By Paul Angel
Bobby Kennedy Jr. has his work cut out for him as secretary of Health and Human Services. When he took over, America ranked as one of the fattest, sickliest nations in the developed world. According to the Centers for Disease Control:
Approximately 73.6% of American adults aged 20 and older are considered overweight, including obesity. … Approximately 40.3% of U.S. adults are obese. This means that more than 100 million adults have obesity, and more than 22 million have severe obesity.
Even worse, our healthcare system costs too much and is failing patients at the same time. According to a report from the Commonwealth Fund:
Based on new findings, people in the United States die the youngest and experience the most avoidable deaths, even though the country spends nearly twice as much—about 18% of gross domestic product—on health care than any other [Western] nation. …
According to the American Diabetes Association:
In the United States, the estimated prevalence of diabetes is 11.6% of the population, which translates to approximately 38.4 million people. Specifically, 14.7% of U.S. adults are estimated to have diabetes, with 8.7 million being undiagnosed. The prevalence increases with age, particularly among those 65 and older.
And I am sure you have heard news of the dramatic rise in the U.S. in incidences of childhood cancers of all kinds, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, skin problems, and more.
In Europe, many of the food products we consume in the United States are banned or diluted, so you would think they might be a little healthier. However, according to a report in the UK Guardian:
Almost 17 million [UK citizens] have substantial longterm conditions. One in seven women in England and Wales is classified as disabled. The figures also show a significant rise in the number of children under age 24 who have a mental or physical health problem.
In America, we are having a mental health crisis, too. A counselor friend of mine, who treats patients with personal, social, and psychological problems, tells me business is booming. Though she is not allowed to discuss specific patient details, she generalized, saying that many Americans are “struggling with their sexual identity,” others are “under heavy stress due to mounting bills,” while still others have been “traumatized by the media” to obsess over Donald Trump all day long.
I kid you not: Trump is a boon for psychoanalysts working in mostly white, affluent, liberal areas.
If you have been following along with Nick Griffin’s “Poisoning of America” series in AFP, you know that we have been inundated for decades with pernicious poisons, pesticides, soda pop, PCBs, and a plethora of “pre-approved” man-made pollutants.
We’ve known for years about the dangers of the dyes in the foods we eat, the possible health consequences of eating hydrogenated fats, and spraying Round Up. Cigarette smokers know full well they are shortening their lives with every puff but can’t seem to kick the habit. It’s not like the warning signs for this problem just popped up.
The point is, just like about everything else in the United States—including our infrastructure—we are falling apart, physically and mentally, as a nation. Those of you who go to the gym every day, eat right, drink right, and sleep right every night need not worry; you are probably fine.
Unfortunately, your fellow Americans have not been so dedicated. As Griffin points out in his series, this may not totally be their fault, as tobacco, food and drug developers employed addiction experts to make sure you got hooked on junk food, nicotine, and psychoactive drugs.
So, though the problems are many, we may have a guy in government who is not beholden to the Big Pharma and Big Ag lobbies, and has the open mind and the will to take action against those who have been lacing us with poisons from the inside out for far too long.
Here are just a few things RFK Jr. has done since taking office:
- He has moved to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply. Hopefully, this will result in lower numbers of cancer diagnoses and a diminution of ADHD.
- He has told the CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water, believing that any benefit of fluoride for our teeth can be met by toothpaste and mouth washes with fluoride, thus leaving it up to the consumer.
- He has promised a thorough report on the rise of autism cases. Kennedy believes these are not necessarily the result of better diagnoses, but may be triggered by something in the environment. Other health professionals insist that obesity and diabetes during pregnancy greatly increase the chance of having an autistic child. Still others claim autism in genetic.
One way or another, after Kennedy’s study on autism, we should know more about it than we do now, and that is a good thing, whatever the results.
- He has brought attention to the safety of vaccines. Most people I talk to believe receiving a limited number of “shots” is okay—maybe measles, tetanus, and small pox. Some are fans of mRNA technology, while others say vaccinations are to blame for untold numbers of unacknowledged deaths. RFK says he wants to know if there are ingredients in vaccines that could be causing harm to the health of Americans. I’m interested, as well.
- Kennedy also wants to ban pharmaceutical advertisements on television, and has called sugar a “poison.”
Knowing the track record of food, drug and agricultural companies over the last 50 years—who have hidden data, poisoned us, addicted us for profit, and helped manufacture a nationwide health crisis—who wouldn’t root for Kennedy to succeed?
Along the way, we’ll have to help RFK come to grips with his own mental malady. Bobby: Criticizing the inhumane actions of Israel is not a mental illness but a civic duty.
Paul Angel is AFP’s Managing Editor.
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