In September, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., declared that the agency’s “MAHA Strategy” gave HHS
a clear mission: investigate the relationship between electromagnetic radiation and health, identify gaps in our knowledge, and make sure federal policy keeps pace with rapidly changing technology.
Towards accomplishing this “mission”, HHS published a “Request for Information” (RFI) in the Federal Register on September 21, 2026.
Per the RFI,
HHS is seeking input from the public, including individuals, families, caregivers, healthcare professionals, public health practitioners, researchers, organizations, equipment or product manufacturers, service or infrastructure providers, and other interested stakeholders that have knowledge of or experience with RF/EMF emission and exposure.
But you had to be quick about it, as comments closed a mere 30 days later, on October 21.
Federal agencies generally use RFIs to collect public input before drafting new rules and policies, so we can reasonably assume this is yet another indication that Kennedy plans to take action via HHS’s regulatory authority. He’s previously employed HHS RFIs in service of his quest to attack established vaccine science and to achieve DOGE’s deregulatory agenda, for example.
As well, as reported in the Wall St. Journal in January, the FDA (a division of HHS) “quietly removed web pages saying cellphones aren’t dangerous”. The FDA had earlier said that “the weight of scientific evidence has not linked exposure to radio frequency energy from cellphone use with any health problems,” according to an archived version of one of the removed web pages. While the website still contains brief summaries of the removed web pages, their links reroute to a page describing the agency’s regulatory role, not an actual discussion of the science.
An HHS spokesperson told the WSJ that the FDA removed web pages with
old conclusions about cellphone radiation while HHS undertakes a study on electromagnetic radiation and health research to identify gaps in knowledge, including on new technologies, to ensure safety and efficacy . . .
The spokesperson didn’t say who was running the study.
Confusing terms
By way of background, “electromagnetic radiation”, the term Kennedy used in the opening quote, is energy traveling at the speed of light through space as waves of electric and magnetic energy. It covers a huge spectrum, including radio waves, microwaves, visible and ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays.
The term “RF/EMF”, used in the HHS RFI, is an abbreviation for “radiofrequency electromagnetic fields” and refers specifically to the electromagnetic fields and radiation in the radiofrequency (RF) range of the aforementioned electromagnetic radiation spectrum, a much smaller slice of the spectrum pie. RF/EMF encompasses a big chunk of the devices of modern life: cell phones and towers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, smart meters, wearables, radio and TV transmitters, and microwave ovens, among others.
The RFI, somewhat confusingly, also uses the broader term “electromagnetic fields”, or “EMF”, standing alone, which encompasses non-RF sources (like power lines). However, as HHS says it seeks information from those who “have knowledge of or experience with RF/EMF emission and exposure”, we’ll take the agency at its word that RF/EMF is the concern.
As you will see, Kennedy sometimes uses the term “electromagnetic radiation”, as opposed to RF or RF/EMF, when he’s discussing what he perceives as the dangers of cell phones and wi-fi, presumably because it sounds much scarier.
Health effects
RF/EMF is non-ionizing, meaning it doesn’t damage DNA the way X-rays or gamma rays do. At high levels, it can heat tissue, but current exposure regulations are set well below that for the general public.
The putative negative health effects of modern technology like cell phones and wi-fi are hobbyhorses of what is now known as “Make American Healthy Again”, or “MAHA”. And, like other MAHA pet projects (e.g., anti-vaccination, “natural” remedies), it has a rich history in science denialism and crankery. That means, of course, that we’ve covered it here on SBM numerous times, including fear-mongering by Dr. Oz, who (sadly) now runs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, another division of HHS.
The actual scientific research is more reassuring. In 2024, Dr. Steve Novella discussed a WHO systematic review that found no association between the use of cell phones (and resulting exposure to RF) and an increased risk of brain cancer. He concluded:
Looking at the big picture, what we can say at this time is that – non ionizing radiation (especially non thermal) has no plausible mechanism of causing biological harm. A hazard from a currently unknown mechanism is always impossible to rule out, but is not very plausible here. Further, the observational data has not demonstrated any actual risk of exposure to RF through cell phone use or otherwise. . . For me, the bottom line is, any remaining potential risk is too small to worry about.
In fact, between 2023 and 2025, the WHO commissioned 12 systematic reviews. A Swiss government expert group summarized these reviews of human studies, including those on cancer, cognition, and reproduction, and found no evidence of adverse effects from everyday RF/EMF use.
That is not to say that further research by responsible scientists and respectable scientific organizations isn’t warranted. But, Kennedy being Kennedy, that’s not what this is.
“Gold-standard science”
Kennedy is counting on his RFI to do some heavy lifting:
Americans deserve clear answers about what these exposures mean for our health. They deserve gold-standard science and complete transparency about what do we know, what we don’t know, and what we still need to find out through this RFI. [Emphasis added.]
He continued:
If you believe that you or a member of your family has experienced an adverse health effect that may be associated with radio frequency or electromagnetic field exposure, share your experience. If you’re a clinician or researcher who has observed a pattern that warrants further study, tell us what you’ve seen.
