Letter to the Obama Transition Team
This letter was sent to the Barack Obama transition team, via http://www.change.gov/page/s/contact
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November 8, 2008
To transition team of President-Elect Barack Obama,
I am joyous over the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, and I am proud to have cast my vote for him. I am a science researcher by training, and a science educator by vocation. I am glad that you are allowing the general public to write to you concerning the new administration's transition.
I am writing this letter to oppose the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, or any other cabinet position. I am responding to rumors on science blogs and television political shows that Kennedy is being considered for one of these positions. There is good justification for my opposition. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has, on many occasions, revealed a frightening ignorance and disdain for modern scientific research. He is a vocal opponent to the use of childhood vaccines, and has even entertained notions that a conspiracy exists among scientists, medical researchers, and pharmaceutical companies to maintain the use of childhood vaccines. His views on the subject are at best considered fringe, and at worst a public health danger because of the influence Kennedy has on his supporters. Appointing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to any high level position where science is concerned would go against the promise Barack Obama has made to eliminate the politicization of science.
Among his answers to the questions posed in Science Debate 2008, Barack Obama stated the need to end political interference in science issues. He said:
"Scientific and technological information is of growing importance to a range of issues. I believe such information must be expert and uncolored by ideology.
I will restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best- available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on the ideological predispositions of agency officials or political appointees. "
Obama also said:
"In addition I will:
Appoint individuals with strong science and technology backgrounds and unquestioned reputations for integrity and objectivity to the growing number of senior management positions where decisions must incorporate science and technology advice. These positions will be filled promptly with ethical, highly qualified individuals on a non-partisan basis;"
These statements give me hope that Barack Obama will put an end to the Bush Administration's practice of allowing appointees to dictate policy based on junk science or ideology. I'm certain you are well aware of the many times President Bush's appointees rewrote or censored scientific results concerning global climate change. The Bush Administration has shamelessly ignored the consensus of scientific evidence on a range of issues, from human contributions to global warming, to the need for real sex education instead of abstinence-only propaganda.
Whoever is appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, or the Department of the Interior, the need to be someone with a strong scientific background. Each of these agencies deal with policies involving the complex issues embedded in public health, the environment, natural resources, and energy use. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. does not meet this challenge.
In 2005, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote an article for Rolling Stone magazine entitled 'Deadly Immunity'. The article was billed as investigative journalism, but its premises and conclusions have been discredited. The many points of Kennedy's article have been refuted by scientists, and the troubling history of the anti-vaccination movement has been written about at length. I will include some reference links below concerning these issues.
Kennedy's basic premise is that a mercury-based additive called thimerosal, which was used in some childhood vaccines up to the year 2002, causes autism in children. He claims that the government and medical researchers engaged in a cover-up of this connection. These claims have been shown to be false, and in the case of a cover-up, dishonest. By 2002, the thimerosal additive was removed from vaccines, and the proponents of the vaccine-autism link said that autism rates should go down as a result. They did not. In fact, in other countries, such as Denmark, Sweden and Canada, the same observation has been noted. If there were a correlation between the use of the thimerosal additive in vaccines and the rates of autism, then the removal of the additive should have preceded a decline in autism rates. Because no such decline has happened in the United States, or in other countries, then some other explanation for autism rates must be valid.
Experts in medicine and autism research agree that a more reasonable explanation is that the increase in autism rates is probably due to increase surveillance by doctors, and broadening the scope of the autism spectrum disorder.
Despite the empirical observations of autism rates since 2002, and the reasonable explanations by scientific experts in the field, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has refused to acknowledge that he might have been wrong. He has continued to support the cause of anti-vaccinationists, under the slick and disingenuous slogan of "green our vaccines." He can claim to supporting the use of "environmentally safe" vaccines, but any critical thinker can see that he is actually advocating for no vaccine use at all. I think it is not exaggerating to say that vaccinations have saved more lives than any other public health advance in history. To actively undermine confidence in their use, through scare-tactics and discredited junk science, betrays a shocking disconnect with the findings and principles of modern science. If President Barack Obama wants to make decisions based on the best available scientific findings and results, then Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is not the go-to person.
While Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. may have admirable qualities in some areas, when it comes to science, he has shown himself to not be qualified for any leadership position. Nominating him for any of the appointments I mentioned will reveal his anti-science history in Congress, and I think this will be embarrassing to Democrats and to President Obama. I urge you not to give the Republican minority this ammunition to criticize President Obama and block progress. Do not nominate and appoint Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency, or any other agency.
Sincerely,
Paul Robinson
Dobbs Ferry, New York
Science Debate 2008
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40
'Deadly Immunity' by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7395411/deadly_immunity/
Response to 'Deadly Immunity' by science blogger Orac
http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/06/saloncom-flushes-its-credibility-down.html
"On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research" - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/science/25autism.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
"The Anti-Vaccination Movement" by Steven Novella, M.D.
http://www.csicop.org/si/2007-06/novella.html
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November 8, 2008
To transition team of President-Elect Barack Obama,
I am joyous over the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, and I am proud to have cast my vote for him. I am a science researcher by training, and a science educator by vocation. I am glad that you are allowing the general public to write to you concerning the new administration's transition.
