Seventy-seven Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging the US Senate to reject Robert F Kennedy Jr as Donald Trump’s nominee for well being and human companies secretary, arguing that he’s unfit and would put American public well being “in jeopardy”.
It’s believed to be the primary time in dwelling reminiscence that Nobel prize winners have united towards a presidential cupboard decide, and comes towards a backdrop of Kennedy’s public assist for discredited theories, together with a declare that childhood vaccines trigger autism.
Of their letter, prize winners within the fields of medication, chemistry, physics and economics castigate Kennedy for a “lack of credentials” and level out that he has been “a belligerent critic” of a number of the companies that he would oversee, together with the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH), and the Middle for Illness Management and Prevention.
“The proposal to position Mr Kennedy in command of the federal companies answerable for defending the general public well being of Americans and for conducting the medical analysis that advantages our nation and the remainder of humanity has been broadly criticised on a number of grounds,” the laureates say within the letter, first obtained by the New York Occasions.
Additionally they level to Kennedy’s vocal opposition to the measles and polio vaccines, his assist for ending fluoridation of the water provide and his promotion of conspiracy theories over the therapies for Aids and different illnesses.
Kennedy has threatened to fireplace staff of the FDA, which he has accused of “waging conflict on public well being”, and has stated he’ll substitute a whole lot of NIH staff on his first day. He has additionally stated many vaccines scientists ought to be in jail.
“The chief of DHSS (the Division of Well being and Human Companies) ought to proceed to nurture and enhance – not threaten – these extremely revered establishments and their staff,” the laureates write.
“In view of his document, inserting Mr Kennedy in command of DHSS would put the general public’s well being in jeopardy and undermine America’s international management in well being sciences, in each public and industrial sectors.”
Signatories embody Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who received this 12 months’s Nobel prize for physiology or medication for his or her discovery of microRNA.
The letter comes after Trump – who has beforehand spoken of letting Kennedy “go wild on well being” – instructed in an interview with NBC that his well being and human companies nominee might examine the supposed hyperlink between vaccines and autism, a principle that Kennedy has repeatedly peddled however that quite a few research have comprehensively debunked.
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One of many letter’s drafters, Richard Roberts, winner of the 1993 Nobel prize for physiology or medication, stated scientists had felt the wanted to answer assaults by Kennedy and others.
“These political assaults on science are very damaging,” he advised the New York Occasions. “You must get up and shield it.”
In response, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition workforce stated: “Individuals are sick and bored with the elites telling them what to do and the way to do it. Our healthcare system on this nation is damaged, Mr Kennedy will enact President Trumps agenda to revive the integrity of our healthcare and Make America Wholesome Once more.”
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