Invoice Nye, the science educator who’s been a TV mainstay for many years, shouldn’t be the form of man you’d count on could be buddies with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., probably the most outstanding anti-science kook within the nation. However apparently they go method again. And Nye is getting sick of all of the texts he’s getting from Kennedy spouting absolute rubbish.
Nye met Kennedy “a few years in the past,” based on a brand new profile of The Science Man in Men’s Health journal, after the 2 males have been launched by actor Ed Begley Jr. to speak about environmental points. Nye instructed the journal that Kennedy, who’s now the pinnacle of the Division of Well being and Human Companies, sends him countless texts.
“Simply no self-awareness,” Nye mentioned of Kennedy. “And in case you learn these articles he despatched, they’re all this hypothesis about autism and simply cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that perhaps there’s a connection.”
Kennedy has lengthy been an anti-vaccine extremist, working from 2015-2023 as chair of the Youngsters’s Well being Protection. The well being secretary has beforehand mentioned “there’s no vaccine that’s protected and efficient” and has labored to restrict entry to vaccines, risking the lives of tens of millions of Individuals.
Nye instructed Males’s Well being that he responded to the texts by saying he’d learn Kennedy’s guide, although it’s not clear which one. Kennedy has contributed to fairly a couple of anti-science screeds, together with books like Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Communicate, The Wuhan Cowl-Up, and 2021’s The Actual Anthony Fauci. That final one features a part the place Kennedy promotes “miasma idea” and rejects germ idea. Miasma idea was deserted within the 19th century, whereas the germ idea of illness is foundational to our Twenty first-century understanding of how diseases spread.
Nye instructed the journal that after he obtained “miles and miles” of texts from Kennedy, he lastly mentioned, “Okay, no extra texts,” concluding Kennedy merely wasn’t suited to the job he’s holding within the Trump administration.
Kennedy is a harmful lunatic who doesn’t even imagine in germ idea. However he’s going to do a variety of injury earlier than he leaves his job. And it’s already taking place. Kennedy’s so-called Make America Wholesome Once more fee issued a report final month that was riddled with errors and cited research that don’t exist. And earlier this week, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). These are the parents who assist steer the nation’s vaccine insurance policies.
The FDA beneath Kennedy can be reportedly utilizing AI to assist approve new drugs, one thing that boggles the thoughts while you bear in mind simply how unreliable AI might be. Kennedy has repeatedly touted “spirituality” as a repair to America’s well being disaster, one thing Trump’s new choose to be Surgeon Normal has emphasised as well.
Kennedy has lengthy claimed that vaccines trigger autism, and promised throughout a White Home occasion back in April that he would reveal the “trigger” of autism by the autumn. Science doesn’t work with that form of certainty or timetable, saying the reason for a given illness such as you’re unveiling a brand new Star Wars present earlier than the vacations. However we’re not coping with critical folks, as Trump has taken cost, booting scientific consultants in favor of the weirdest folks on the planet.
The Science Man could attempt to be diplomatic relating to his outdated pal, “Bobby” Kennedy, as he calls him within the new Males’s Well being article. However when even your mates are saying you don’t have “common sense” in nationwide magazines, one thing is method off.
