
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is readied to precede the Us senate on Wednesday in his verification hearing to lead the Division of Wellness and Person Solutions (HHS) under Head Of State Donald Trump.
Kennedy has actually regularly advertised sights up in arms with the agreement of public wellness scientists and the mainstream clinical neighborhood, consisting of incorrectly declaring that specific vaccinations create autism and asking for fluoride to be gotten rid of from alcohol consumption water, declaring it damages teenage growth.
The ecological lawyer has actually sworn to punish dyes in the food sector and has actually asked for constraints on ultra-processed foods.
Throughout a charity supper in 2014 in New york city City, Trump vowed Kennedy would certainly “go wild on wellness” which Kennedy “desires healthy and balanced individuals, he desires healthy and balanced food.”
Below’s a consider where Kennedy bases on a number of wellness problems:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s candidate to be assistant of Health and wellness and Human being Solutions, talks throughout a conference at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP, DATA
Doubting vaccination security
Although Kennedy has actually rejected he is “anti-vaccine” and has stated his kids have actually been immunized, he has actually advertised sights on vaccinations that professionals have actually shot down.
Throughout a 2023 interview on Fox News, Kennedy stated he thinks autism originates from vaccinations, a misconception birthed from a now-debunked paper from the U.K. in 1998 that asserted the measles, mumps, rubella vaccination triggered autism.
The paper has actually considering that been challenged by wellness professionals, withdrawed from the journal in which it was released, and its key writer, Andrew Wakefield, shed his clinical certificate after the paper was challenged and an examination located he had actually acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” in performing his study. Greater than a loads top quality researches have actually considering that located no proof of a web link in between youth vaccinations and autism.
Kennedy has actually likewise spread what the clinical neighborhood has actually taken into consideration to be vaccination false information throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, incorrectly declaring the COVID-19 vaccination threatens.
Throughout a December 2021 Louisiana House of Representatives meeting reviewing a proposition to need schoolchildren to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination, Kennedy incorrectly called the vaccination the “most dangerous vaccination ever before made.”

Supply picture of a female obtaining Covid-19 vaccination.
D3sign/Getty Pictures
In the very same year, Kennedy sought the united state Fda to withdraw its permission of all COVID-19 vaccinations. The FDA rejected the request 3 months later on.
Health and wellness authorities claim COVID-19 vaccinations are secure and reliable adhering to professional tests that included 10s of countless individuals, and have considering that helped save millions of lives.
Getting rid of synthetic dyes from foods
Kennedy has actually been singing regarding his resistance to synthetic dyes, asking for them to be gotten rid of from foods and drinks.
” The initial point I would certainly do isn’t mosting likely to cost you anything due to the fact that I’m simply gon na inform the grain business: Take all the dyes out of their food,” regarding activities he would certainly take as a participant of the Trump management, according to a social media post from the charitable Kid’s Health and wellness Protection, of which Kennedy is a creator.
Kennedy has regularly cited Froot Loops as an instance of a food with possibly damaging dyes, claiming the variation of the Kellogg’s grain marketed abroad is much healthier and has actually less active ingredients contrasted to the united state variation.
Kellogg’s has actually urged its items are secure for intake, claiming the active ingredients fulfill the government requirements established by the united state Fda.
Kennedy was incorrect regarding the variety of active ingredients– Canadian Froot Loops have actually 17 active ingredients contrasted to 16 in the united state Nonetheless, both grains vary when it pertains to using dyes.
American Froot Loops have synthetic food dyes such as Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Blue 1 while Canadian Froot Loops are tinted with focused watermelon juice and blueberry juice.
A 2018 report from New York City College and the American Academy of Pediatric Medicine’ Council on Environmental Wellness and Environment Modification located synthetic food shades might impact kids’s actions and intensify signs of attention-deficit/hyperactivity condition.
Lately the FDA stated it was relocating to prohibit using Red 3 color in food, drinks and consumed medications, in reaction to a 2022 request from wellness teams and protestors.
Refined foods and persistent illness
Kennedy has actually slammed the united state food sector and the expansion of ultra-processed foods, condemning them as one factor for the surge of persistent illness in the united state
” Numerous these chemicals are currently outlawed in Europe, yet they’re common in American refined foods,” he stated throughout a September 2024 roundtable discussion on health led by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc. “We are actually poisoning our kids methodically commercial.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s candidate to be Assistant of Wellness and Human being Solutions strolls to a conference with Sen. Bernie Sander in the Dirksen Us Senate Office Complex on Jan. 8, 2025, in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures
A 2021 joint study by the Centers for Condition Control and Avoidance and the College of São Paolo in Brazil located that individuals that ate even more calories from ultra-processed foods had reduced ratings on examinations gauging cardio wellness.
Kennedy has likewise railed against seed oils, calling them “among the driving sources of the excessive weight epidemic” and has actually contacted convenience food dining establishments to fry their items with pet fats rather.
Seed oils have specific kinds of healthy and balanced fats that benefit the heart when made use of in small amounts, years of research shows.
Cases that fluoride impacts kids’s growth
In an interview with NPR in November, Kennedy increased down on his guarantee that the Trump management will certainly suggest that city governments eliminate fluoride from their water materials.
He has actually asserted that fluoride in alcohol consumption water impacts kids’s neurological growth which various other nations that have actually gotten rid of fluoride from their water materials have actually not seen a rise in tooth cavities. Some wellness experts have actually shared issues regarding extreme fluoride consumption and possible poisoning.
Nonetheless, high-quality studies reveal fluoride avoids tooth cavities and fixings damages to teeth brought on by germs in the mouth. Fluoride likewise changes minerals shed from teeth because of acid malfunction, according to the CDC.
ABC Information’ Youri Benadjaoud and Anne Flaherty added to this record.