This piece originally appeared as part of NPR's live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.
In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep this morning, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the Trump administration, which he will likely be a part of, will recommend removing fluoride from the country’s drinking water.
Kennedy, who endorsed Donald Trump in August, is part of the president-elect's transition team and has asked for a role relating to health in Trump’s administration. In October, Trump said he would give Kennedy a role in his administration, but that has not been defined yet.
“We don’t need fluoride in our water,” Robert F. Kennedy said on Morning Edition. “It’s a very bad way to deliver it into our systems.”
Fluoride, a mineral that helps strengthen teeth and reduces cavities, has been added to United States drinking water in some areas since 1945, but the decision to add fluoride is made at the local level. The federal government cannot decide on water fluoridation but can make recommendations for or against its use and in what concentration. Around 70% of the U.S. population has access to fluoridated tap water.
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Kennedy also said that one of his immediate priorities would be to review research on vaccines. Kennedy has long been critical of vaccines and vaccine mandates and once said that it was “criminal medical malpractice” to give a child a COVID-19 vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children. Kennedy has also repeatedly claimed that vaccines cause autism, despite a large amount of evidence that vaccines are not to blame.
“Of course, we’re not going to take vaccines away from anybody,” Kennedy said. “We are going to make sure that Americans have good information about vaccines and vaccine safety.
Kennedy, who is related to a long line of famous Democrats, said that the party is run by millionaires and no longer represents the desires of working people, but an elite class.
“The Republican party is now the party of labor unions, the party of working people, of the American poor,” Kennedy said. “And those are the people who voted for Donald Trump and those are the people who he’s going to keep his promises to.”
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