Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says HHS will prioritize inquiry into chronic disease
February 22, 2025 | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said he was beginning his first day at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pledged to make chronic disease the agency's top priority and to launch a wide-ranging inquiry in the first 100 days.
"We are going to find out and we're going to do something about it," Kennedy said. "My commitment to you is that we're going to make chronic disease our top priority. In our first hundred days, we're gonna examine every possible contributing factor to the epidemic of chronic disease. We will leave no stone unturned."
Kennedy said he would "listen to the experts and to the dissidents," adding that the review would include "insiders and ... whistleblowers," and "doctors" as well as what he called "the mobs." He also said the review would examine "our food, our medicine, our water, our lifestyles, and our environment. Everything that goes into Americans bodies."
He opened by saying he "could read you a list of statistics proving that Americans suffer far higher levels of chronic disease, obesity, addiction, cancer, infertility, and depression than ever before in history and more than any other country in the world," but said he would not list reasons for that decline because "neither I nor anyone else could be certain."
Kennedy promised a push for "a new era of transparency in all of our health agencies," saying there would be "no more hidden conflicts of interest, no more secrecy, no more profiteering on the substances that we're supposed to be regulating. We're gonna earn the public's trust with honest, unbiased science."
The remarks concluded with Kennedy saying he would "enter this inquiry with an open mind and a willingness to be wrong," and asking for public support. The recording of the remarks was labeled "Produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services."
The announcement lays out priorities and broad commitments but includes few specific policies, timelines beyond the "first hundred days," or implementation steps. No formal rule changes, budget items or directives were described in the remarks.
"We are going to find out and we're going to do something about it," Kennedy said. "My commitment to you is that we're going to make chronic disease our top priority. In our first hundred days, we're gonna examine every possible contributing factor to the epidemic of chronic disease. We will leave no stone unturned."
Kennedy said he would "listen to the experts and to the dissidents," adding that the review would include "insiders and ... whistleblowers," and "doctors" as well as what he called "the mobs." He also said the review would examine "our food, our medicine, our water, our lifestyles, and our environment. Everything that goes into Americans bodies."
He opened by saying he "could read you a list of statistics proving that Americans suffer far higher levels of chronic disease, obesity, addiction, cancer, infertility, and depression than ever before in history and more than any other country in the world," but said he would not list reasons for that decline because "neither I nor anyone else could be certain."
Kennedy promised a push for "a new era of transparency in all of our health agencies," saying there would be "no more hidden conflicts of interest, no more secrecy, no more profiteering on the substances that we're supposed to be regulating. We're gonna earn the public's trust with honest, unbiased science."
The remarks concluded with Kennedy saying he would "enter this inquiry with an open mind and a willingness to be wrong," and asking for public support. The recording of the remarks was labeled "Produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services."
The announcement lays out priorities and broad commitments but includes few specific policies, timelines beyond the "first hundred days," or implementation steps. No formal rule changes, budget items or directives were described in the remarks.
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