Conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was criticized because of his his recent claim that chemicals in the water supply are turning kids transgender.
During an episode of Jordan Peterson's Daily Wire podcast, Kennedy Jr. expressed his belief that "chemical exposure" is responsible for a range of issues, including sexual dysphoria in children.
Kennedy Jr. attributed the "huge levels of depression and despair" in kids, especially boys, to chemical exposures and the presence of endocrine disruptors in the environment.
He specifically mentioned atrazine, a herbicide, which he claimed chemically castrates and feminizes frogs. According to Kennedy Jr., 10 percent of male frogs exposed to atrazine become fully viable females capable of producing viable eggs.
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Kennedy Jr. said:
“I think a lot of the problems we see in kids, and particularly boys, it’s probably underappreciated how much of that is coming from chemical exposures, including a lot of sexual dysphoria that we’re seeing."
"They’re swimming through a soup of toxic chemicals today. And many of those are endocrine disruptors.”
“There’s atrazine throughout our water supply. If you, in a lab, put atrazine in a tank full of frogs, it will chemically castrate and forcibly feminize every frog in there. And 10 percent of the frogs, the male frogs, will turn into fully viable females able to produce viable eggs."
"If it’s doing that to frogs, there’s a lot of other evidence that it’s doing it to human beings as well.”
Kennedy Jr. provided no specific evidence to support his claim that atrazine or other chemicals in the water supply are causing human males to transition to females.
While a 2010 study from the University of California, Berkeley, did link atrazine exposure to reduced sperm count and impaired fertility in humans, Kennedy's extrapolation to gender identity transformation lacks scientific support.
Twitter users swiftly responded to Kennedy's assertions, mocking the absurdity of his theories and highlighting the lack of scientific basis for his claims.
Kennedy Jr.'s credibility has been previously called into question due to his promotion of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. The combination of his unconventional beliefs and association with controversial figures like Peterson and InfoWars host Alex Jones has generated significant skepticism and scrutiny.
Earlier this month, Kennedy Jr. discussed his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and emphasized the importance of freedom of speech in a wide-ranging interview with Musk hosted via Twitter Spaces.
Kennedy Jr. mentioned his previously banned social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook were reinstated by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. While Kennedy Jr. stated he doesn't actively discuss vaccines anymore, he emphasized he would tell the truth if asked about them, as he declared himself an expert on the subject.
Kennedy Jr. expressed his frustration with being silenced when providing answers to vaccine-related questions despite being neither a scientist nor doctor of medicine—his status as a vaccine expert appears entirely self-professed.
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