RFK Says He’ll Stop ‘Mass Poisoning’ of America’s Children

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of Health and Human Services, may be best known for his anti-vaccination sentiments, but his plans for America have a lot to do with transforming the food system.

In Trump’s first speech since election night, on Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago, he said Kennedy would “help make America healthy again” and would protect Americans from “harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products and food additives.”

Kennedy on toxic chemicals from food

One of Kennedy’s focuses is toxic chemicals in the environment, particularly from pesticides and fertilizers used in farming.

“Pesticides, food additives, pharmaceutical drugs and toxic waste permeate every cell in our bodies,” Kennedy said during Republican Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s American Health Crisis Roundtable in September.

“This assault on our children’s cells and hormones is unrelenting. They are swimming around in a toxic soup….We are mass poisoning all of our children and all of our adults.”

There is scientific evidence to support the idea that chemicals used in agriculture, such as glyphosate and phthalates, may negatively affect health, such as increasing the risk of certain cancers and disrupting hormones.

However, dietitian Christine Byrne, of Ruby Oak Nutrition, told Newsweek that Kennedy’s statements were “a massive misrepresentation and oversimplification of the science.”

“The American food system is complex, and while it’s far from perfect, accusations like this are meant to instill fear, not to push for change,” she said. “Saying that children are swimming around in a ‘toxic soup’ is vague, scary and just not true.”

Dr. Federica Amati, head nutritionist at nutrition science company ZOE, told Newsweek that Kennedy raises “some valid concerns about the quality of our food and the impact of xenobiotics on health, especially on children.”

“We know that diet-related chronic diseases are a public health emergency, so rallying to make changes on this is urgent,” she said.

In a video on Kennedy’s campaign website from October 17, Kennedy he was going to “reverse 80 years of farm policy in this country,” criticizing the current system for “destroying the soils” with “chemical-based agriculture.”

This speaks to the regenerative farming movement, which seeks to improve soil quality by limiting the use of harsh chemicals and certain industrial methods, such as tilling the soil and monocropping.

Amati said that Kennedy was expressing “well-placed concern on the health of our soil, which is connected to environmental health.”

Kennedy on the dangers of seed oils

On Fox News on October 28, Kennedy called seed oils “one of the most unhealthy ingredients that we have in foods,” contributing to “body-wide inflammation.” Two days later on the channel, he said that McDonald’s french fries would be healthier if fried in tallow fat, rather than seed oils.

Seed oils are a much-debated topic. Some nutrition experts agree that seed oils—such as canola, rapeseed or sunflower oil—cause inflammation in the body and increase the risk of diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Other nutrition experts—including most registered dietitians—support the view that seed oils in moderation are a safe source of unsaturated fats, and that saturated fats such as tallow raise cholesterol levels and contribute to heart disease risk.

“Consuming too many seed oils may have some negative effects on health, but the same thing is true about saturated fats like beef tallow,” Byrne said. “It’s best not to demonize any one food, and instead to eat a varied diet.”

Kennedy on ultra-processed food

Kennedy has often raised concerns about the obesity epidemic and levels of lifestyle-related diseases in the U.S., blaming ultra-processed food as a major contributor.

Ultra-processed food is highly debated, but it is widely agreed that industrially processed foods—containing chemical additives such as emulsifiers and sweeteners and developed for maximum palatability—are associated with negative health outcomes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Kennedy has repeatedly referred to ultra-processed food as “poison,” saying in Johnson’s roundtable: “We are literally poisoning our children, systematically, for profit.”

In the same discussion, Kennedy criticized the legalized use of chemical additives in American foods that are banned in many European countries, implying he might pursue stricter regulations against them.

On Fox News on October 30, Kennedy said: “I’ll get processed food out of school lunch immediately.” Here, he seems to use the word “processed” to mean “ultra-processed.” The term “processed food” refers to any food that has gone through any processing, including healthy foods such as pasteurized milk, home-baked bread and tinned vegetables.

Amati said that while the evidence around additives was “evolving,” Kennedy’s “overall message of reducing ultra-processed foods is right.”

Kennedy on the USDA and FDA

Kennedy has said that regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration contribute to the prevalence of obesity and related diseases in the U.S. for the sake of profit.

For example, at a Maine presidential campaign event in July, he said: “The USDA was created to help the family farmer and to ensure a wholesome food supply, but its actual job is to do exactly the opposite.

“It is to give us poisoned, processed, addictive foods that are mass-poisoning us and killing us, and making us the sickest population in the world.”

Byrne said: “Blaming the food and farming industries entirely for the health issues of Americans ignores so many other contributors to negative healthy outcomes, including the many social determinants of health.”

Amati said: “The overall key message of urgency to change our food environment is aligned with the state of public health.”

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