Michigan Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed has called for an investigation into US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over staffing cuts at federal health agencies and their possible impact on food safety.
Speaking to CNN, El-Sayed said reductions at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may have weakened their ability to respond to foodborne illness outbreaks and product recalls.
He pointed to the summer’s cyclospora outbreak and recalls involving blueberries, blackberries and meat as examples of problems requiring scrutiny.
“This is not about retribution for something past. This is about understanding what happened, holding people accountable for what they did and then solving the problem moving forward,” El-Sayed told CNN.
The senator-elect also criticised what he described as Kennedy’s “anti-science” approach, saying his leadership and policy decisions should be examined.
El-Sayed suggested he would take a sceptical approach towards supporting Kennedy and his policies.
“My position is I’m going to assume I’m not going to support you until proven otherwise. So the bar is going to be extremely high,” he said.
