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submitted 1 year ago by sundray@lemmus.org to c/science@lemmy.world

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/48326364

  • Slashed Autism Funding: RFK Jr. promised to identify the causes of autism but has eliminated parts of his agency actively investigating them and has cut millions in funding for autism research.
  • Silent on Rollbacks: Once an ardent environmentalist who took on big polluters, RFK Jr. has been silent on Trump’s dismantling of efforts to combat climate change and pollution.
  • Conflicting Priorities: RFK Jr. helps lead an administration that is reversing regulations on pollution and chemicals, including some linked to autism.
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[-] Denjin@feddit.uk 57 points 1 year ago

RFK has personally benefitted financially from the vaccines - autism misinformation mill. He's not going to support funding that for the thousandth time proves there's no link and the increase in autism rates is entirely contained within the now broader spectrum of what we define autism as.

[-] negativenull@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It

[-] Denjin@feddit.uk 13 points 1 year ago

He understands exactly what he's doing. Calling people like RFK stupid gives them too much credit.

[-] TORFdot0@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Believing that he is stupid is less depressing than believing he is malicious and that a plurality of your countrymen voted for malice

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[-] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

RFK JR supports a pedophile. Reveal the unaltered Epstein files and step down

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[-] Goodtoknow@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 year ago

Probably because there's strong evidence a major environmental cause is Car Tire and break dust microplastics. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4019010/

Can't say bad thing about the auto industry and industrial oil & gas complex

[-] datalowe@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Interesting article! :)

I hate what the fossil fuel and auto industries are doing just as much as the next person, but the article by itself is not strong evidence of a causal relationship, only of an association. Their own conclusion in the abstract is literally: "Exposure to TRP, NO2, PM2.5, and PM10 during pregnancy and the first year of life was associated with autism. Further epidemiological and toxicological examination of likely biological pathways will help determine whether these associations are causal."

It could for instance be that for some reason, parents with higher autistic traits tend to be less bothered by/concerned about the noise, smell etc from roads. Which could explain differences in parents' exposure, since autism has such a strong hereditary factor. I'm not saying this is the case, just pointing out one of many possible alternative explanations.

Overall the study can be used to say we have another reason to be cautious and reduce car pollution as fast as possible, IMO. But building weak arguments based on it only makes it easier for corps to defang this type of research.

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[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Relatedly, he also claimed to have concerns about the safety of vaccines (especially MRNA vaccines) and just wanted to get to the bottom of it. So he's ignoring existing vaccine research and cutting new research.

The words were just window dressing. The right wing does not speak in good faith.

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

The right wing does not speak in good faith.

Aka fash always lie.

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

He slashed funding to the groups that aren't getting the answers he wants.

In the near future, new funding will be made available for crackpot organizations that give him the results he wants.

[-] bajabound@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

And now we'll turn over the mic to our assistant secretary for health Jenny McCarthy...

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

She actually renounced her stand on autism and vaccines. however, I can feel that the return of Andrew Wakefield is imminent. He's dating Elle MacPherson.

[-] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 year ago

wish the kennedy curse would stop taking it's sweet time getting to rfk jr

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 1 year ago

The curse only kicks off if you add something good to society. His whole life is a joke with no punchline.

When I was a kid I had no understanding of the genius of the band name "The Dead Kennedys".

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[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 year ago

The real damage here is not RFK as much as Trump ending NIH funding. And there is little/no public outcry. 5 years from now, there will be no new drugs (pharma does not actually do basic drug research any more).

[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

US Pharma does plenty of drug research, not nearly as much as advertising mind you. it's just not anything that's actually beneficial for the bulk of society.

[-] medgremlin@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

Most of the drug research that actually produces new, useful treatments is done by universities and government research institutions, (or at least it was before the budget cuts). That research produced with state funding is then bought for pennies on the dollar by big pharma who does the last couple steps and reaps all of the financial rewards.

The NIH and CDC would be fully funded in perpetuity (along with many research institutions and universities) if they got paid even a fraction of the profits for their foundational research.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

I can't wait for boomers to blame the Democrats

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[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 year ago

RFK jr is plagued with an unknown illness. That shit river is more qualified to run the CDC.

Yes, America has a health and food issue. However this guy is as close to solving it as JD Vance is to solving his wife's pussy.

[-] NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Once an ardent environmentalist who took on big polluters, RFK Jr. has been silent on Trump’s dismantling of efforts to combat climate change and pollution.

He became the very monster he sought to destroy.

[-] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 9 points 1 year ago

Some chemicals that may be linked to autism, but they are rolling back regulations that are linked to all sorts of things worse. And with the amount of time it takes to put any of this regulation in place it'll be decades just to reverse it all, but the world will be a much more toxic place by then when coupled with his attacks on the climate also.

[-] Lexam@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

It's because he found out that research is what causes autism.

[-] canajac@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If RFK Sr. was around he would disown this fucking clown. His family has already done it. What a loser! But he fits in with the rest of the idiots who counsel the King Idiot himself. What a world we live in and it's only because trump has let loose the fools to rampage. F*** em all!

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[-] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 8 points 1 year ago

You can't make people afraid of the bogeyman if someone keeps turning on the lights

[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

The environmental cause is not going to church. Just wait he is gonna prove that. /s

[-] JayJLeas@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Well, I did only got diagnosed with autism after I stopped going to church...

[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

In my experience when someone says some variation of 'we don't believe in that' about mental health treatment. They are either a clueless victim of a narcissist or they are a narcissist. Many narcissist end up a preacher/god botherer. A narcissist fears mental health treatment more than they fear death. They don't want their victims to get it either. Since it will expose them. They say things like 'They always blame X' X being the narc or the narcs fud.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago

It's a shame what this loser has done to his father's name...

[-] Tedesche@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Plague Carrier Kennedy is a religious whack job who is functionally the Disease variant of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. He is as close a thing Christians have to a living Antichrist as exists IRL.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

So he can start with the conclusion and then find the “research” that backs him up.

[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

To be fair, Brainworm K Jr. doesn't need research funding to produce a paper identifying the environmental cause of Autism by citing stormfront.

[-] hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

“They say his father was a great man, he must be what’s left.”

[-] Eternal192@piefed.social 4 points 1 year ago

They gave him a few answers which were kinda the same just worded differently and he didn't like those answers and now until someone leaks those theories we won't find out the reason either.

[-] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

He already “knows” what it is. It’s been a shame from the start he doesn’t give af

[-] staph@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

It’s all a theater play with them, they’re dumb but only in a very myopic understanding of intelligence. They’d managed not just to outwit, but to run circles around half the population of the US.

[-] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Exactly, if he wanted to achieve half of his goals for the food supply, the only solution is a shitload of regulation. I'm sure the Republicans will jump all over that.

[-] yucandu@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago
[-] sundray@lemmus.org 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Making the COVID vaccines illegal will only make our future children stronger! /s

[-] banause@feddit.org 3 points 1 year ago

Honest question to US citizens: why are so many people so obsessed with autism at yours? 🧐

[-] Soapbox@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Jenny McCarthy told me it's vaccines. So we are getting rid of those. Autism forever cured." -Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2025
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