RFK Jr, EPA chief 'declare war' on microplastics amid growing evidence of health risks

These tiny bits of plastic, which are less than 5 mm in size, can persist in our environment for hundreds or thousands of years. They may also build up in our bodies, our hearts and our brains, causing untold damage.                           

Kennedy spoke with Fox News in an exclusive interview accompanying the EPA/HHS announcement.

"We do not have the science that distinguishes between the impacts of these different types of plastics, and maybe if we identify those impacts, the damaging ones can be immediately eliminated, because you can replace them with something else," he said.

"Our job - and we are really at the limit of our power right now - is to try to answer those questions before we take another action."       

Kennedy pointed to emerging science suggesting microplastics' direct impacts on public health. 

"Some of them may be benign - others are very, very harmful," he warned. "The science shows if they cause inflammation, they cause oxidative stress."

Kennedy, who has a long history of fighting chemicals in the environment, blames big businesses for causing the problem and wants them to clean it up. "That's a lesson we are all supposed to have learned at kindergarten - that you clean up after yourself, you don't force the public to do it."

The same approach applies to pharmaceuticals that make their way into the environment, he noted.

"Lee has directed his agency under President Trump to do this study so we can start regulating the discharge of these chemicals," he went on. "A lot of them you can remove through carbon technology and other technologies."

"You want to be able to get the answers, you want to see the gold-standard science," he said. "You demand radical transparency. You're looking through the website, and it's ignoring what you came to that web page to look for. I feel like there's a communication gap - and when there's a communication gap, there's a trust gap."

Kennedy added, "I like everybody in that Cabinet, but Lee and I work with particular closeness, and I've really enjoyed the relationship."                                           

It is clear they would like this relationship to continue, even if their roles change. "You never know what's going to happen," Kennedy said.