• Posted December 10, 2024

Group of Nobel Laureates Press Senate to Reject Kennedy's Nomination

Robert Kennedy Jr. should not be confirmed to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over 75 Nobel laureates urged Monday.

In a letter published by the New York Times, the esteemed scientists took issue with Kennedy's lack of experience and controversial stands.

"In addition to his lack of credentials or relevant experience in medicine, science, public health or administration, Mr. Kennedy has been an opponent of many health-protecting and lifesaving vaccines, such as those that prevent measles and polio; a critic of the well-established positive effects of fluoridation of drinking water; a promoter of conspiracy theories about remarkably successful treatments for AIDS and other diseases; and a belligerent critic of respected agencies [especially the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health]," the letter stated.

"The leader of DHHS [Department of Health and Human Services] should continue to nurture and improve -- not threaten -- these important and highly respected institutions and their employees," the letter added. "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."

While the group of Nobel laureates avoids politics whenever possible, the potential confirmation of Kennedy was a threat they could not ignore, Dr. Richard Roberts, winner of the 1993 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine who helped draft the letter, told the Times.

The laureates also warned of Kennedy’s enthusiastic embrace of conspiracy theories, including falsely linking childhood vaccines to autism, rejecting evidence showing that HIV causes AIDS, and suggesting that COVID-19 targeted and spared certain ethnic groups.

Kennedy has also threatened to fire FDA employees and replace hundreds of NIH employees the day after President-elect Donald Trump’s January inauguration, the Times reported.

In responding to the letter, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team told the Times Monday that, “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.”

Among the 77 laureates who signed the letter were Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who were awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA, and Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, who won the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Sciences for research on global inequality.

Dr. Harold Varmus, a 1989 Nobel Prize laureate who signed the letter, said that scientific research -- which depends on federal funding and helps drive the country’s economic growth -- can't be separated from the political climate.

“Science is dependent on the political structures of this country,” he told the Times. “I don’t think we should be burying our heads in the sand just because we’re scientists.”

For many of the laureates, this is the second time they have taken a political stand in the United States: Dozens of Nobel Prize winners signed an open letter in October endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Roberts said he hopes the latest letter will have some impact.

“Maybe there are some who will read this and think, 'Well, we really do want to protect the health of our citizens,'” Roberts said.

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SOURCE: New York Times