Архив автора: Admin

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), doubled down on his view that ultra-processed foods and food additives are “poisoning” Americans during two days of Senate confirmation hearings this week.

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Food makers have been permitted to “mass poison American children,” Kennedy told lawmakers from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Jan. 30. “That’s wrong. It needs to end. And I believe I’m the one person who’s able to end it.”

The day before, however, while appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, Kennedy signaled that he does not intend to take ultra-processed foods off the market, only to ensure Americans are educated about their health effects. If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which plays a key role in U.S. food policy.

Here’s what to know about ultra-processed foods, and ..

I was just starting out in pediatrics in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield published the study that would haunt my entire career in primary care. The article in The Lancet claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism. The methodological flaws were readily apparent to followers of medical research: among many issues, the study involved only 12 children and was correlative—it didn’t prove causation. In short order, several larger and better conducted studies definitively countered Wakefield’s claim. Yet I spent the first ten years in primary care pediatrics discussing Wakefield’s misinformation with nearly every family before the MMR vaccine was given at a child’s 12-month visit. Painstakingly, I reviewed the issues with Wakefield’s work that were obvious to doctors—even at the time—and presented my patients with the steady accumulation of data that failed to find any association between MMR and autism.

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Then, something historic and ..

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was grilled by Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, who confronted him with conspiratorial and conflicting statements he has made about COVID-19.

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Attempting to understand how Kennedy would square his past questioning of the safety of vaccines, Sen. Bernie Sanders asked him if he believed that the COVID-19 vaccine was successful in saving millions of lives.

“I don’t know,” Kennedy said. “We don’t have a good surveillance system.”

In reality, both the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have several systems to collect and track side effects and adverse events of vaccines. And many studies have consistently shown that COVID-19 vaccines dramatically reduce people’s risk of hospitalization and death from the disease.

Here’s what to know about Kennedy’s p..

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was grilled by Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing on Jan. 29, who confronted him with conspiratorial and conflicting statements he has made about COVID-19.

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Here’s what to know about Kennedy’s positions on COVID-19, and why some experts and lawmakers are concerned about him leading the U.S.’s response to a next potential pandemic.

Kennedy’s racial and ethnic claims about COVID-19

Kennedy has held some controversial and unsubstantiated views on COVID-19 and ethnicity.

According to a 2023 video shared by the New York Post, when Kennedy was a presidential candidate, he said at a private dinner in New York City, “There is an argument that [COVID-19] is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi J..

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, speaks with a raspy quiver in his voice. That’s because he has spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological condition that causes the muscles affecting the vocal cords to spasm.

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Kennedy has previously spoken about the way the condition affects his life. He “can’t stand” his voice, he told the Los Angeles Times last year. “I feel sorry for the people who have to listen to me,” he said in a phone interview with the outlet. “My voice doesn’t really get tired. It just sounds terrible. But the injury is neurological, so actually the more I use the voice the stronger it tends to get.”

Here’s what to know about how common spasmodic dysphonia is, what causes it, and how it’s treated.

What is spasmodic dysphonia?

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a rare disorder that causes involuntary movements of the voice box, says Saul Frankford, an assistant professor in t..

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was grilled by Senators in his first confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday, during which he struggled to convince lawmakers that he is not “anti-vaccine” and appeared unfamiliar with key aspects of healthcare insurance programs and other policies he would oversee.

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Appearing before the Senate Finance Committee, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the nation’s leading health agency insisted that he has been mistakenly labeled as anti-vaccine, despite his past remarks where he spread misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of immunization. “I am pro-safety,” said Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer who ran as a Democrat and then independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election before endorsing Trump.

“All of my kids are vaccinated,” he said. “I’ve written many books on vaccines. My first book in 2014, the first line of it is, ‘I am not anti-vaccine’ and the las..