{"id":18776,"date":"2024-12-22T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18776"},"modified":"2024-12-22T10:28:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T10:28:15","slug":"r-f-k-jr-wants-to-overhaul-the-f-d-a-how-would-scientists-change-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18776","title":{"rendered":"R.F.K. Jr. Wants to Overhaul the F.D.A. How Would Scientists Change It?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has set the Food and Drug Administration in his sights. He has claimed<\/a> that the agency is in the pockets of the industries it regulates, allowing chemical additives to enter the food supply and greenlighting drugs while suppressing \u201ccheap, generic and natural alternatives.\u201d In an October post on X<\/a>, he warned F.D.A. employees to \u201c1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.\u201d After the election, he told NBC News<\/a> that entire departments at the agency \u201chave to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many medical and scientific experts<\/a> say that if Mr. Kennedy were confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which the F.D.A. falls under, his ideas could pose a danger to public health. An environmental lawyer with no medical training, Mr. Kennedy has several contentious and scientifically inaccurate<\/a> opinions, particularly around vaccines and infectious diseases. (President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the F.D.A., Dr. Martin Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon, is seen as more mainstream but also has a contrarian streak<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

However, some experts do agree with Mr. Kennedy that the F.D.A. needs to change \u2014 except they say that the agency should have more resources and authority, not less.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe F.D.A. isn\u2019t a perfect institution,\u201d said Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who resigned from an agency advisory committee<\/a> to protest the controversial<\/a> approval<\/a> of an Alzheimer\u2019s drug. But, he added, \u201cit\u2019s the most important public health agency that we have, and the role that it fills in our health care system is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times spoke with a dozen doctors, scientists and public health researchers about what, in an ideal world, they would like to see the F.D.A. do differently. Several have been vocal about the agency needing changes; some are former F.D.A. employees and advisers who worked under Democratic and Republican administrations. Here are the four ideas that came up most frequently.<\/p>\n