Spyke

RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/48326364

  • Slashed Autism Funding: RFK Jr. promised to identify the causes of autism but has eliminated parts of his agency actively investigating them and has cut millions in funding for autism research.
  • Silent on Rollbacks: Once an ardent environmentalist who took on big polluters, RFK Jr. has been silent on Trump’s dismantling of efforts to combat climate change and pollution.
  • Conflicting Priorities: RFK Jr. helps lead an administration that is reversing regulations on pollution and chemicals, including some linked to autism.
RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.https://www.propublica.org/article/rfk-jr-autism-environment-research-fundingOpen linkView original on lemmus.org
happydoorsreply
lemmy.world

Is there any validity behind this? Would love another bullet point to hate him more

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feddit.uk

RFK has personally benefitted financially from the vaccines - autism misinformation mill. He's not going to support funding that for the thousandth time proves there's no link and the increase in autism rates is entirely contained within the now broader spectrum of what we define autism as.

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lemmy.world

It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It

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Denjinreply
feddit.uk

He understands exactly what he's doing. Calling people like RFK stupid gives them too much credit.

13

Believing that he is stupid is less depressing than believing he is malicious and that a plurality of your countrymen voted for malice

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Again, I disagree that RFK is a moron. He's a highly educated with a BA from Harvard and a master of law. He's from extraordinary privilege from possibly the most influential and powerful family in modern American history (excluding perhaps the Trumps now). He was a highly successful environmental lawyer who intimately understands politics, economics and psychology.

He cynically uses that power, influence and education to manipulate people, exploit their fears and make himself richer and more powerful.

He's a sociopath and an amoral cunt but he's not a moron.

5

I betcha he must be getting bank from those dozens of snake-oil MLMs trying to get their product sold.

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datalowereply
lemmy.world

Interesting article! :)

I hate what the fossil fuel and auto industries are doing just as much as the next person, but the article by itself is not strong evidence of a causal relationship, only of an association. Their own conclusion in the abstract is literally: "Exposure to TRP, NO2, PM2.5, and PM10 during pregnancy and the first year of life was associated with autism. Further epidemiological and toxicological examination of likely biological pathways will help determine whether these associations are causal."

It could for instance be that for some reason, parents with higher autistic traits tend to be less bothered by/concerned about the noise, smell etc from roads. Which could explain differences in parents' exposure, since autism has such a strong hereditary factor. I'm not saying this is the case, just pointing out one of many possible alternative explanations.

Overall the study can be used to say we have another reason to be cautious and reduce car pollution as fast as possible, IMO. But building weak arguments based on it only makes it easier for corps to defang this type of research.

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It could for instance be that for some reason, parents with higher autistic traits tend to be less bothered by/concerned about the noise, smell etc from roads. Which could explain differences in parents’ exposure, since autism has such a strong hereditary factor. I’m not saying this is the case, just pointing out one of many possible alternative explanations... But building weak arguments based on it only makes it easier for corps to defang this type of research.

The irony is very thick.

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lemmy.ca

one poorly analysed underpowered data study is not "strong evidence". We have had cars, with tires and brake dust for 100 years.

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lemmy.ca

Relatedly, he also claimed to have concerns about the safety of vaccines (especially MRNA vaccines) and just wanted to get to the bottom of it. So he's ignoring existing vaccine research and cutting new research.

The words were just window dressing. The right wing does not speak in good faith.

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lemmy.world

He slashed funding to the groups that aren't getting the answers he wants.

In the near future, new funding will be made available for crackpot organizations that give him the results he wants.

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bajaboundreply
lemmy.world

And now we'll turn over the mic to our assistant secretary for health Jenny McCarthy...

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She actually renounced her stand on autism and vaccines. however, I can feel that the return of Andrew Wakefield is imminent. He's dating Elle MacPherson.

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The curse only kicks off if you add something good to society. His whole life is a joke with no punchline.

