RFK Jr. Wants to Get Rid of 'Entire Departments’ at FDA – Here’s Why That’s Nuts

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), who could play a significant public health role in the next Trump administration, has voiced a desire to “clear out” what he calls corruption at FDA and the CDC. Yet there’s little, if any, credible evidence to support his claims of widespread corruption within these agencies.

While government bodies are not without flaws, making such serious accusations without proof is reckless and undermines public trust in the very institutions meant to protect public health.

In a recent interview with NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard, Kennedy was asked if he would clear out top-level federal workers at FDA and the CDC. Although his response primarily focused on FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, his words should raise alarms for the medical device industry.

“In some categories of workers there are entire departments like the nutrition departments at FDA that have to go. They are not doing their job; they're not protecting our kids,” he said. “Why do we have Fruit Loops in this country with 18 or 19 ingredients, while in Canada it has only two or three?”

While his example centers on food and nutrition, it’s not hard to imagine that he might also set his sights on FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), which regulates medical devices.

One silver lining in Kennedy’s comments is his acknowledgment that dismantling an entire agency would require an act of Congress. “To eliminate the agencies, as long as it requires congressional approval, I wouldn't be doing that,” Kennedy said. “I can get the corruption out of the agencies; that's what I've been doing for 40 years. I have a PhD in corporate corruption, and once Americans are getting good science and are allowed to make their own choices, they're going to get a lot healthier.”

Yet this is the same individual who has spread misleading and false claims about vaccine safety. The idea of Kennedy potentially being appointed to a position like U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is alarming. His record speaks more to sensationalism than evidence-based policy.

The real danger lies in the possibility of significant turnover or disruption at FDA if Kennedy’s plan to clear out “entire departments” moves forward. This would create a ripple effect across the medical device industry, impacting regulatory standards, global market access, investor confidence, and more.

At best, the result could be a regulatory backlog and uncertainty similar to what the industry faced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when FDA had to prioritize COVID-19 testing and other products, causing delays for other medical devices in the approval pipeline.

Such instability would deter investors from supporting an industry already fraught with challenges. This would be especially damaging for medtech startups and smaller companies striving to bring new, potentially life-saving technologies to market. Meanwhile, larger public medtech companies could face volatility in stock prices as markets react to uncertainty about regulatory timelines and consumer trust.

Eliminating key departments or triggering department-wide turnover at FDA would undoubtedly introduce significant risk and complexity into the medical device industry. It could also erode confidence across stakeholders—patients, providers, and investors—and could lead to a reduction in innovation and a slowdown in the adoption of new technologies, ultimately threatening the industry’s growth and the safety of medical devices on the market.