MS NOW’s top medical analyst has blasted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his “embarrassing” track record in making false or misleading claims about a range of public health issues.
Dr. Vin Gupta, a public health physician who was formerly chief medical officer at Amazon, appeared on Ana Cabrera Reports on Tuesday to discuss a study that debunked the claim that fluoride in drinking water lowers children’s IQ.
The addition of fluoride to drinking water has frequently been praised as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century for drastically lowering tooth decay in American children. However, skepticism about fluoride intensified soon after Kennedy was confirmed as health secretary in the Trump administration.
The misleading attacks against fluoride from Kennedy follow numerous other debunked claims pushed by the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ figurehead. These include dangerous claims surrounding COVID-19 and measles vaccines, as well as suggesting there was a link between pregnant women taking Tylenol and autism in children.
“I think about the last 14 months of us having to have these conversations, and I think a lot of people are exhausted that we have to do these course corrections,” Gupta said. “I mean, when have they been right?”
“Look at measles. They initially linked it to autism. They still do it. They soft-message on it. They talk about vitamin A as a treatment for measles. It’s ridiculous. That has now been proven wrong.”
“Tylenol and pregnancy. They had to walk that back. You and I had to deal with so much messaging on that six months ago. They had to walk that back because it was fundamentally wrong. And poor women out there who needed Tylenol to treat a fever during pregnancy being told ‘Don’t do it’ from the president. It was irresponsible.”
While sharing a clip of his remarks on X, Gupta said Kennedy has an “embarrassing track record not worthy of the stature of his office.”
Gupta also noted during his appearance on MS Now that acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya, a vaccine critic and close ally of Kennedy, delayed the release of a report that showed COVID-19 vaccines reduced the likelihood of COVID-19-related hospitalizations by 55 percent.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Michigan also found that fluoride has no negative effects on IQ after studying its effects on 10,000 people over the course of decades.
GOP-led states Florida and Utah have passed legislation banning the addition of fluoride to public drinking water following a smear campaign spearheaded by Kennedy.
“The people that we have in here—I say this as a clinician—are not accountable to the people that they should be serving, which are patients,” Gupta told MS NOW.
“And this is not what good medicine looks like. At its core, good medicine is consistent, clear, truthful information. That’s not what they’re doing.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Health and Human Services Department for comment.