I am writing this letter to oppose the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, or any other cabinet position. I am responding to rumors on science blogs and television political shows that Kennedy is being considered for one of these positions. There is good justification for my opposition. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has, on many occasions, revealed a frightening ignorance and disdain for modern scientific research. He is a vocal opponent to the use of childhood vaccines, and has even entertained notions that a conspiracy exists among scientists, medical researchers, and pharmaceutical companies to maintain the use of childhood vaccines. His views on the subject are at best considered fringe, and at worst a public health danger because of the influence Kennedy has on his supporters. Appointing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to any high level position where science is concerned would go against the promise Barack Obama has made to eliminate the politicization of science.
Among his answers to the questions posed in Science Debate 2008, Barack Obama stated the need to end political interference in science issues. He said:
"Scientific and technological information is of growing importance to a range of issues. I believe such information must be expert and uncolored by ideology.
I will restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best- available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on the ideological predispositions of agency officials or political appointees. "
Obama also said:
"In addition I will:
Appoint individuals with strong science and technology backgrounds and unquestioned reputations for integrity and objectivity to the growing number of senior management positions where decisions must incorporate science and technology advice. These positions will be filled promptly with ethical, highly qualified individuals on a non-partisan basis;"
These statements give me hope that Barack Obama will put an end to the Bush Administration's practice of allowing appointees to dictate policy based on junk science or ideology. I'm certain you are well aware of the many times President Bush's appointees rewrote or censored scientific results concerning global climate change. The Bush Administration has shamelessly ignored the consensus of scientific evidence on a range of issues, from human contributions to global warming, to the need for real sex education instead of abstinence-only propaganda.
Whoever is appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, or the Department of the Interior, the need to be someone with a strong scientific background. Each of these agencies deal with policies involving the complex issues embedded in public health, the environment, natural resources, and energy use. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. does not meet this challenge.
In 2005, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote an article for Rolling Stone magazine entitled 'Deadly Immunity'. The article was billed as investigative journalism, but its premises and conclusions have been discredited. The many points of Kennedy's article have been refuted by scientists, and the troubling history of the anti-vaccination movement has been written about at length. I will include some reference links below concerning these issues.
Kennedy's basic premise is that a mercury-based additive called thimerosal, which was used in some childhood vaccines up to the year 2002, causes autism in children. He claims that the government and medical researchers engaged in a cover-up of this connection. These claims have been shown to be false, and in the case of a cover-up, dishonest. By 2002, the thimerosal additive was removed from vaccines, and the proponents of the vaccine-autism link said that autism rates should go down as a result. They did not. In fact, in other countries, such as Denmark, Sweden and Canada, the same observation has been noted. If there were a correlation between the use of the thimerosal additive in vaccines and the rates of autism, then the removal of the additive should have preceded a decline in autism rates. Because no such decline has happened in the United States, or in other countries, then some other explanation for autism rates must be valid.
Experts in medicine and autism research agree that a more reasonable explanation is that the increase in autism rates is probably due to increase surveillance by doctors, and broadening the scope of the autism spectrum disorder.
Despite the empirical observations of autism rates since 2002, and the reasonable explanations by scientific experts in the field, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has refused to acknowledge that he might have been wrong. He has continued to support the cause of anti-vaccinationists, under the slick and disingenuous slogan of "green our vaccines." He can claim to supporting the use of "environmentally safe" vaccines, but any critical thinker can see that he is actually advocating for no vaccine use at all. I think it is not exaggerating to say that vaccinations have saved more lives than any other public health advance in history. To actively undermine confidence in their use, through scare-tactics and discredited junk science, betrays a shocking disconnect with the findings and principles of modern science. If President Barack Obama wants to make decisions based on the best available scientific findings and results, then Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is not the go-to person.
While Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. may have admirable qualities in some areas, when it comes to science, he has shown himself to not be qualified for any leadership position. Nominating him for any of the appointments I mentioned will reveal his anti-science history in Congress, and I think this will be embarrassing to Democrats and to President Obama. I urge you not to give the Republican minority this ammunition to criticize President Obama and block progress. Do not nominate and appoint Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency, or any other agency.
Sincerely,
Paul Robinson
Dobbs Ferry, New York
Science Debate 2008
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40
'Deadly Immunity' by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7395411/deadly_immunity/
Response to 'Deadly Immunity' by science blogger Orac
http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/06/saloncom-flushes-its-credibility-down.html
"On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research" - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/science/25autism.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
"The Anti-Vaccination Movement" by Steven Novella, M.D.
http://www.csicop.org/si/2007-06/novella.html