Doctors are warning that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s nominee to Health and Human Services Secretary, is talking inaccurately about drugs like Ozempic and other similar medications used for treating obesity and diabetes.
In October, Kennedy appeared on Fox News’s Gutfeld! talk show, where he was asked about a study suggesting Ozempic might show promising addressing conditions including drug abuse, sleep apnea, and cognitive decline.
In response, Kennedy claimed drugmakers were trying to sell the drug to Americans “because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.” He also falsely claimed such drugs aren’t marketed in Europe and are currently being investigated for causing suicidal ideation. A European regulator concluded in April available evidence doesn’t link such drugs to suicide.
Kennedy argued instead that American could combat obesity and chronic disease by focusing on delivering healthy food to the masses, rather than expanding the use of drugs like Ozempic.
“Giving good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman, and child in this country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight for a tiny fraction of the cost,” he added.
Public health experts told CNN this is an oversimplification, and that drugs like Ozempic, known as GLP-1 medications, have a role to play.
“He acts like he knows what he’s talking about when he doesn’t, and he says things with a definition that makes people convinced he has the data to support his statement,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN, adding, “We all agree it’s a very important issue. But a lot of his thinking is like ‘A plus B plus C plus miracle, and you’ve got an answer.’”
“It is wrong to assume that people with high body weight and BMI just sit around and eat low-quality food,” Dr. Jody Dushay, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, added, speaking with CNN. “Taking medication to treat obesity should not be demonized.”
The reaction mirrors medical thought on many of Kennedy’s proposals for the incoming Trump administration, which target widely agreed-upon health issues like chronic disease and obesity, but propose solutions often discredited by experts.
Many doctors are concerned that Kennedy is a leading anti-vaccine activist, who has compared vaccine mandates to the Nazi era and claimed this summer there’s no vaccine that is “safe and effective.”
“After decades of research and billions of vaccines administered, we know vaccines save lives, do not cause chronic diseases, and can prevent cancers of the liver, cervix, and mouth,” Dr Tom Frieden, former director of the CDC, recently wrote in STAT about Kennedy’s views. “His unfounded claims don’t just prey on personal tragedies, mislead people, and undermine confidence in safe and effective vaccines; they also divert energy and attention from figuring out what really causes — and how to prevent — the chronic diseases we don’t yet understand.”
Kennedy has also pushed to remove flouride from the water supply, which the CDC considers one of the 10 greatest public health interventions of the 20th century because of a dramatic decrease in cavities since the process began in 1945.
The HHS nominee has called for increasing access to raw milk, which health authorities warn can carry dangerous pathogens such as E. coli, salmonella, and listeria.