In other words, it appears Kennedy’s idea of “gold standard science” is to crowd-source anecdotes and whatever else anyone wants to post in the RFI comments. (And, boy, did the public deliver, as you shall soon find out.)
As anyone who has read SBM’s many posts on this vile crank knows, the idea that Kennedy is interested in “evidence-based recommendations” or “transparent, science-informed decision-making”, as he claims, is laughable. (This includes Dr. David Gorski’s epic series, “RFK Jr is definitely coming for your vaccines”, on which today’s post title is an obvious riff.) If he actually wanted a summary of the existing evidence, or to identify further areas of fruitful research, or an epidemiologically sound survey of public harm, all of those are readily available via HHS’s vast resources.
Whatever his sources of information, what seems highly unlikely to happen is that HHS will conclude its inquiry with a fair summary of the scientific evidence on RF/EMF. One, because when has Kennedy ever done that, about anything, and two, he’s already made up his mind that RF/EMF is causing cancer and other maladies.
- As an attorney, Kennedy represented plaintiffs suing telecom companies, alleging their brain tumors and other health issues were caused by cellphones.
- His anti-vaccination behemoth, the Children’s Defense Fund, successfully sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), resulting in a 2020 federal court ruling that the FCC must review its wireless radiation rules. (The FCC has done little to comply, so far, other than issue its own RFI seeking public comment, just one day after the HHS RFI.)
- He told the podcaster Joe Rogan, in 2023, that “[o]ur children are swimming around in a toxic soup” and suggested that one of the causes of chronic illness in children could be cellphones. “The Wi-Fi radiation is a lot worse than people think it is”, he claimed.
- In a July 2024 episode of his own podcast, he spoke at length about what he saw as the risks of cell phone radiation. Because he’s apparently never met a putative corporate coverup he didn’t like, he claimed that research on the topic had been systematically suppressed by the telecommunications industry.
- At his Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy stood by past statements that wi-fi radiation causes cancer, citing a case he said he had won against the FCC in the Court of Appeals. As NBC News noted, that particular case concerned health issues unrelated to cancer, and the court took no position on the health effects of cellphone radiation.
- He also said, in a 2025 interview with Fox & Friends, that cell phones “produce electromagnetic radiation, which has been shown to do neurological damage to kids when it’s around them all day, and to cause cellular damage and even cancer.”
- In January of this year, Kennedy told USA Today that he’s “very concerned” about “electromagnetic radiation” from 5G cell phone towers and that generally speaking, “electromagnetic radiation is a major health concern.” He cited what he claimed were more than 10,000 studies documenting harms including cancer, tumor growth and DNA damage.
Thousands of comments
Before we conclude, let’s take a brief look at some of the more than 7,000 comments posted in response to the RFI. (This is by no means a scientific sample and I did not read all the comments.)
First, it is clear from the comments that folks are suffering from a plethora of otherwise unexplained (in their minds) maladies they attribute to RF/EMF: headaches, joint aches, nausea, dizziness, tinnitus, insomnia, drowsiness, cancer, heart palpitations, rashes, depression, cognitive issues (including memory problems, “brain fog”, and problems concentrating), fainting, difficulty walking, blackouts, seizures, weight gain, mood disorders, muscle cramping, double vision, Bell’s palsy, anxiety, heart attack, high blood pressure, edema, burning, redness, tingling, ear aches, and stomach aches.
Commenters have taken extraordinary measures to combat the perceived offenders, such as hardwiring their internet, forbidding their children from contact with wireless devices (at least at home, while bemoaning their exposure at school and elsewhere), refusing the installation of utility company “smart meters”, and declining medical testing. Others have purchased devices purporting to protect them from RF/EMF, some spending “thousands of dollars”. Still others have moved away from cell towers and say they are unable to visit facilities with wi-fi, such as hotels and churches.
Some claim they have “electromagnetic hypersensitivity” (“EHS”). Yet, according to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, EHS “has no clear diagnostic criteria and the science so far has not provided evidence that EMF exposure is the cause.” The majority of scientific studies, the Agency continued, found that under controlled laboratory conditions, individuals claiming they have EHS cannot detect the presence of EMF sources any more accurately than those who don’t claim EHS. As well, several studies have indicated a “nocebo effect”, that is, an adverse effect due to the belief that something is harmful.
Interestingly, several commenters have been assisted in their attribution of physical and mental ills to RF/EMF by “experts” like alternative medical practitioners and so-called “Electromagnetic Radiation Specialists”.
Damning with bad research
Thus, as with “vaccine injury”, there are thousands of people who are truly suffering out there, ready for Kennedy and his minions to exploit with extravagant claims of danger based on a dishonest review of the evidence.
As Dr. Jerrold Bushberg, a clinical professor of radiation oncology at the University of California, Davis, told NBC,
There’s a lot of low-quality research in the literature that, if you wanted to collect all that and put it together, it would look very damning. . . There are many activist groups out there that promote those studies and say that that’s the truth.
That, I fear, is exactly what is about to happen at Kennedy’s HHS.
