Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. may be appointed as the nation's new secretary of Health and Human Services. He has been a critic of 5G networks and has said that wireless technology may be dangerous.
President-elect Donald Trump last week named Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. as his secretary of Health and Human Services nominee, which is noteworthy considering RFK has repeatedly cited radio frequency (RF) emissions as a health risk.
For example, as noted by the New York Times, RFK told a podcast host in 2020 that 5G was designed to harvest human data: "Why are they investing in a trillion dollars? To give you – so that you can download your video games maybe a couple of seconds faster? Or that you can download movies a couple of seconds faster? Does that make any sense to anybody? Nobody's going to pay that money for that. 5G has zero to do with giving you faster downloads. It is – it is a completely – it is a system that is completely geared towards harvesting human data."
During a separate 2023 podcast interview, RFK said, "Wi-Fi radiation opens up your blood-brain barrier, so all these toxins that are in your body can now go into your brain."
Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former high-level FCC official, noted that RFK has recently pursued similar claims as a lawyer for the Children's Health Defense group. According to Levin, RFK's Children's Health Defense was among a group of plaintiffs that sued the FCC in 2020 in order to push the agency to review its RF health guidelines. The FCC, according to the lawsuit, abandoned its duty to "protect public health in favor of a single-minded crusade to increase telecom industry profits."
The implications
In a new note to investors, Levin argued that RFK's role in the incoming Trump administration could create troubles for wireless companies. After all, RFK's selection last week as the US health secretary immediately caused pharmaceutical stocks to fall, given that RFK has expressed skepticism about vaccines.
"To be clear, we don't think wireless faces the same economic risks that the drug and other health care industries face if the Senate confirms RFK Jr.," Levin wrote. "But we doubt RFK Jr. will retreat from his previous assertions about the dangers of RF emissions and in doing so, he could potentially slow down and raise the costs of deploying next generation wireless networks and services."
When the FCC voted in 2019 not to change its existing RF exposure limits, the agency cited information from the director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The US Secretary of Health and Human Services oversees that role. Thus, RFK could gain control over the agency the FCC uses for its RF health science.
It's not exactly clear what Brendan Carr might do if RFK changes the FDA's stance on RF emissions. Carr is a longtime Republican FCC commissioner, and Trump on Monday named Carr to lead the FCC.
"If RFK causes the FDA to come to different conclusions, Carr might have to reformulate its [the FCC's] framework in a way that is problematic for wireless deployment and services," Levin wrote.
On its website, the FCC maintains a lengthy guide to RF emission safety.
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