Kennedy tenure at HHS would jeopardize public health, Nobel laureates say in letter to Senate

(CNN) — Dozens of Nobel Prize winners are urging the US Senate to oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services in a letter dated Monday. It was first reported in the New York Times.

The letter – signed by 77 laureates in chemistry, economics, medicine and physics – cites Kennedy’s opposition to vaccines, his criticism of the fluoridation of drinking water, his promotion of AIDS conspiracy theories and his criticism of HHS agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US National Institutes of Health.

“The leader of DHHS should continue to nurture and improve – not threaten – these important and highly respected institutions and their employees,” the letter says. “In view of his record, placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences, in both the public and commercial sectors.”

In a response emailed to CNN, Katie Miller, spokeswoman for President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, said, “Americans are sick and tired of the elites telling them what to do and how to do it. Our healthcare system in this country is broken, Mr. Kennedy will enact President Trump’s agenda to restore the integrity of our healthcare and Make America Healthy Again.”

Kennedy has been one of the nation’s most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists for years and has frequently spread falsehoods about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He has also committed to formally recommending that states and municipalities remove fluoride from public water.

Kennedy has said he doesn’t think AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Instead, he has said, it comes from wearing down the immune system with drug use, which is not true.

Additionally, Kennedy has floated significant employee turnover at the nation’s public health agencies. He said in an interview with MSNBC that he would cut workers in “the nutrition departments” at the FDA, and he proposed replacing 600 officials at the NIH with hand-picked staff.

A physician advocacy group called the Committee to Protect Health Care has cited factors like these in its own letter urging senators to reject the nomination. Trump’s previous vice president, Mike Pence, asked the Senate not to confirm Kennedy because of his record in support of abortion rights.

CNN’s Brenda Goodman, Jen Christensen, Kaitlan Collins, Kristen Holmes and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

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