Why Kennedy sees an ‘epidemic’ of chronic diseases among children
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now President Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has for years drawn attention to what he sees as an “epidemic” of chronic diseases that is leaving American children among the sickest. in the developed world.
Mr. Kennedy blames environmental toxins and a broken food system. But he also points to some of the most lauded developments of the past century: fluoridated water and vaccines that have nearly eradicated diseases like polio.
Most child health experts strongly oppose scaling back fluoridation or vaccinations, saying such changes would harm health and cause outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases.
But many do not reject Mr. Kennedy’s primary diagnosis: it is there a child health crisis in America.
“On this particular point, he’s right,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist who directs the Global Public Health and Wellbeing Program at Boston College.
Even as infectious diseases and infant mortality plummeted in the twentieth century, he added: ‘There is no doubt that non-communicable diseases are increasing in children. I don’t agree with him that vaccines are the cause.”
Many scientists like Dr. Landrigan acknowledge that there are troubling trends in children’s health in the United States, and they welcome Mr. Kennedy’s focus on foods and chemicals in the environment.
At the same time, they say the solutions are not as simple as Mr. Kennedy has sometimes suggested. “It’s very clear that there is no single factor that is causing the increase in all these non-communicable diseases across the board,” said Dr. Landrigan.
Chronic diseases affect the majority of American adults: 60 percent have at least one conditionsuch as high blood pressure or diabetes, and 42 percent have more than one, according to a widely cited RAND Corporation study.
It can be difficult to track the prevalence of chronic disease over time as definitions and research tools have evolved. Some increases in conditions such as autism disorders, or anxiety and depression, reflect greater awareness and better diagnosis.
The diseases that are increasingly common among children include obesity and overweight, respiratory diseases such as asthmamental health conditions and neurodevelopmental disorders, a broad category that includes both the autism spectrum and attention deficit disorders.
About 20 percent of children between 6 and 11 years old were overweight in 2018According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of cases has increased from 4 percent in the early 1960s. According to a new study, more than one in three children is overweight or obese.
One in 36 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder now, compared to one in 150 twenty years ago. One in four have a seasonal allergy, a food allergy or eczema. The number of cases of type 2 diabetes, linked to obesity, and type 1 diabetes has increased in the population people aged 19 and under per year.
Anxiety and depression among teens aged 12 to 17 have steadily increased between 2016 and 2023, and suicide rates below The 10 to 24 age group has also increased, from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 11 per 100,000 in 2021. (Some researchers cite social media as a possible cause.)
And the incidence of cancer in children, while still rare, is creeping up by a fraction of a percent every year since 1975.
“As RFK Jr. is concerned about chronic diseases in America, that’s a good thing because chronic diseases are real and there are things you can do to address them,” said Dr. Richard Besser, a pediatrician and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the former acting director of the CDC
“But if the new administration wants to tackle chronic disease at scale, you want it to be based on good evidence and what we know works,” he said.
Critics have attacked Mr. Kennedy for not always providing a reference or making appropriate comments on the data. But researchers say the trends are generally unmistakable.
“You can split hairs about what’s going on, and what’s not going up but has been going on for a long time,” says Christina Bethell, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and founder and director of the National Child and Public Health. Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative.
“But we need to focus on this,” she added. “We have ignored the well-being of our children for a long time.”
A healthy childhood lays the foundation for a healthy adulthood, she and other scientists noted. Children outgrow some conditions, but others can become a lifelong burden that becomes more severe with age.
“The United States is the only industrialized country where we are experiencing rising mortality among working-age adults, and that really starts at age 15,” says Dr. James Perrin, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and former director of pediatrics at Mass General Hospital for Children.
“That’s really scary, and partly reflects the fact that we’re producing a lot of relatively unhealthy young Americans.”
One consequence: “We face an economy that increasingly faces an inadequate number of working-age adults and frontline workers,” said Dr. Perrin.
Fluoride, vaccines and food
Mr. Kennedy has already outlined a number of priorities if he is appointed secretary of HHS.
Even before the election, he said that on the day he is inaugurated, Trump would “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from the water.” (The federal government has no direct control over local and municipal water systems.)
Fluoridated water is said to greatly improve dental and oral health, which can have an impact on overall well-being. But skeptics have seized on a recent example National Toxicology Program Report which found that fluoride levels exceeding World Health Organization guidelines of 1.5 milligrams per liter of drinking water are associated with slightly lower IQs in children.
The level recommended by the The GGD has set it at 0.7 milligrams per liter of waterless than half of the WHO standard.
Mr. Kennedy also said he would also warn the public about what he believes are the potential side effects and risks of vaccines, which, along with improved sanitation and water, have dramatically reduced infant and child mortality in the 20th century.
In previous interviews, he has said he wants to subject vaccines to the same rigorous randomized clinical trials used to test drugs, and require mandatory reporting of their side effects and complications and monitoring their long-term effects.
“My position is that if you want a vaccine, you should be able to get a vaccine,” Mr. Kennedy said in a recent interview. “But you have to know the safety profile, the risk profile and the efficacy of that vaccine.”
Scientists say the alleged links between vaccines and autism have been thoroughly debunked, and many have labeled his ideas dangerous, warning that discouraging the use of vaccines will lead to epidemics killing children and babies.
Making vaccinations optional for school attendance will lead to piecemeal vaccination in some states, they fear, weakening the population’s protection against infectious diseases and leaving communities vulnerable to outbreaks.
Yet Mr. Kennedy’s declarations of war against processed foods, unsafe pesticides and man-made chemicals have been welcomed by scientists like Dr. Landrigan.
A growing body of evidence has linked early life exposure to chemicals such as phthalates, brominated flame retardants and certain insecticides, along with toxins such as lead and mercury, to impaired cognitive function, lower IQs and neurodevelopmental disorders.
“Looking at evidence that toxic chemicals are major drivers of the non-communicable disease epidemic, it paves the way for improving chemical legislation in this country, which is truly in shambles,” said Dr. Landrigan.
“The fundamental problem is that chemicals are still considered harmless until proven guilty,” he added, “which means they can be introduced to the market with little or no pre-market testing.”
Chemicals such as phthalates and bisphenols in plastics, known as endocrine disruptors – substances in food, personal care products and the environment that can mimic or block hormones and throw the body’s hormones out of balance – have been linked to an increased risk of metabolic disorders and obesity, said Tracey Woodruff, director of the Reproductive Health and Environment Program at the University of California, San Francisco.
“Companies have had undue influence over the science and the regulatory process,” said Dr. Woodruff.
“Federal agencies have not used the most current science. They have allowed tainted science,” she added. “They have not removed financial conflicts of interest from the scientific review process.”
But she, like other scientists, expressed skepticism that Mr. Kennedy would be given a free hand to rid government agencies of corporate influence in the incoming Trump administration.
Mr. Kennedy could start making a difference by removing processed foods from the school lunches, which help feed millions of American children, and adding more fruits and vegetables, Dr. Suggested. Besser.
“That would address one of the biggest causes of poor child health in America, which is poverty,” said Dr. Besser.
