In his first address to his staff, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to subject potential causes of chronic disease to “unbiased scientific investigation.”
“Nothing is going to be off limits,” including his personal past beliefs, Kennedy said at his welcome ceremony today.
On Feb. 13, the White House issued an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which Kennedy will lead.
Kennedy said today that as part of that agenda, he will direct HHS to investigate many possible causes of the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S.
“Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized,” he said. “Those who are unwilling to embrace those kinds of ideas can retire,” he said.
Before and during his confirmation hearings, Kennedy came under fire from Democrats and the mainstream media for raising questions about vaccine safety. Today, he included the childhood vaccine schedule as one of the formerly “taboo” areas he planned to investigate.
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Other potential drivers of the chronic disease epidemic the agency will investigate will include electromagnetic radiation, glyphosate and other pesticides, ultraprocessed foods, artificial food additives, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, a group of chemicals known as PFAS and microplastics.
Kennedy said he plans to convene stakeholders “of all viewpoints,” and to set study protocols in advance that won’t be changed when the results look like they will be “inconvenient.”
“Let’s all depoliticize these issues and reestablish a common ground or action and renew the search for existential truths with no political impediments and no preconceptions,” he said.
Kennedy also said he’ll work to remove “conflicts of interest” on HHS advisory committees in order to reestablish the public’s trust, Bloomberg Law reported.
Watch RFK Jr. speech to HHS staff:
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