UPDATE: Barak Obama has selected Lisa Jackson to head the EPA.
It's being reported that President-elect Barack Obama is considering Robert Kennedy, Jr. as head of the EPA. For those of you who don't know, RFK, Jr. is an anti-vaccinationist, who made his unscientific views on vaccines known in this Rolling Stone piece. We should all be very worried about putting someone that is anti-science as the head of what should be a science-based agency.
Weren't we promised change?
Here are some suggestions about what to do about this potential appointment.
UPDATE: There is now a Facebook causes group to oppose an RFK, Jr. appointment to head the EPA.
Here is a great summary of what vaccines do for us in terms of relieving suffering and death.
And, yes, Amanda Peet is amazing, but don't tell my wife I said so. Maybe she can run the EPA?
DISCLAIMER: I am a vaccine zealot. Unlike many of my generation, my family still acutely remembers what it was like to be terrified by the prospect of polio. My father still walks with a limp and my uncle lost the use of his legs due to that disease. I cannot describe how excited I am that I do not have to worry about those things for my daughter or that she won't have to suffer through chicken pox and the risk of shingles like me. BUT, people like Jenny McCarthy and RFK, Jr. threaten the herd immunity that protects those for whom the vaccines do not impart long term immunity. Acceptance of their views would mean a return to my father's childhood.
It's being reported that President-elect Barack Obama is considering Robert Kennedy, Jr. as head of the EPA. For those of you who don't know, RFK, Jr. is an anti-vaccinationist, who made his unscientific views on vaccines known in this Rolling Stone piece. We should all be very worried about putting someone that is anti-science as the head of what should be a science-based agency.
Weren't we promised change?
Here are some suggestions about what to do about this potential appointment.
UPDATE: There is now a Facebook causes group to oppose an RFK, Jr. appointment to head the EPA.
Here is a great summary of what vaccines do for us in terms of relieving suffering and death.
And, yes, Amanda Peet is amazing, but don't tell my wife I said so. Maybe she can run the EPA?
DISCLAIMER: I am a vaccine zealot. Unlike many of my generation, my family still acutely remembers what it was like to be terrified by the prospect of polio. My father still walks with a limp and my uncle lost the use of his legs due to that disease. I cannot describe how excited I am that I do not have to worry about those things for my daughter or that she won't have to suffer through chicken pox and the risk of shingles like me. BUT, people like Jenny McCarthy and RFK, Jr. threaten the herd immunity that protects those for whom the vaccines do not impart long term immunity. Acceptance of their views would mean a return to my father's childhood.
People here will recall that I have said Obama is not going to be any huge fan of science just because he is a Democrat. With hope this will be the worst mistake he makes and I turn out to be wrong.