Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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Feds Announce 2 Investigations of Duke University

Education Department questions use of race in law journal selection

(Newser) - The US Department of Education has opened an investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal, prompted by allegations that race, color, or national origin may factor into decisions about who joins the law journal. The probe, announced Monday, is rooted in claims that Duke's selection process could...

Feds Crack Down on Organ Removal After 'Horrifying' Finds

Move follows reports of organs taken from people before death was confirmed

(Newser) - The US government is tightening oversight of its organ transplant system after troubling reports that organs were being removed from patients who were not definitively dead . Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that a nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving Kentucky and parts of...

Research Clashes With Claim by Kennedy About Vaccines

Study of 1.2M people sees no link between aluminum in doses and disorders including autism

(Newser) - A major new study has investigated the claim by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others that vaccines administered to protect children from infectious diseases are dangerous—and found no evidence of it. Vaccine critics often cite aluminum salts, a product added to many childhood vaccines to increase their...

HHS Moves to Block Head Start for Illegal Immigrants

Trump administration reclassifies preschool program as a federal public benefit

(Newser) - The Trump administration will restrict immigrants in the country illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. The move is part of a broad effort to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status, reports...

GOP Senator Offers Withering Assessment of Hegseth

Defense secretary seems to be 'out of his depth,' says Thom Tillis

(Newser) - A Republican senator has offered an unusually harsh critique of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though it's a Republican senator who no longer has much to fear about crossing the Trump administration. North Carolina's Thom Tillis, who voted to confirm Hegseth, said the following to CNN anchor Jake...

Medical Groups Sue Kennedy Over Vaccines

Pregnant woman joins the suit, which demands a reversal in COVID policy

(Newser) - Six major medical groups—and a pregnant woman—are taking health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to court, alleging that recent moves to restrict vaccines put public health at risk, reports the Washington Post . In particular, the lawsuit aims to reverse the decision to drop COVID vaccines from the...

Kennedy's Vaccine Panel Backs New RSV Shot

Approval is something of a surprise given the skeptics on the panel

(Newser) - The first vote of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new vaccine panel ended up being a surprising one, reports USA Today . The panel, which includes known vaccine critics , gave the green light to a new shot to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Though two members disagreed,...

RFK Jr.'s Overhauled Vaccine Panel Loses a Member

Panel set to begin 2-day meeting on Wednesday

(Newser) - Just as its first meeting under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to begin, a newly restructured federal vaccine advisory panel has lost one of its new members. The New York Times reports one of the eight members Kennedy installed two weeks ago after firing all 17 members of...

Kraft Heinz to Drop Artificial Dyes in US Foods

Move follows government scrutiny and shifting consumer health preferences

(Newser) - Kraft Heinz is pledging to remove all artificial dyes from its US foods by 2027, signaling a major shift as health concerns and government scrutiny put synthetic colors in the spotlight. The company, known for brands like Kraft Mac & Cheese, Heinz ketchup, Jell-O, and Capri-Sun, said it will...

Kennedy's Vaccine Panel Picks Include Vaccine Skeptics

Health secretary names 8 new members to panel he just recently stripped

(Newser) - All those reassuring promises Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made before he was confirmed as President Trump's health secretary appear to have gone up in a puff of smoke, with Kennedy choosing an anti-vaccine activist and other well-known vaccine skeptics to join the CDC's independent vaccine advisory committee, which...

All 17 Members of Panel on Vaccines Are Ousted by RFK Jr.

Move clears way for Trump picks while seeming to reverse a confirmation pledge

(Newser) - Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that he has removed the 17 members of a panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines so that he can install people of his choosing. The move, he said in an oped piece in the Wall Street ...

NIH Staffers Risk Their Careers With Open Letter

Dozens sign name to letter protesting cuts, and hundreds more sign anonymously

(Newser) - More than 300 current and former National Institutes of Health employees have taken the unusual step of publicly protesting deep funding cuts, staff firings, and "policies that undermine the NIH mission." Details:
  • Read the open letter here . It was sent to NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, health secretary
...

Vaccine Official Quits After RFK Jr. 'Blindsides' CDC

He bypassed normal procedure on COVID vaccine recommendations

(Newser) - A top official at the CDC resigned this week after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bypassed normal procedures with an order on the agency's COVID-19 vaccine guidance. Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, who helped oversee CDC vaccine recommendations, announced her resignation to the COVID-19 vaccine work group early Tuesday, according to...

Researchers Predict Lots More Cavities if Fluoride Goes

Study says the ramifications could be expensive

(Newser) - A nationwide ban on adding fluoride to public drinking water could saddle US families with billions in dental bills and result in millions of additional cavities, according to a new study published in JAMA Health Forum . Researchers modeled two scenarios: one in which all public water systems contain optimal...

Kennedy's MAHA Report Has Some Big Gaffes
Kennedy's Health Report
Has Some Serious Gaffes
the rundown
May 30, 2025 7:40 AM CDT

Kennedy's Health Report Has Some Serious Gaffes

Footnotes cite nonexistent studies, apparently the work of artificial intelligence

(Newser) - The Make America Healthy Again commission led by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued an exhaustive report last month prescribing changes for Americans' health. It was crammed with more than 500 footnotes citing studies to buttress its findings—but multiple outlets have found that many of those studies don'...

Feds Cut Key Food Program for Native Americans

Program brought fresh, local food to reservations

(Newser) - After a federal program delivering fresh, local food to Native American reservations was abruptly cut, tribal leaders are scrambling to fill the void, fearing a return to food insecurity and loss of cultural traditions. The USDA has ended its Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program, following a decision...

RFK Jr. Pleads for Ostriches Awaiting Death in Canada

US officials back family in seeking to prevent cull of 400 birds exposed to avian

(Newser) - US officials have offered to assist a Canadian farm fighting to keep its flock of 400 ostriches alive, though a cull may be coming regardless. The Universal Ostrich farm in southeastern British Columbia was ordered to cull its flock after an outbreak of avian flu killed 69 birds in December...

RFK Jr.: Medical Journals 'Are All Corrupt"

He plans to ban government scientists from publishing research in established journals

(Newser) - Robert F. Kennedy has threatened to bar government scientists from publishing their work in some of the world's most prestigious medical journals. On the Ultimate Human Podcast With Gary Brecka on Tuesday, the US health secretary called the established journals corrupt and said the National Institutes of Health, the...

Kennedy Shifts COVID Policy for Kids, Pregnant Women

CDC will no longer recommend routine vaccinations for healthy members of both groups

(Newser) - It's a big shift for the CDC: The agency will no longer recommend routine COVID shots for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women," health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a video posted on X. The move alters prior CDC guidance that called for vaccination...

MAHA Commission Releases Long-Anticipated Report

It targets over-processed foods, chemicals in the environment, and, unsurprisingly, vaccines

(Newser) - During his election night party, President Trump promised to let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. do whatever he wants to "make America healthy again." With Kennedy as America's top health official, that process is now well underway. The Make America Healthy Again Commission that Trump established after taking...

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