A group of 75 Nobel laureates are concerned that there will be a disaster for public health, with someone like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the Department of Health and Human Services.
The New York Times reports that "it's the first time in recent memory that Nobel laureates have banded together against a Cabinet choice," according to 1993 winner, Richard Roberts, who helped draft the letter to Senators.
The physiologist called out Kennedy for "political attacks on science," which he called "very damaging."
"You have to stand up and protect it," Roberts added.
The letter says Kennedy, an environmental lawyer by trade, lacks " credentials" in medicine and science.
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“Placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences,” it continues.
Kennedy has a history of vaccine skepticism and seeks to withdraw fluoridation in drinking water.
The letter also points out that Kennedy has been a “belligerent critic” of the government agencies he would oversee, such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy has already pledged to fire hundreds of NIH employees and alleged that the FDA waged a "war on public health."
“The leader of DHHS should continue to nurture and improve — not to threaten — these important and highly respected institutions and their employees,” the letter also said.
“Science is dependent on the political structures of this country," Roberts said. “I don’t think we should be burying our heads in the sand just because we’re scientists."
He added: “Maybe there are some who will read this and think, 'Well, we really do want to protect the health of our citizens. They didn’t elect us so that we could kill them.'”