Overview
- At the Texas Capitol, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he can identify children with “mitochondrial challenges” and inflammation by observing their faces, movements, and social connection.
- Kennedy made the comments while joining Gov. Greg Abbott for a Make America Healthy Again bill signing that adds warning labels for certain additives, removes some additives from school meals, and restricts SNAP purchases of sweetened beverages and candy.
- Kennedy does not hold a medical degree and he used inaccurate statistics, claiming 38 percent of teenagers are diabetic or prediabetic and that autism affects one in 25, figures contradicted by CDC and ADA data and recent autism prevalence estimates.
- Public-health experts condemned the claims, with former White House COVID-19 coordinator Ashish Jha calling them “wacky, flat-earth, voodoo stuff.”
- The episode comes as CDC leadership is in flux following the ouster of Director Susan Monarez and multiple resignations, and after HHS under Kennedy curtailed certain COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and cut $500 million from mRNA research.