Robert F Kennedy Jr wants to reverse the chronic disease epidemic in America by tackling seven major issues, including radio waves.
The controversial new Health and Human Services secretary said ‘nothing is going to be off limits’ during his first speech in the role Thursday.
His desire to improve America’s food by stripping harmful additives and chemicals was widely accepted, along with reducing the use of toxic pesticides.
Other issues he promises to tackle include the childhood vaccination schedule, SSRIs and other psychiatric drugs, the forever chemicals PFAS and PFOs and microplastics.
But his proposal to restrict electromagnetic radiation (EMR) raised eyebrows.
The former presidential candidate has repeatedly claimed Wi-Fi causes cancer and wireless radiation has the potential to affect the blood-brain barrier and damage brain cells.
RFK Jr has also said cellphones are behind the rise in glioblastomas and Wi-Fi causes toxins from the body to enter and damage the brain.
He said: ‘Wi-Fi radiation does all kinds of bad things, including causing cancer. The cancer’s not the worst thing. Wi-Fi radiation opens up your blood brain barrier and so all these toxics that are in your body can now go into your brain.’
Robert F Kennedy Jr poses with his family and President Donald Trump after being sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services
EMR is a form of energy that travels as waves and has electric and magnetic fields. It includes radio waves, microwaves and visible light waves.
The radiation can come from natural sources like the sun, or from man-made devices like cellphones and phone towers, radios, TVs, Wi-Fi or medical devices.
In a 2023 interview with Joe Rogan, RFK Jr said: ‘I mean, there’s cell phone tumors, you know that, I mean, I’m representing hundreds of people who have cell phone tumors behind the ear.
‘It’s always on the ear that you favor with your cell phone. We have the science, so if anybody let us in front of a jury it will be over.’
However, RFK Jr could not provide statistics on people suffering from cell phone cancers.
In 2022, RFK Jr tweeted: ‘The wireless industry is rolling out thousands of new transmitters amid a growing body of research that calls cellphone safety into question.
‘Federal regulators say there’s nothing to worry about — even as they rely on standards established in 1996.’
While cellphones do emit very low levels of radiofrequency EMR, studies have not found a link between cancer and cellphones.
The FDA states: ‘The available scientific data on exposure to radio frequency energy show no categorical proof of any adverse biological effects other than tissue heating.
‘Public health data show no association between exposure to radio frequency energy from cell phone use and health problems.’
Cellphones emit very low levels of radiofrequency EMR but studies haven’t found a link between cancer and cellphones
Another of his controversial opinions is to reassess the childhood immunization schedule.
RFK Jr has long sowed doubt on childhood vaccinations, peddling the false narrative they cause autism.
Vaccinations prevent deadly diseases like measles and polio and are required to attend schools, though parents may opt out for religious beliefs.
Children get most of their routine vaccinations by the time they are two years old and the childhood vaccine schedule consists of 15 immunizations in total.
Children receive vaccines for RSV, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP), polio, pneumonia, meningitis, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), hepatitis A, flu and Covid.
Any of these illnesses can be fatal and vaccines are hailed as some of the most significant medical advancements, virtually eradicating several diseases in most countries.
However, the rate of vaccinations in the US has gone down.
According to the CDC, for the 2023-2024 schoolyear, vaccination coverage among kindergartners declined for all shots, ranging from 92 percent for DTaP to 93 percent for MMR.
Ninety-four percent coverage is considered the standard for herd immunity.
The US has some of the highest levels in the world of chemicals and pesticides in its food – and RFK Jr said the HHS plans to address that.
Exposure to high levels of the chemicals has been linked to cancer and cognitive disorders.
In a 2024 Wall Street Journal article, RFK Jr pushed to restrict the use of pesticides.
He later said in a TikTok he is going to ‘reverse 80 years of farm policy in this country, which has directed us toward industrial agriculture, industrial meat production, factory farming, chemical-based agriculture, carbon-based fertilizers – all of these things that are destroying the soils in our country.
‘It’s poisoning the food.’
One of the new secretary’s most publicized crusades is against ultra processed foods (UPFs) and artificial food additives.
RFK Jr has said UPFs are driving America’s obesity epidemic and a 2024 study found UPFs are linked to 32 diseases that affect every major organ in the body.
Experts also believe the rise in UPFs and preservatives and food dyes in America’s food is fueling a rise in colon cancer and ADHD in children.
Recently, the US banned red dye no. 3, which creates a bright cherry-like color in foods.
The FDA said it was taking the action as a ‘matter of law’ because some studies have found the dye caused cancer in lab rats.
As part of his MAHA Commission plan, RFK Jr also said the government would ‘assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs], antipsychotics, [and] mood stabilizers.’
SSRIs are a class of drugs, taken by 13 percent of Americans, typically used to treat depression, anxiety and other psychological conditions.
The secretary believes there is an epidemic of over prescribing psychiatric medications, which include medications like Prozac and Zoloft.
RFK Jr has claimed SSRIs are more addictive than heroin, but experts stress there is a difference between substance addiction and continuously taking a medication to treat a chronic condition.
And a trove of scientific research has found SSRIs are safe and non-addictive
Also part of his MAHA Commission, RFK Jr said the HHS will ‘assess the threat [of] potential over-utilization of… certain chemicals and certain other exposures to children.’
Forever chemicals likes PFAS and PFOAs take thousands of years to break down in the environment and human body, earning them the name ‘forever chemicals.’
Their main purpose is to repel water and oil, which is what makes non-stick cookware easier to clean and why certain jackets can withstand rain.
The chemicals can seep into the water supply from washing dishes and can enter food if packaging is made to be grease-resistant.
There is no level of safe exposure to the chemicals.
A slew of studies have found associations between PFAS and liver damage, low birth rate, childhood obesity, hormone disruption, thyroid problems, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cancer risk and harm to reproductive health and fertility.
The cities depicted on the map are just a handful of many that have been identified as having higher concentrations of PFAS in the public water supply and private wells
Lastly on his list of issues to tackle is microplastics, of which 460million tons are produced every year.
Researchers from UC San Francisco reviewed 3,000 studies, and found microplastics are directly linked a variety of serious health problems, including infertility, colon cancer and poor lung function.
Microplastics are about the size of a pencil eraser and have infiltrated nearly every aspect of our lives, but there are thousands of particles that are too small to see with the naked eye.
They are found in the air, soil, food and water, drink and food containers and the body. People are constantly exposed to the particles, breathing them in and unknowingly drinking and eating them.
Previous studies have even discovered the substances in people’s brains and a woman’s placenta and estimate exposure to microplastics costs the US healthcare system $289billion annually.
