If RFK Jr. is as good as his word, all of us will be hearing a lot about MAHA: Make America Healthy Again. And it can’t come a minute too soon. The number of people developing serious illnesses is increasing, literally, day by day and has reached a point that is truly frightening. Kennedy is facing a bare-knuckles brawl, and he’ll have to go toe to toe with industry powerhouses and their lobbies.
It looks like RFK will be confirmed as head of Health and Human Services and, according to the whyy.org website, his Make America Healthy Again movement is poised to become a real powerhouse. “Its central mandate: reverse the chronic disease epidemic, which is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and drives massive health care costs.”
This objective sounds both logical and idealistic but achieving it won’t be easy. RFK will argue that some big food and pharma companies are using their lobbying power to maximize profits at the expense of the country’s health. You can be sure those companies are preparing to defend themselves.
An Unusual Message
Politicians and their close associates usually talk about things voters want to hear before an election. But RFK’s message to voters raised eyebrows: He repeatedly kept hitting at issues politicians usually ignore, such as the safety of ultra-processed foods, the consequences of poor nutrition, food additives, and pesticides, among related points.
In the process, he put together an unlikely coalition that includes people from the left, but also MAGA supporters and others who distrust government assurances about the safety of vaccines and other issues.
“Bobby Kennedy and Trump have bonded over tying the core of MAGA – which is a distrust of institutions and getting corruption out of institutions – to our health care industries,” says Calley Means, an adviser to Kennedy and the Trump transition team.
Just What The Doctor Ordered
It’s very possible RFK is exactly the person America needs to fix its health system. He’s knowledgeable, tough, committed, and obviously not afraid to lock horns with “the swamp.” That’s great. But there’s more to this story, and that part is not as simple.
Barry Popkin, Professor of Nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, told whyy.org that he’d welcome substantive policy changes that tackle diet-related illnesses like obesity and diabetes. “If it comes, they’ll have plenty of support,” he said. “But I do not see that.” Instead, he said, he “fears the worst.”
And what could that be? Kennedy has a history of questioning scientific consensus on the safety of vaccines. And if he makes changes, “Thousands of children may die of measles and many other infectious diseases for which children have been (safely) vaccinated for many decades,” Popkin says.
He is not the only one who is very concerned by the prospect of RFK being confirmed as Secretary of HHS. In fact, according to NBC News, the decision to nominate him has sent a ripple of panic through much of the public health world, “because of Kennedy’s history of false or misleading claims regarding vaccines, fluoride and other topics.”
A Mixture Of Ideas
NBC News reports that health reform was an essential part of Kennedy’s presidential bid from the start. “His key issues included reducing pharmaceutical companies’ influence on government agencies, combating chronic health issues among children and improving food safety. While promoting those policies, he put forward a mixture of ideas — some supported by science, others that have been debunked repeatedly.” The latter ones, some of which Kennedy (and others) still support, are generating controversy.
Kennedy is an anti-vaxxer who “has repeatedly questioned the safety and effectiveness of routine vaccinations, such as those for hepatitis B and the flu,” according to NBC. “He believes the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism despite the many studies that found no link between the two.” And he has called the Covid vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made,” despite its getting government approval. Moreover, he opposes school vaccine mandates.
RFK recently told NBC that he doesn’t want to get rid of vaccines altogether. However, “I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments,” he said. Kennedy is skeptical about scientific literature on approved vaccines that show them to be safe and effective.
RFK also has controversial opinions about other health-related issues. For example, he said that he drinks only raw milk; others believe that is not safe, particularly now when there is heightened concern about contracting bird flu from drinking raw milk. Kennedy also believes the U.S. should review its standards for pesticides, as 72 of them have either been banned or are in the process of being phased out in the EU. And he has criticized the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of stem cells, which he believes have promise for treating serious illnesses and disease.
Going Wild
Before the election, Trump said that if elected he would “let Kennedy go wild on health, food and medicine,” and there’s no reason to think anything has changed since then. Among Kennedy’s objectives: ending “the Food and Drug Administration’s ‘aggressive suppression’ of vitamins, raw milk, stem cells and certain drugs.” As secretary of the HHS, Kennedy would oversee 13 federal agencies, including the CDC, FDA, NIH, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Is RFK correct in saying that the healthcare system needs to be shaken up? Or is he mistakenly pursuing ideas that have been debunked years ago? The events that will unfold in the coming weeks and months will likely give us that answer.
Hopefully, they will also help us understand why so many people are coming come down with serious illnesses – including young people. Diabetes is one of these, and the number of cases has quadrupled over the last 30 years. The incidence of other serious health issues has also soared over these years.
Is RFK’s approach to dealing with our health problems correct? To be very honest, I don’t know. But clearly, government must search aggressively for a solution. The current approach is not working, and the days of just sitting on our hands as so many people become sick must end! As a society, we must be much more proactive in finding solutions. Hopefully our efforts will be blessed.
Sources: nbcnews.com; npr.org; theepochtimes.com; whyy.org; zerohedge.com
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
