Scores of Nobel Prize winners have come out against the nomination by the incoming US President Donald Trump of Robert F. Kennedy as the US Secretary of Health.
In a letter published on Monday in the New York Times, the award-winning scientists urged the US Senate to block Kennedy's confirmation, arguing that he would endanger the health of Americans.
The letter was signed by 77 laureates in chemistry, economics, medicine and physics, who cited the politician’s lack of relevant experience in medicine, science, public health, or administration.
The researchers highlighted Kennedy's opposition to many protective and life-saving vaccines, his criticism of the positive effects of fluoridating drinking water, and his spreading of conspiracy theories about proven treatments for AIDS and other diseases.
They also mentioned his opposition to respected institutions, including agencies that fall under the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), such as the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US National Institutes of Health.
“The leader of DHHS should continue to nurture and improve – not threaten – these important and highly respected institutions and their employees,” the letter read. “In view of his record, 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, in both the public and commercial sectors.”
Richard Roberts, a Nobel Prize winner in Medicine in 1993 and one of the letter’s authors, noted that while Nobel laureates usually avoid political matters, Kennedy posed a threat to the country that the scientists could not overlook.
Kennedy initially ran as an independent candidate in the November presidential election, but later supported Republican Donald Trump.