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lemmy.ca

The real damage here is not RFK as much as Trump ending NIH funding. And there is little/no public outcry. 5 years from now, there will be no new drugs (pharma does not actually do basic drug research any more).

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lemmy.world

US Pharma does plenty of drug research, not nearly as much as advertising mind you. it's just not anything that's actually beneficial for the bulk of society.

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Most of the drug research that actually produces new, useful treatments is done by universities and government research institutions, (or at least it was before the budget cuts). That research produced with state funding is then bought for pennies on the dollar by big pharma who does the last couple steps and reaps all of the financial rewards.

The NIH and CDC would be fully funded in perpetuity (along with many research institutions and universities) if they got paid even a fraction of the profits for their foundational research.

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Once an ardent environmentalist who took on big polluters, RFK Jr. has been silent on Trump’s dismantling of efforts to combat climate change and pollution.

He became the very monster he sought to destroy.

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RFK jr is plagued with an unknown illness. That shit river is more qualified to run the CDC.

Yes, America has a health and food issue. However this guy is as close to solving it as JD Vance is to solving his wife's pussy.

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lemmy.ca

If RFK Sr. was around he would disown this fucking clown. His family has already done it. What a loser! But he fits in with the rest of the idiots who counsel the King Idiot himself. What a world we live in and it's only because trump has let loose the fools to rampage. F*** em all!

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The good timeline was the one where Debbie Wasserman Schultz didn't comit whatever is worse than election fraud and conspire against Bernie Sanders

2

It's because he found out that research is what causes autism.

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Some chemicals that may be linked to autism, but they are rolling back regulations that are linked to all sorts of things worse. And with the amount of time it takes to put any of this regulation in place it'll be decades just to reverse it all, but the world will be a much more toxic place by then when coupled with his attacks on the climate also.

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You can't make people afraid of the bogeyman if someone keeps turning on the lights

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lemmy.world

The environmental cause is not going to church. Just wait he is gonna prove that. /s

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JayJLeasreply
lemmy.world

Well, I did only got diagnosed with autism after I stopped going to church...

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In my experience when someone says some variation of 'we don't believe in that' about mental health treatment. They are either a clueless victim of a narcissist or they are a narcissist. Many narcissist end up a preacher/god botherer. A narcissist fears mental health treatment more than they fear death. They don't want their victims to get it either. Since it will expose them. They say things like 'They always blame X' X being the narc or the narcs fud.

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lemmy.world

Plague Carrier Kennedy is a religious whack job who is functionally the Disease variant of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. He is as close a thing Christians have to a living Antichrist as exists IRL.

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Down to the head wound and everything, this is why I think simulation theory has weight. Revelations was written about contemporary politics of the day, yet we are now getting an odd accounting of it, reality itself seems to be acting different than it did a decade ago. This is the point in the game where they just add crazy shit to see what happens (he's a child rapist but that makes him more popular)

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tRump

Ah, this I like. Lately I'm finding it difficult to bother pressing the shift key when I type his name. It just seems to show a tiny modicum of respect and I don't want that.

1

To be fair, Brainworm K Jr. doesn't need research funding to produce a paper identifying the environmental cause of Autism by citing stormfront.

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It’s all a theater play with them, they’re dumb but only in a very myopic understanding of intelligence. They’d managed not just to outwit, but to run circles around half the population of the US.

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Exactly, if he wanted to achieve half of his goals for the food supply, the only solution is a shitload of regulation. I'm sure the Republicans will jump all over that.

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They gave him a few answers which were kinda the same just worded differently and he didn't like those answers and now until someone leaks those theories we won't find out the reason either.

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"Jenny McCarthy told me it's vaccines. So we are getting rid of those. Autism forever cured." -Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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Honest question to US citizens: why are so many people so obsessed with autism at yours? 🧐

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Making the COVID vaccines illegal will only make our future children stronger! /s

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