Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed Sunday that he took a dip in Washington, D.C.’s, Rock Creek along with his grandchildren, regardless of long-standing warnings that prime bacterial ranges make the Potomac River tributary unsafe.
“Mother’s Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with Amaryllis, Bobby, Kick, and Jackson, and a swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat and Cassius in Rock Creek,” Kennedy wrote in a publish on the social platform X together with a number of images, together with one of many shirtless 71-year-old Cupboard member submerged within the water.
In line with the Nationwide Park Service (NPS), “swimming and wading are not allowed due to high bacteria levels.”
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Swimming has been unlawful in most of D.C.’s waterways because the Nineteen Seventies, largely due to contamination from the District’s growing older sewer system, although there have been latest efforts to roll again the five-decade prohibition, and it’s not often enforced. A number of indicators posted alongside Rock Creek warn of the potential risks, and the NPS advises pet house owners to maintain animals out of the water, as effectively.
Well being and Human Providers did not instantly reply to The Hill’s request for touch upon Kennedy’s swim or issues in regards to the water’s contamination.
Kennedy, whom President Trump appointed to steer well being coverage in his second time period, has drawn appreciable consideration for his unconventional positions on wellness points. The Senate confirmed him for the HHS position in February regardless of hesitations from lawmakers on either side of the aisle.
He described himself and his high allies at HHS as “renegades” and “juggernauts against convention” in a Fox Information interview Thursday.
The previous presidential candidate and promoter of the “Make America Healthy Again” motion beforehand revealed in court docket paperwork that docs informed him in 2010 {that a} parasite had eaten a part of his mind, and he additionally skilled mercury poisoning, seemingly from consuming fish.
