Under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Food and Drug Administration is being gutted by mass firings, conflicting policies, and political theater — threatening decades of public health safeguards.
Jeneen Interlandi reports for The New York Times.
In short:
- Thousands of FDA staff were fired or silenced under sweeping cost-cutting measures, destabilizing oversight of everything from drug safety to infant formula.
- Kennedy’s rhetoric champions “health freedom” but undermines scientific standards, pushing unproven treatments while questioning well-established medicine.
- Experts warn that politicized chaos and weakened FDA authority could dismantle protections against unsafe drugs, food additives, and predatory health scams.
Key quote:
“History will see this as a huge mistake. The F.D.A. as we’ve known it is finished.”
— Robert Califf, former F.D.A. commissioner
Why this matters:
Public health depends on science-based oversight, and when the agency that vets the country's medicines and food is disempowered, lives are put at risk. What’s happening at the FDA poses a threat to the systems that protect people from snake oil, toxic food additives, and fraudulent medical claims. Behind the banner of "health freedom" are fewer scientific safeguards and fewer rules, opening the door to predatory companies and contaminated products.
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