U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens has introduced articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Stevens, a Democrat from Birmingham, accused Kennedy Jr. of weaponizing misinformation and being a danger to the health of Michiganders and people nationwide.
“Secretary Kennedy is driving up costs, endangering lives, undermining public health, betraying public trust, and threatening Michigan families and our world class research institutions,” Stevens said Wednesday. “These are violations of his oath of office.”
Articles of impeachment need to be first adopted by a majority vote in the House, before the Senate has to hold an impeachment trial to determine if the official should be removed from office and banned from serving in the future.
With a Republican majority, the U.S. House is unlikely to approve articles of impeachment against Kennedy, who was selected by Republican President Donald Trump.
In response to the announcement, Andrew Nixon, communications director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said “Secretary Kennedy remains focused on improving Americans’ health and lowering costs, not on partisan theatrics designed to elevate standing in a failing, third-rate Senate bid.”
Stevens first announced her planned impeachment effort in September, citing Kennedy Jr.’s “ongoing efforts to jeopardize public health, increase the cost of healthcare and cut critical medical research.” She also called on him to resign after he declared a link between autism and acetaminophen — a point the majority of the health world refutes.
Known best under the brand name Tylenol, acetaminophen is a painkiller and fever-reducing medication recommended for use in pregnancy by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Officials with ACOG said Kennedy’s announcement isn’t backed by the full body of scientific evidence and dangerously simplifies the many and complex causes of neurologic challenges in children.
“In more than two decades of research on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children,” ACOG said in a statement. “In fact, the two highest-quality studies on this subject — one of which was published in JAMA last year — found no significant associations between use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability.”
Stevens criticized Kennedy Jr. for firing members of an advisory committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and selecting his own advisors, some of whom gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for spreading misinformation and criticizing COVID vaccines.
Last week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to end the 34-year-old recommendations that newborn babies be immunized against hepatitis B. Members instead favored vaccination only if the mother tested positive for the virus or whose infection status was unknown.
The ACIP recommends the shot be delayed until 2 months — a change that was strongly opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children,” said AAP President Dr. Susan Kressly in a statement. “I want to reassure parents and clinicians that there is no new or concerning information about the hepatitis B vaccine that is prompting this change, nor has children’s risk of contracting hepatitis B changed. Instead, this is the result of a deliberate strategy to sow fear and distrust among families.”
Hepatitis B is a liver disease spread by an infected person through contact with their blood or bodily fluids. About 50% of people with the virus don’t know they have it, but it’s particularly dangerous for babies. About 90% of infants infected at birth develop chronic hepatitis B infection and about 25% of those babies will die prematurely, according to AAP.
Stevens said Kennedy Jr. has made “outlandish” claims about Tylenol, vaccines and autism. She also accused him of slashing funding for pediatric cancer research and made it harder for Americans to enroll in affordable health insurance plans.
“Enough is enough,” she said. “This is about protecting the health and safety of Michiganders and every American.”
Asked how Democratic leaders in the House responded to her efforts, Stevens said she’s eager to have her colleagues stand beside her. She declined to specify if House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was in support of the effort.
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