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he supports prescriptions of such weight-loss drugs for adults with morbid obesity and diabetes, but alongside exercise.
Drug research
Kennedy has said half of research budgets from the NIH should be directed toward preventive, alternative and holistic approaches to health.
Raw milk
Kennedy wants to end the “FDA’s war on public health” including what he called “aggressive suppression” of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk and more.
Fluoride
He has called for removing fluoride from public water, an area regulated by state and local governments.
Medical schools
He has said classes in nutrition at federally funded medical schools should be required.
Farms
He has called for revisiting pesticide and other chemical-use standards, as well as reforming crop subsidies.
(Reporting by Michael Erman, Deena Beasley, Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Howard Goller)
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