Ask Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about climate change and he’ll tell you that no one should even question the overwhelming scientific consensus.
Ask about vaccinations, and he’ll tell you that the scientific consensus and “sock puppet” federal agencies are conspiring with drug-makers to cover up a dangerous threat.
That’s just what he told a rally this week at the New Jersey Statehouse. The target: a bill to require parents to provide an explanation when they ask to opt out of mandatory vaccinations for their kids.
RFK Jr. has long been a national spokesman for the Looney Tunes brigade on vaccinations — spewing junk-science paranoia at a time when nearly eradicated childhood diseases like measles and whooping cough are re-emerging, thanks to anti-science hysteria.
What Democrat will pass up a chance to be seen with the bearer of such a potent political name? Kennedy used that star power this month to help defeat an Oregon bill to tighten vaccine exemptions.
Backed by such science heavyweights as actress Jenny McCarthy, Kennedy claims a vast government conspiracy is responsible for kids being injected with thimerosal, which he says causes autism.
Yet the scientific consensus is far more solid here than on climate change: Thimerasol does not cause autism or any other disorder. Indeed, it was removed from pediatric vaccines 14 years ago, yet autism rates continue to rise.
The real threat to kids isn’t some imaginared conspiracy, but Robert Kennedy’s promotion of dangerous pseudo-science — and the politicians who take him seriously.