Undermining science threatens progress on critical issues — including climate change
Environmental Defense Fund’s Keith Gaby urges Senators to seek answers about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s commitment to science-based policy.
“The [climate] crisis is being used as a pretext for clamping down totalitarian controls,” is not what you’d expect to hear from someone who once worked in the environmental community. But those are the words of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
While he is not a climate denier, Kennedy — whose nomination is being considered by senators this week — has a long history of denying well-established science and endorsing health-related conspiracy theories. He is a powerful voice in the larger effort to undermine science-based policy, which is the foundation of climate action.
If confirmed, he would lead the largest science and health-focused federal department, with oversight of the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and Food & Drug Administration — all of which have major influence on the federal response to the health impacts of air, water, and climate pollution. He has also opposed the development of offshore wind power, a promising source of clean energy, citing misinformation about whale deaths.
Before voting on Kennedy, senators should seek answers about his commitment to science-based decision-making and the scientific institutions that have delivered such large benefits to the American people. The American Public Health Association has expressed “deep concerns” about Kennedy’s “disregard for scientific evidence.” Given the enormous influence of HHS over scientific funding and the direction of policies related to asthma, air pollution, the spread of insect-borne disease due to a warming climate, as well as other environmental health matters, it is critical that senators fully understand Kennedy’s views.
Dr. Sarah Vogel, Senior Vice President of Healthy Communities at Environmental Defense Fund, is very concerned about Kennedy’s history of ignoring evidence in taking public policy positions. “Science is the foundation of the amazing advances in treating an ever-wider range of diseases,” she said. “We can’t afford to further undermine the public’s trust in expertise and experience, leading us into a world where anyone can peddle any cure they want to sell while the patients receive diminishing benefits at ever higher costs.”
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Climate change is poised to strain the health system even further. The science is clear: more and more Americans stand to be exposed to new diseases as well as more destructive hurricanes, floods, and wildfires that avalanche into public health disasters.
In California, the L.A. fires have claimed 24 lives to date, but the future death toll from the toxic smoke could eventually be in the thousands due to smoke and ash spread across the region, in the same way that 9/11 has continued to harm New Yorkers. More than twice as many people — nearly 6,800 — have died of cancer and other illnesses associated with their time at Ground Zero than in the attacks.
Dominique Browning is the director and co-founder of of Moms Clean Air Force. “In this pivotal moment of reckoning we need leadership that is capable of confronting the increasingly dangerous world and the toxic fallout that comes with climate change, including ever more rapidly emerging exposure to new diseases,” she said.
EDF’s Vogel points to the potential impact of the Trump administration on our ability to help those most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. “As the warming planet threatens our communities with even more extreme weather, we need to invest in clean air and water, safe and nutritious foods, and healthy homes and workplaces. The leader of the Department of Health and Human Services needs to follow the scientific research, navigate complex ideas, and make thoughtful decisions based on the best available evidence.
“I can’t imagine wanting anything less from my own doctors.”
Keith Gaby is the Vice President, Public Affairs for Environmental Defense Fund.
Hope for a warming planet
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