Barrasso’s teeth may be politician perfect, but his grandkids — and yours — may not be afforded a seamless smile.
If President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is confirmed, health experts fear communities across the nation could eliminate fluoride in their water.
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While few know what Kennedy is planning, at his rallies Trump made one thing clear: “I’m going to let him go wild on health.”
That has health care workers — doctors to dentists — freaking out.
‘Pro-vaccine and anti-mandates’
Despite most Americans drinking fluoridated water, communities across America have increasingly been ditching fluoridating their water, with more than 150 towns voting to keep fluoride out of their public water since 2010, according to anti-fluoride group, the Fluoride Action Network.
Kennedy posted on X that a Trump administration would advise all communities across the county to stop using fluoride in their water, claiming that fluoride is “an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease.”
Medical organizations have called Kennedy’s claims unfounded. Fluoride has long been considered beneficial in strengthening teeth and reducing cavities.
Still, that and Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism haven't caused Barrasso, the incoming Senate Republican whip from Wyoming, to oppose his nomination—or that of Mehmet Oz, a celebrity cardiothoracic surgeon who previously pushed unproven theories about COVID-19 cures—to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“There's a lot to be said for the Trump administration putting in place people who are passionate and who have great interest in issues — that President Trump is making bold choices,” Barrasso said. “Every one of these nominees is going to have a hearing, a fair process and then a timely vote, and I think the hearings are going to be very instructive.”
Passion and policy are universes apart, though. And, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, passion has been winning out over long-established public health policies.
Like Bud Light, Sunday brunches, the NFL and even Pepsi, vaccines have become politicized, especially in conservative circles. And GOP leaders in Washington — whether they went to med school like Barrasso or not — are doing all they can to stay out of the fight.
Barrasso called himself “pro-vaccine and anti-mandates” and particularly praised Oz as “very qualified” given “his background in medicine” and experience as a “communicator.”
Raw Story reached out to every doctor we know of at the Capitol: 17 Congress members with medical degrees. We asked whether Oz or Kennedy’s controversial medical stances concerned them as healthcare practitioners.
‘Deeply concerned’: Democrats react to cabinet picks
Considering whether Oz and Kennedy are potential dangers to public health as trust in the media and Congress are hovering around historically low disapproval ratings, Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) — a former chief medical officer for Sacramento County — says yes.
“They both have some crazy ideas and seem to get caught up in some conspiracy theories, but Trump's gonna nominate who he’s gonna nominate,” Bera said. “This is what the country voted for. It's not as though Trump didn't say he was going to give a role to RFK Jr., so let's sit down and let's just see what happens.”
Bera told Raw Story that members of Congress in the doctors' caucus will need to “push back on a lot of this and at least try not to allow the spread” of such conspiracy theories or misinformation. But the damage has already started, with COVID-19 vaccine skepticism spilling over into skepticism of other vaccines for “dangerous diseases” like measles, which have started resurfacing and putting lives at risk, Bera said.
“The vaccine stuff, fluoride, those are pretty safely proven public health benefits. Vaccines have probably been the biggest advance in medicine in our lifetimes, and we saw how effective they were during the pandemic,” Bera said.
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA), a pediatrician, told Raw Story that she is “deeply concerned” about Trump’s picks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“I will try to reserve judgment and public comments until I see their actions,” Schrier said. “As a pediatrician who understands that vaccines are one of the most important developments — they have saved countless lives — I'm deeply concerned about those comments.”
Schrier said she is generally “very concerned about the perversion of science” but wanted to "reserve most of my judgment until I see what actually happens.” Still, the potential move to less fluoridated water alarmed her.
“As a pediatrician who understands that tooth decay is the most common disease in children, I am deeply concerned about these comments,” Schrier continued.
Raw Story did not immediately get responses from other members of Congress with medical degrees: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Rand Paul (R-KY); and Reps. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), Neal Dunn (R-FL), Mark Green (R-TN), Andy Harris (R-MD), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), John Joyce (R-PA), Rich McCormick (R-GA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Greg Murphy (R-NC), Raul Ruiz (D-CA) and Mike Simpson (R-ID).
In the new year, there’s chatter of an Obamacare overhaul if the GOP can muster the votes, though Congress is losing four of its current medical-school-approved members.
Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX), a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology, Larry Bucshon (R-IN), a cardiothoracic surgeon, and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), a podiatric doctor, all decided not to seek reelection. Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO), a pediatrician, conceded her reelection to Republican Gabe Evans.
Trump’s spokespeople didn’t respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
