Health grabbed a central place among the news headlines this week with yet another bizarre Trump administration press conference, this time making the false claim of a relationship between a common pain killer and a rise in autism diagnoses. The president said over and over that pregnant women should not take Tylenol and instead tough it out. This bad advice contradicts medical professionals, who say that there is significant risk to the fetus from fever during pregnancy and that acetaminophen (the generic name for the drug in Tylenol) is a safe and proven way to combat it. It is becoming increasingly obvious that staying healthy means listening to the advice of the president and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his Health and Human Services secretary, and then doing exactly the opposite.
Underlying the Trump administration’s war on American health is a faith in unproven treatments. In this, Mr. Kennedy in particular is exploiting a segment of the population that distrusts the medical establishment. A significant portion of Donald Trump’s win in 2024 came from people dead set against vaccines, who place their faith in what might be called health magic: faith in a supernatural efficacy of certain foods and sparsely regulated supplements. For many, beneath their suspicion is a misunderstanding of science. Add to that a tendency to seek scapegoats and quick fixes. It is as if they prefer snake oil to functional and tested treatments.
Whether because of actual belief or more cynical calculations, Mr. Kennedy has set medical progress back years. For example, he canceled $500 million in grants for vaccine research — specifically those in which mRNA technology is being studied to fight illnesses including Covid-19 and the flu but extending to cancer treatments as well. In addition, he has forced out some of Health and Human Services’ most experienced professionals and replaced them with people who most accurately could be described as quacks. As others have pointed out, Mr. Kennedy’s positions are contradictory on their face. He finds fault in research that does not match up with his views but relies on flawed or even retracted data when it supports his aims.
We were particularly struck by an article in The New York Times recently that looked at obesity in American men. Among the concerns cited was a five-year difference in life expectancy between men and women that, in part, involved alcohol use, overeating, and questionable food choices. But the health gap can also be traced to basic practices: Men simply do not have contact with the medical profession as often as women. One hears men boast, “I’m healthy. I haven’t been to the doctor in 10 years!” Then they drop dead of a heart attack, as the saying goes. That’s not healthy; it’s stupid.