Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Trump’s revolution is coming for the health technocrats

By Peter Ridd - posted Friday, 6 December 2024


Of all the creatures in the US bureaucratic swamp, environmental and medical science organisations have the most to fear from the return of Donald Trump. The science behind claims of catastrophic climate change, and many environmental and medical issues, finally will be subject to scrutiny.

Trump clearly is not a believer in catastrophic climate change, otherwise his favourite phrase would not be "Drill, baby, drill".

Like most Americans and his right-hand man, Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump can see climate change is being used as a front in the culture wars.

Advertisement

In a Rasmussen poll, 60 per cent of Americans agreed with Ramaswamy's comment that climate change had become a reli­gion that "actually has nothing to do with the climate" and was really about power and control. This is a huge and understandable vote of no confidence in the cataclysmic assertions of climate science.

theaustralian.com.au03:45

Donald Trump appoints cabinet at 'record speed'

UP NEXT Sky News contributor Kosha Gada claims President-elect Donald Trump's presidency will be an "interesting ride" with his cabinet…

Even worse, a survey published by the American Medical Association found trust in physicians and hospitals collapsed from 71 per cent to 40 per cent across the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. And who can blame people for this collapse of trust, given the genuine conspiracies by government science authorities?

In his first term Trump was unsuccessful in bringing any useful scrutiny to the more extreme climate and environmental science issues. Scott Pruitt, Trump's first head of the Environmental Protection Agency, was a fan of employing so-called red teams to challenge the science behind many environmental regulations.

However, Trump was vigorously opposed by Washington insiders and from within his own Republican Party, so his scepticism about the veracity of science institutions came to nothing.

Advertisement

But times have changed and he now owns the Republican Party and all levels of federal government. Any doubts that Trump means to do something about the failing science institutions should be dispelled by the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr to run the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy has maintained for years that the American medical sciences are plagued by corruption, stemming from the enormous amounts of money received from the drug industry. Do they have too much influence on government regulators? Kennedy says he wants to return the agencies "to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science". And he has stated: "I'm not anti-vaccine. I just want good science."

But Kennedy is just the beginning of the insurrection in the health sciences. Trump has nominated Marty Makary to head the Food and Drug Administration; Makary crossed swords with the medical establishment over Covid lockdown policies.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. All

This article was first published in The Australian



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

8 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Peter Ridd is a Reader in Physics at James Cook University specialising in Marine Physics. He is also a scientific adviser to the Australian Environment Foundation.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Peter Ridd

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Peter Ridd
Article Tools
Comment 8 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy