I don't know if anyone has done a diary on this, but I saw this on "Chasing New Jersey" on local TV this evening and was stunned.
Despite having his own children vaccinated, he insists that the CDC is so corrupt that children should not be vaccinated or that the parents should have greater choice as to vaccinate their children or not. Apparently he's been at this for some time. From a Forbes article from July 2014 which they describe his idea in the headline as "Dangerous":
But on the thimerosal issue, Kennedy has gone completely off the rails. He authored a Salon.com and Rolling Stone article (jointly published) nearly ten years ago that claimed not only that thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autism, but that “the government” knew about it and had been covering it up. Kennedy wrote then that
“The story of how government health agencies colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks of thimerosal from the public is a chilling case study of institutional arrogance, power and greed.”
And as Forbes points out, his claims are completely false.
"The science, which Kennedy apparently does not understand, leads to the same conclusion: in study after study, scientists have found no link between thimerosal and autism, or any other kind of neurological disorder. And as RFK Jr knows, thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in the U.S. over a decade ago, and the rate of autism diagnosis continued to rise. This fact alone contradicts his major claim."
Yet here we are today over ten years since he's first made these accusations, with a widespread outbreak of measles hitting the US, and he even has his own kids vaccinated, still peddling this bogus science. He still won't backtrack on anything he's said except that those wanting vaccinations should seek ones without thimerosal (good luck), still requesting meetings with members of congress over this (which thankfully most have said no) and even spoke at one of Jenny McCarthy's anti-vaccine event. Let that sink in for a minute. Robert Kennedy Jr and Jenny McCarthy.
How such an intelligent man who's worked so hard for progressive causes can be so dangerously wrong to endanger others is simply baffling. My opinion of him as a result is he's become a much smaller icon in my book.