Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Claims Fluoride Is ‘Lowering IQ’ in Children, Denies Being Anti-Vax | Video

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continued to speak about his concerns with fluoride being used in the United States’ water supply on Wednesday. He claimed, “It’s lowering IQ in our children,” despite major medical associations and other groups supporting its use as safe and one that benefits the U.S. population.

Hedging, Kennedy said he wouldn’t force water districts to remove fluoride from public water, but would advise them “about their legal liability” to protect their constituents, he told NBC News. It’s unclear what that liability would be due to the use of fluoride at the levels in public water widely being accepted by the scientific community as safe.

“I’m going to give them good information about the science,” Kennedy said. “And I think fluoride will disappear.”

Kennedy has previously spread the unfounded conspiracy theory that man-made chemicals in public water were affecting how young people identified sexually and caused “gender confusion.” NBC notes that fluoridated water “has been heralded by major public health groups who point to studies saying it reduced tooth decay by at least 25%.”

Watch Kennedy’s full interview with NBC News here:

When questioned about what his efforts around fluoride would look like, a frustrated Kennedy exclaimed, “Listen to what I’m saying! And then I’ll tell you.”

He then pointed to a court decision by a judge appointed under former President Barack Obama that asked the EPA to incorporate new science on the use of fluoride in water, with Kennedy adding that this is why he believes “fluoride is on the way out.”

“I think the faster that it goes out, the better,” Kennedy said.

Vaccines under Trump and Kennedy

Kennedy denied being anti-vaccine, despite his history of repeatedly questioning the efficacy of vaccines and speciously connecting them with autism. He has also been involved with anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense.

“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away,” Kennedy told NBC.

Kennedy had specifically spoken out against the COVID vaccine when it was fast-tracked and approved during the pandemic, but told NBC that his argument was that the shot wouldn’t prevent transmission.

“I knew in May of 2020 that the vaccines were not going to protect against transmission because I was actually reading the monkey studies,” Kennedy said, though he noted he wouldn’t have “directly blocked it.”

Kennedy said that he would have been “honest” with the public at the time and made sure that the public was relying on the best science. During these efforts, conducted under the first Trump administration, “There was no effort to do that,” Kennedy said.

Trump himself hasn’t ruled out banning particular vaccines, previously telling NBC, “I’m going to talk to [Kennedy] and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views.”

Kennedy praised Trump for writing tweets about health issues that read like they could have been written by Kennedy himself.

“People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” Kennedy said. “So I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them.”

His role in the Trump administration

Kennedy’s position in the new Trump administration has yet to be settled, Kennedy said, but floated that he may be a “White House health czar.” He also didn’t rule out potentially serving as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy promised to address ingredients in food that “are illegal in Europe” and other countries, which he alleges are “making our kids sick.”

Trump has given Kennedy a role that he said includes cleaning up “corruption” in federal health agencies. What will that look like? Kennedy said that he would clear federal workers out of departments who he didn’t think had been doing their jobs, including “entire departments” in some cases.

He specifically promised to eliminate the Food and Drug Administration’s nutrition departments, saying they “have to go” because its workers are “not doing their job.”

“They’re not protecting our kids. Why do we have Fruit Loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients and you go to Canada and it’s got two or three?” he said.

Kennedy said that he will meet with senior Trump aides on Wednesday to talk about what his role is going to be going forward.

You can watch Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s full interview with NBC News in the video above.

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