RFK Jr.'s Miasma Theory of Health Is Spreading(theatlantic.com)
theatlantic.com
RFK Jr.'s Miasma Theory of Health Is Spreading
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/11/nih-pandemic-miasma/684979/
20 comments
Nice HN humor thanks!
Let's not forget the mysterious but very real placebo effect though! Most of the supplement industry ($50 billion in the US annually dome say) - which you could look at as a waste of money, or a relatively safe and inexpensive way to feel better.
Of course the WH is said to have a Dr Feelgood on its staff, and those items are clearly not placebos, but maybe we are seeing the side effects play out on the world stage ;-)
Let's not forget the mysterious but very real placebo effect though! Most of the supplement industry ($50 billion in the US annually dome say) - which you could look at as a waste of money, or a relatively safe and inexpensive way to feel better.
Of course the WH is said to have a Dr Feelgood on its staff, and those items are clearly not placebos, but maybe we are seeing the side effects play out on the world stage ;-)
With respect to the supplement industry, it could be improved quite a lot if there was large scale testing of purity and potency, by the government presumably. There should be fines if whats in the bottle is not what the label says.
I subscribe to Consumer Labs but they simply don't have the resources to even scratch the surface. The chocolate I eat was approved by CL in 2019, I doubt the results are even valid.
But I doubt RFK would be interested in any of this.
I subscribe to Consumer Labs but they simply don't have the resources to even scratch the surface. The chocolate I eat was approved by CL in 2019, I doubt the results are even valid.
But I doubt RFK would be interested in any of this.
The term "supplement" has been stretched too far, agreed. It is up to the consumer to do the research, but how many consumers have the background to do it? "Third party testing" is supposedly done by some manufacturers, but not by all. But the side effects and interactions of some pharma products should raise eyebrows too.
Honestly, the idea that supplements are harmless... Is harmful.
The number of supplements that boost or deplete things like CYP3A4 (commonly known as don't eat grapefruit on BP meds) is responsible for an unknown number of unintentional overdose deaths- and healthcare is such that frequently doctors don't realize it at all.
The number of supplements that boost or deplete things like CYP3A4 (commonly known as don't eat grapefruit on BP meds) is responsible for an unknown number of unintentional overdose deaths- and healthcare is such that frequently doctors don't realize it at all.
we should be allieviating disease states with body paint, and exhaustive dancing about the firepit in the deeper reccesses of the tribal cave
You jest, but I would be up for some of that in addition to all the other methods.
You jest, but I would be up for some of that in addition to all the other methods.
Next step, doctors shouldn't was thier instruments or hands. That extra bacteria will be no problem if you have a good immune system! Added benifit of culling the heard of the weak.
Rich, corrupt, stupid people with oversized soapboxes spouting dangerous memetic contagions is the only thing he's spreading besides the pain and chaos of haphazard, pointless job losses.
From the City Journal article[1] that this Atlantic article is responding to:
"The [traditional] pandemic preparedness playbook [that RFK is trying to remove] entails three basic steps.
First, catalog every existing pathogen by sending scientists to every remote place (bat caves in China, and the like), take biological samples of wildlife there, and bring them back to labs. ...
Second, evaluate the risk of each pathogen infecting humans by testing its ability to penetrate human cells—and sometimes even genetically modifying it to make this more likely. The latter practice is now called dangerous gain-of-function (dGOF) research. ... . The idea is to estimate the likelihood that the infectious pathogen will mutate in a way that could conceivably threaten humans.
Third, having identified which few of the countless pathogens studied pose the greatest risk, develop vaccines and therapeutics before they leap into human populations. Crucially, this step involves awarding large contracts to pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop and stockpile the countermeasures."
RFK proposes:
1) to strike these above goals from NIH pandemic preparedness playbook
2) Focus on "getting everyone to eat better and exercise," since healthy people have better outcomes in infectious outbreaks.
[1] https://www.city-journal.org/article/nih-jay-bhattacharya-co...
"The [traditional] pandemic preparedness playbook [that RFK is trying to remove] entails three basic steps.
First, catalog every existing pathogen by sending scientists to every remote place (bat caves in China, and the like), take biological samples of wildlife there, and bring them back to labs. ...
Second, evaluate the risk of each pathogen infecting humans by testing its ability to penetrate human cells—and sometimes even genetically modifying it to make this more likely. The latter practice is now called dangerous gain-of-function (dGOF) research. ... . The idea is to estimate the likelihood that the infectious pathogen will mutate in a way that could conceivably threaten humans.
Third, having identified which few of the countless pathogens studied pose the greatest risk, develop vaccines and therapeutics before they leap into human populations. Crucially, this step involves awarding large contracts to pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop and stockpile the countermeasures."
RFK proposes:
1) to strike these above goals from NIH pandemic preparedness playbook
2) Focus on "getting everyone to eat better and exercise," since healthy people have better outcomes in infectious outbreaks.
[1] https://www.city-journal.org/article/nih-jay-bhattacharya-co...
Haven't they been telling us to eat better and exercise all along? What am I missing?
Telling people to eat better and exercise doesn't seem to have much effect, from what I can see. This seems really out of touch.
Telling people to eat better and exercise doesn't seem to have much effect, from what I can see. This seems really out of touch.
No but this time RFK is saying that, before it was devil Dems saying (Michelle Obama), so people had to eat trash food and be lazy out of spite.
(2) conveniently forgets that some pandemics hit healthier people the hardest (due to immune system overreactions).
How can the risks involved in such a playbook be justified when an mRNA vaccine takes only 26 days to develop?
https://oregonhealthnews.oregon.gov/plug-and-play-mrna-techn...
https://oregonhealthnews.oregon.gov/plug-and-play-mrna-techn...
Unfortunately they have defunded all mRNA research. Good luck, I guess!
>a new plan to help Americans weather the next pandemic: getting everyone to eat better and exercise
What a crazy and deranged individual!
What a crazy and deranged individual!
Are you one of the audience they say simple things like this for, or are you just playing the game of amplifying it for others to take at face value without thinking about it any more deeply?
rfk chimes in about gold standard science frequently, thus science circa 1900, roughly 125 years ago.
miasma theory goes back to the time of hippocrates outdoing the gold standard.
if rfk really wants to get it right we should be allieviating disease states with body paint, and exhaustive dancing about the firepit in the deeper reccesses of the tribal cave.
the only thing better would be to consult the pleistocene cave paintings, surely the evil spirits and animal totems persist, and have greater efficacy than pharmaceuticals.
i wonder what is to be done about the miasma in the oval office, and the mar-a-lago, perhaps some febreeze will help.