The NYT published an article reporting that RFK Jr has abandoned most of his responsibilities: “Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote in the article. “Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations […]
How many of us heard some variation of this from their mom: “If your friends jumped off a cliff (or bridge), would you do it too?” If RFK Jr told you to treat measles with vitamin A, would you do it too? “A team from Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts analyzed Google search trends data […]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has claimed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is ending contracts for mRNA vaccine development, citing concerns that the technology may pose “more risks than benefits.” According to Kennedy Jr., HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) reviewed 22 mRNA vaccine projects — most focused on […]
RFK Jr says “Many of us have come to the conclusion that [the] government actually lies to us.” On that, I agree. Our government lied us into the Vietnam war and lied about the ending: Nixon took a deal in 1973 that he could have had in 1969. The Bush Administration lied us into the […]
There’s a Dunkin’ Donuts around nearly every corner here in Rhode Island, or so it seems. And there’s a cemetery just a block away from our house. Coincidence? We report, you decide. The mortality rate here doesn’t seem markedly higher than anywhere else I’ve lived. But RFK Jr is coming for your Dunkin’, Rhode Island! […]
I spent my entire research career working on animals. In this case, the animals were Drosophila melanogaster, or “fruit flies.” I dissected tens of thousands of larval salivary glands because their giant polytene chromosomes afforded a relatively high resolution map of the genome. I made over 100 transgenic lines to gain insight into gene function. […]
RFK Jr sounds weird. I don’t mean his ideas about vaccines and contagious disease. I mean that when he vocalizes, it sounds . . . creaky. RFK Jr has a condition called “spasmodic dysphonia.” It’s known to have a genetic component. But this is RFK Jr, so of course he blames vaccines. “In an interview […]
When I was growing up, lots of adults smoked. My piano teacher smoked during my piano lessons. Cigarette commercials were on TV. Their jingles were so addictive, we in the trumpet section would play them before band practice. Airplanes used to have a smoking section and a no-smoking light that went on before take-off and […]
Looks like RFK Jr has pivoted from lying about the long-discredited Thimerosal-autism connection to blaming aluminum-containing adjuvants for autism. Since there’s no evidence for this, RFK Jr’s position is that studies have not definitively ruled out a link between vaccines and autism. Well, science doesn’t deal in proof, it deals in the weight of evidence. […]
The current attack on ultra processed foods by RFK Jr is just a simpleminded binary. He’s treating food as medicine and then vilifying certain ingredients as bad or dangerous. What do you expect from someone with no training in public health? Take food coloring. Ever look at the pills you take: Advil, decongestant, laxative? Those […]