Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a new program last month meant to stimulate research and find ways to rid people of the microscopic plastic particles that have infiltrated human bodies.
The $144 million program on measuring, understanding and removing micro- and nanoplastics has been welcomed by researchers, industry, environmental and Make America Healthy Again advocates as well as online wellness gurus promoting nascent “detoxification” methods. It’s the largest federal investment to date into a field of study roughly 5 years old.
But experts worry Kennedy is focused on the wrong questions.
“Getting it out of our bodies? That seems extremely tough to me,” said Marcus Eriksen, a marine plastics scientist who leads the nonprofit 5 Gyres Institute and has advised Kennedy for years. “I get that’s kind of the narrative that’s going to fly with this administration — focus on the downstream stuff, less on the prevention side.”
