“And so the capacity for these chemicals that we are just raining down on our children right now to induce these very profound sexual changes in them is something we need to be thinking about as a society,” he added.Ītrazine, one of the most common herbicides, is an endocrine disruptor, though Gore said there is no link between these chemicals and gender and sexuality in humans.
They can lay eggs, fertile eggs,” Kennedy said in the June 2022 episode of his podcast. “If you expose frogs to atrazine, male frogs, it changes their sex and they can actually bear young.
Kennedy made the comments multiple times between March 2022 and June 2023. Kennedy has been polling around 19% among Democratic voters in his bid to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. “He is merely suggesting that, given copious research on the effects on other vertebrates, this possibility deserves further research.”ĬNN’s KFile reviewed dozens of appearances from Kennedy, both on his podcast, and in other media in recent years where he occasionally discussed the topic. He is not claiming that endocrine disruptors are the only or main cause of gender dysphoria,” a Kennedy campaign spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. Kennedy’s remarks are being mischaracterized. The baseless claim that chemicals – particularly in tap water – could turn people gay has gained popularity with conspiracy theorists over the years, most memorably with conservative radio host Alex Jones, who said chemicals in the water were “turning the friggin’ frogs gay.” Andrea Gore, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at University of Texas at Austin, said the sex of humans is determined at the moment of conception, and cannot later be altered by endocrine-disrupting chemicals. While sex in in frogs is determined by environmental factors such as temperature and chemicals, Dr. Kennedy on multiple occasions misconstrued endocrine disruptors’ studied ability to cause some male frogs to become female and produce viable eggs, suggesting that these chemicals could have similar effects on children and change their sexuality.ĬNN spoke to multiple experts who said there is no link between endocrine disruptors and children’s gender and sexuality. Such chemicals are commonly found in pesticides and plastic, and can affect reproductive functions and increase the risk of obesity. “These kinds of issues that are very, very controversial today.”Įndocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones and endocrine system, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “I want to just pursue just one question on these, you know, the other endocrine disruptors because our children now, you know, we’re seeing these impacts that people suspect are very different than in ages past about sexual identification among children and sexual confusion, gender confusion,” Kennedy said on his podcast in June last year. has a history of repeatedly sharing unfounded conspiracies that man-made chemicals in the environment could be making children gay or transgender and causing the feminization of boys and masculinization of girls.Įxperts dispute the claims from Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, and told CNN’s KFile his theories that “sexual identification” and “gender confusion” among children could be from their exposure to “endocrine disruptors” found in the environment are completely unfounded. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F.
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