Supposed health nut Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the health and human services, celebrated Mother’s Day by taking his family to swim in polluted waters.
Kennedy shared photos of the excursion to Rock Creek just outside of Washington, D.C. Along with images of himself—shirtless and wearing jeans, as he is wont to do—submerging himself in the creek, the Make America Healthy Again cheerleader wrote, “Mother’s Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with Amaryllis, Bobby, Kick, and Jackson, and a swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat and Cassius in Rock Creek.”
However, swimming in Rock Creek has been banned since 1971 due to pollution from runoff and numerous sewer outfalls. While there are ongoing efforts to clean up the waterways, it is not currently safe.
On its Rock Create website, the National Park Service informs visitors to “stay dry, stay safe,” explaining that the ban is due to “high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading, and other contact with the water a hazard to human (and pet) health.” At the same time, “[s]crambling in and out of the creek can also erode stream banks, which can negatively impact habitat for the park’s aquatic wildlife,” according to the NPS.
It is hard for many to imagine, let alone remember, that Kennedy was once celebrated for his environmental efforts in cleaning up the Hudson River. His legal work with the Riverkeeper organization and the Waterkeeper Alliance in the 1980s and 1990s earned him broad recognition as a champion of environmental protection.
Despite these environmentalist beginnings, Kennedy has since leaned heavily into anti-science conspiracy theories. His unscientific criticisms of vaccine safety have undermined public health initiatives, and as head of the HHS, he continues to promote dubious health and medical advice.
In a 2021 book titled “The Real Anthony Fauci,” Kennedy capitalized on COVID-19 conspiracies by attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci—the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—while promoting a bizarrely misinformed criticism of germ theory.
This past Mother’s Day, Kennedy’s belief that germs are overrated was on full display as the head of our country’s public health apparatus promoted swimming in shit.
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