A group of 77 Nobel laureates — a coalition from the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry and economics — wrote an open letter to the Senate on Monday urging lawmakers to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in health science,” the letter, obtained by The New York Times, reads.
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Kennedy last month, saying the man would soon play “a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives.” But he did not mention Kennedy’s long campaign against the science surrounding vaccines or his proposals to remove fluoride from drinking water.
Those stances, the Nobel Prize winners wrote, should be disqualifying.
“The proposal to place Mr. Kennedy in charge of the federal agencies responsible for protecting the health of American citizens and for conducting the medical research that benefits our country and the rest of humanity has been widely criticized on multiple grounds,” the document reads. “In addition to his lack of credentials or relevant experiences in medicine, science, public health or administration, Mr. Kennedy has been an opponent of many health-protecting and life-saving vaccines.”
“The leader of DHHS should continue to nurture and improve — not threaten — these important and highly respected institutions and their employees.”
Richard Roberts, the winner of the Nobel in Physiology or Medicine in 1993, told the Times it was the first time in recent memory a group of laureates had gathered to oppose a Cabinet nominee. Roberts added that laureates tend to shy away from politics if possible, but described the Trump administration’s efforts to attack science as “very damaging.”
“You have to stand up and protect it,” he told the paper.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition rejected the laureates’ claims in a statement to the Times.
“Americans are sick and tired of the elites telling them what to do and how to do it,” the spokesperson said. “Our healthcare system in this country is broken, Mr. Kennedy will enact President Trump’s agenda to restore the integrity of our healthcare and Make America Healthy Again.”