• Trump plans to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his secretary of health and human services.
• Kennedy spread misinformation about vaccines, fluoride, raw milk and other topics.
• Here’s what Kennedy has said in the past about 11 health issues.

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to a press Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Secretary of Human Services sent a wave of panic through much of the public health world, given Kennedy’s history of false or misleading claims about vaccines, fluoride and other topics, NBC News reports.

Health was the centerpiece of Kennedy’s presidential bid, which he suspended over the summer. At the time, his key issues included reducing the influence of pharmaceutical companies on government agencies, combating chronic health problems among children, and improving food safety. In promoting these causes, he presented a mixture of ideas – some supported by science, others that have been repeatedly debunked.

After endorsing Trump in August, Kennedy continued to promote a similar agenda called “Make America Healthy Again.”

Trump said last month that if elected, would let Kennedy ‘go wild’ about health, food and medicine. Around the same time, Kennedy said that a future the Trump administration would end the Food and Drug Administration’s “aggressive crackdown” on vitamins, raw milk, stem cells and certain drugs.

Kennedy’s team did not respond to a request for comment. Trump’s team did not comment on Kennedy’s previous claims and instead referred to NBC News Trump’s statement announcing his election.

If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy would oversee 13 federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Here’s what Kennedy had to say about 11 health problems.

Vaccines

Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine activist grouphas repeatedly questioned the safety and effectiveness of routine vaccinations such as those for hepatitis B and influenza. In particular, he has he reiterated a completely debunked theory that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine causes autism. The theory is linked to research from the 1990s that was later discredited and retracted; its author, Andrew Wakefield lost his medical license. Many subsequent studies have found no link between the vaccine and autism.

Kennedy also referred to the Covid vaccine as “the deadliest vaccine ever made”, despite the data showing that it is overwhelmingly certain.

He is against school vaccination mandates, but Kennedy he told NBC News this month that he doesn’t want to get rid of vaccines altogether. “I will make sure there are scientific studies of safety and effectiveness, and people can make individual assessments,” he said.

Kennedy expressed doubts about the existing scientific literature on approved vaccines that shows they are safe and effective. Trump’s transition co-chair Howard Lutnick told CNN that Kennedy wants to “take the data and show that it’s not safe.”

Raw milk

Kennedy said that he drink only raw milk. By doing so, people are at risk of foodborne illness because pasteurization kills pathogens. Up to 30 states allow the sale of raw milk, but the FDA regulates its sale across state borders.

Raw milk is a particular threat right now, given the widespread outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows. The The CDC warned that it could be possible to contract bird flu from drinking raw milk.

PESTICIDES

Kennedy turned to the US to revise its pesticide standards, pointing to a list of 72 approved pesticides which are prohibited or being phased out in the European Union.

In particular, he drew attention to glyphosate – an herbicide that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has said is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The Environmental Protection Agency found no evidence to support this link, but it did the methodology was different from IARC. Some experts say more research is needed. Verdicts in trials on the chemical’s supposed link to cancer have been mixed.

Kennedy also suggested that the pesticide atrazine may be linked to gender dysphoria and changes in children’s sexual identity. As evidence, he cited a study that found that some male frogs that were exposed to atrazine in a laboratory could produce viable eggs. There is no evidence that atrazine could have the same effect in humans, let alone influence gender or sexuality.

fluorine

Kennedy wants remove fluoride from drinking watertelling NBC News that “the sooner it goes out, the better.” He recently claimed on X that fluoride is associated with arthritis, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease.

But he CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics and other health organizations said that fluoride levels in drinking water are safe and helps reduce caries. According to the CDC, the only documented risks are cosmetic problems, such as discolored enamel or small holes in the teeth.

Stem cells

One post on X last monthKennedy referred to the FDA’s “aggressive crackdown” on stem cells. He did not elaborate, but the comment could be a reference to some for-profit clinics offering stem cell treatments which were not approved.

The FDA said the field of stem cell therapy holds promise for treating diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s and diabetes. But it has called certain clinics because it made misleading claims about unproven treatments, and in some cases did took steps to stop the clinics from their administration.

Heavy metals

Kennedy condemned his presence heavy metals in food and falsely claimed that a mercury-based preservative no longer used in childhood vaccines was linked to autism. CDC says there is no evidence that’s why.

Kennedy argued in 2012 that suffered from mercury poisoningmaybe because of eating too much fish. After that health scare, he said, he went on chelation therapy, which pulls heavy metals from the blood. Last month, he suggested that the FDA had suppressed this form of therapy. The agency approved chelation therapy for certain uses, such as treating lead poisoning, but did warned of companies selling unapproved, over-the-counter versions.

Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine

During the pandemic, fringe groups presented two antiparasitic drugs as treatments for Covid: ivermectin, usually used for worm infections, and hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria and certain autoimmune conditions. The FDA briefly issued an emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid, but revoked that authorization after data showed it was ineffective.

Studies on ivermectin also showed that it was not an effective treatment for Covid. No drugs are FDA-approved for this purpose.

But Kennedy has cast doubt on those findings, arguing without evidence that the drugs have been discredited because various groups have resisted making money from Covid vaccines.

Covid and race

At an event last year, Kennedy promoted a racist and antisemitic theory that Covid “ethnically targeted” black and white people, but not Ashkenazi Jews or Chinese. While blacks, Hispanics and other minority groups have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, there is no evidence that race affects immunity to the coronavirus — rather, public health experts have found that socioeconomic factors have made it harder for some groups to access vaccines and healthcare.

Cell phone radiation

Kennedy he told podcaster Joe Rogan last year, cell phone radiation can cause cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has said that this type of radiation is possibly carcinogenic, but the FDA and the National Cancer Institute say there is not enough evidence to support this.

HIV and AIDS

Kennedy has falsely suggested that AIDS was caused in part by “heavy recreational drug use in male homosexuals and drug addicts.” Scientific research has determined that the cause of AIDS is the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.

Antidepressants

Kennedy amplified baseless claims suggesting a link between antidepressants like Prozac and school shootings. “Before the introduction of Prozac, we had almost none of these events,” he told billionaire Elon Musk last year.

But research shows that most school shooters were not previously treated with psychotropic drugs—and even when they were, there was no association between those drugs and the shooting.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News: