The FDA’s New Culture of Secrecy

Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the FDA has purged public health information on vaccines, contraception, HIV, and more. Internal FDA emails reveal deceptive practices that are anything but the “radical transparency” Kennedy promised.

President Trump Participates In Swearing-In Ceremony For Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz

Robert F. Kennedy Jr attends a swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House on April 18, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)


Once confirmed as the secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr promised a new era of “radical transparency” — but instead, he’s made the agencies he oversees even more opaque.

In February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which Kennedy oversees, removed thousands of pages of medical information for doctors, from HIV protocols to guidance on contraception and transgender health care. Then, in April, the agency purged its eighteen-member media relations team and all of its public records team.

Now internal emails reveal how the FDA has been working to suppress scientific communication to the public since January, making it harder for doctors, patients, journalists, and advocates to access public health guidance.

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