To start: Vaccine critics like Mr. Kennedy often give the impression that scientists haven’t seriously researched whether vaccines might cause autism.
In a Times Opinion analysis, we can demonstrate that researchers have.
To start: Vaccine critics like Mr. Kennedy often give the impression that scientists haven’t seriously researched whether vaccines might cause autism.
In a Times Opinion analysis, we can demonstrate that researchers have.
I can’t think of a single fact or statistic that RFK Jr didn’t get wrong or grossly misrepresent.
He does get a lot of root-level statistics right when tracking health concerns over time.
What he often gets wrong is correlation versus causation and the methods for treating the issue.
Like, if I hypothetically claimed:
The rates of car accidents have increased over the past five years.
And I blamed our decreasing attention span due to social media consumption.
When the statics say that most accidents are caused by people looking at their phone.
I’ve seen some people talk about seed oil ban being a good thing. Funny enough it happens to be the same people that look like they are eating McDonald’s (uses seed oil in their fryers) daily.
The seed oil topic is interesting. This has been mostly debunked but people still swear by it.
A friend of mine who is otherwise very smart has fallen for this and while he does acknowledge that the claims have been debunks he still shrugs it off. Because he has lost weight and maintains a “healthy lifestyle” that correlates with the period in which he stopped consuming seed oil (because a podcast told him to), he has establish a false correlation and goes on to tell people they should do the same. Propaganda and confirmation bias can affect everyone.
Although, there is a kernel (heh) of truth in the seed oil issue. The larger issue is that most of us lack any sense of moderation with anything in our lives. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-behind-seed-oils-health-effects TL;DR: the things made with seed oil are what are bad for you.
Thanks for the informative response homie!