President-elect Donald Trump name Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) has many implications. crying and gnashing of teeth Located in suburban Atlanta and Maryland. why? because, Centers for Disease Control and Preventionthe Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health are headquartered at these locations. As HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. will be able to shape the priorities of these agencies.
In fact, the CDC, FDA, and NIH have long been in need of fundamental reform. But is putting RFK Jr. in charge of HHS the right way to solve this dysfunctional public health agency?
First, let’s take a quick look at what’s wrong with each agency. Cowardly bureaucrats at the FDA are stifling medical innovation. Harmful effects About the patient’s health. These regulatory deficiencies have led to calls for the agency to be abolished and replaced with a competitive system to ensure the safety and effectiveness of treatments and diagnostics.
The NIH is the world’s largest public funder of biomedical and public health research, with a budget of $47 billion, most of which goes to support research at universities and academic medical centers. The agency has long been criticized for overreaching. risk averse When choosing which research projects to fund. “NIH extramural research is systematically biased in favor of conservative research.” concluded 2022 emerging venture An analysis of the agency’s research grant process. “Despite NIH distributing huge amounts of funding, NIH may be impeding progress in the biological sciences because NIH’s absolute hegemony sets standards for scientific research and priorities.” By doing so, we are steering the entire industry.”
As a federal agency whose primary mission is to detect and manage public health responses to infectious diseases, the CDC has completely failed during the COVID-19 pandemic. are preoccupied with fighting the “epidemic” of obesity, smokingand violencewhen the actual epidemic occurred, the response to it was a huge failure.
So what does RFK Jr. plan to do with each agency? Like all politicians, RFK Jr. tailors his remarks to his audience, but here are some of his remarks about how he plans to deal with these three government agencies: Masu.
Back in 2017, RFK Jr. discussed establishing a Vaccine Safety Review Board with then-President Trump. inside science In an interview about the future commission, he said declared The CDC said it is “home to most of the most serious questions about the vaccine program, and two parts of the CDC are the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Office of Immunization Safety, which houses scientists.”
Monaka NBC News Interview, RFK Jr. claimed: “I’m not going to take anyone’s vaccine away. If a vaccine works for someone, I’m not going to take them away. People should take the vaccine.” [a] And that choice should be informed by the best information. ”
Obtaining the best information is certainly a valid goal. But RFK Jr. long history The level of incitement of the anti-vaccination movement suggests that he is not the best source of information about the safety and effectiveness of modern vaccines. This includes false claims that vaccines cause autism. they are not tested using Placebo control ordeal;Contradicting previous claims, COVID-19 vaccines killed more People over placebo.
Again, the CDC needs to improve, but RFK Jr.’s skepticism about the safety and effectiveness of the latest vaccines is a sign of what should be the CDC’s main focus: preventing the spread of dangerous infectious diseases. will further damage it.
“The FDA’s war on public health is coming to an end. This includes psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapy, chelates, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunlight, exercise, and nutritional supplements. , and the active suppression of everything else that promotes human health and cannot be patented by pharmaceutical companies,” he said. Posted At X in October. “If you work at the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Save your records and 2. Pack your bags.”
First, there is nothing on the list that libertarians prohibit, but do so at your own risk. However, in August the FDA refused Approves the use of the psychedelic MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The FDA also role when deciding between controlled substances It should be placed under the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Administration. To his credit, RFK Jr. said this as president in 2023: legalize psychedelic and regulating and taxing access to marijuana.
RFK Jr.’s peptides are probably growth hormones and steroid to the new semaglutide, which is successfully treating diabetes and obesity. Interestingly, semaglutide appears to be the peptide he developed. despise. Although some stem cell therapies have been shown to: promisemost have not undergone clinical trials for safety and efficacy. Pasteurized milk is public health victoryHowever, if you want to risk various food poisonings, diseaseknock yourself out.
Four years into the post-corona era, most studies have shown that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine can: No therapeutic effect For the infected. In April, infection journal We published a report on a randomized controlled trial. concluded“Ivermectin for COVID-19 is unlikely to result in clinically meaningful improvements in recovery, hospitalization, or long-term outcomes.” In most cases, the FDA recommends vitamins, clean foods, sunlight, and exercise. , or does not regulate dietary supplements.
The main reform the FDA needs is to get out of the way by speeding up the approval process for drugs and treatments. Given his deep skepticism about the modern drug research and development enterprise, RFK Jr.’s demands for more safety testing and his opposition to FDA user fees are even more dangerous. delay of To provide new treatments to patients.
“I’m going to go to NIH the first week, call all the department heads, call all the directors, and say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.'” After about eight years of drug development and infectious diseases, he took a short break. “I plan to study chronic diseases,” he said. said before canceling his presidential campaign.
It doesn’t seem like a good idea to pause drug discovery and infectious diseases for eight years. After all, the mortality rate cancer It has continued to decline from 2016 to the present, due not only to lower incidence due to lifestyle changes, but also as a result of better and more widely available pharmaceutical treatments. Recent calculations show that the value of medicines to patients is much higher surpass The profits made by pharmaceutical companies. And it’s still an infection. lurk waiting for our arrival in the background lower our security guard I’m looking for Just the right mutation to allow them to jump into the human population.
RFK Jr.’s point is correct. chronic disease It is on the rise among Americans. Analysis of chronic disease trends in 2023 noticed“Cardiometabolic causes of complex diseases, especially obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes, were highly prevalent.” In other words, a significant portion of the increase in chronic disease was associated with increased obesity. is. Just this week, another study was conducted lancet reported Nearly three-quarters of American adults are overweight or obese. As a result, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has doubled over the past 20 years.
RFK Jr.’s solution to stemming the chronic disease epidemic is better diet and physical strength. History suggests that government intervention will have little effect on either. After all, the federal government regularly dietary guidelines Promoting since 1979 physical strength Since 1956. lancet The authors agree with RFK Jr.’s desire to “eliminate barriers to access to a new generation of obesity clinical treatments and make these options available and affordable to a broader population.” We need to put in place regulations to make it available.”
Hopefully, RFK Jr. will not emulate New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden’s efforts in his public health efforts to combat chronic disease. “If anyone in New York City dies young from preventable causes, it’s my fault,” Frieden declared in 2006. To protect New Yorkers from themselves, they required electronic reporting of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c levels for all diabetics tested. All labs in the city are submitted to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH). Those whose readings were too high were provided with notifications and educational materials and reported to their physicians. Frieden then served as CDC director for nearly eight years under President Barack Obama.
Analyzing President Trump’s announcement regarding RFK Jr.’s HHS nomination, Michael Cannon, director of the Cato Institute’s Institute for Health Policy Research, posted on X: amount “We want more regulation. We want the government to make more decisions about our health.”
The FDA needs to streamline to accelerate biomedical innovation, the NIH needs to take greater risks in research, and the CDC needs to focus on infectious disease prevention. None of this seems important on the next Secretary of Health and Human Services’ agenda.
