Is America's health secretary RFK Jr a danger to public health?

美国卫生部长RFK Jr.是否对公共卫生构成威胁?

Americast

2025-09-26

31 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

Monday’s White House announcement made headlines worldwide when Donald Trump - flanked by his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior - said taking Tylenol, also known as paracetamol, during pregnancy was linked to a "very increased risk" of autism in children. Medical experts have strongly pushed back on the claims, saying there is not strong enough scientific evidence to show a link, with some calling the president's comments dangerous. In the past few months, several of the main scientists in charge of public health in America have either been sacked by the health secretary, or have resigned in protest at what they say are decisions based on ideology, not scientific data. In today’s episode, Anthony and Marianna chat to Dr Debra Houry, a former chief medical officer at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, who spent a decade at the organisation before resigning in protest over RFK Jr’s leadership. She tells us about the events that pushed her towards resignation, the differences between working with Trump’s first and second administrations, and why she believes RFK Jr poses a risk to public health. HOSTS • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations correspondent • Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast This episode was made by Alix Pickles, Rufus Gray and Purvee Pattni. The technical producer was Mike Regaard and the digital editor is Sophie Millward. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers. US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155 Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below. Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

  • Okay,

  • we're gonna be talking about some big questions in today's episodes We always talk about big questions,

  • but these are particularly big ones ones about science about health about disease about medicine and the role of public health in America and particularly what has been happening recently with vaccines at the center of all of this is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He is the secretary of health in the Trump administration and he has been promising a radical transparency in his department.

  • But critics say he has been delivering something very different.

  • In fact,

  • some of the main scientists in charge of public health in America have either been forced out or directly sacked by RFK Jr. in recent weeks.

  • And they say that they are being forced out

  • because RFK Jr. is making decisions based not on public health on science,

  • but on ideology.

  • So, are these criticisms valid?

  • Or is RFK Jr. bringing this radical transparency and reshaping American public health and making America healthy again,

  • as Donald Trump likes to say?

  • Welcome to AmeriCast.

  • America's America's from BBC News when Donald Trump calls they say yes sir right away sir happy to lick your boot sir we are the sickest country in the world oh dear are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry of course the president supports peaceful protest what a stupid question are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein Hello,

  • it's Anthony in the BBC Bureau in Washington DC.

  • And it is Marianna, a.k.a. misinformation, not in the worldwide headquarters,

  • but actually in San Francisco,

  • where I'm doing this documentary for BBC Two about social media algorithms.

  • So I am even further time difference back than Anthony, which is something I'm not used to.