Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argues direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads have had a “disastrous impact” on health and addresses his vaccine policy stances in an interview with Bret Baier on FOX News Channel’s “Special Report.” White House: Addressing Misleading Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Welcome back to the White House. We are just in front of the West Wing, where an Oval Office meeting just wrapped up. Joining us, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Mr. Secretary, thanks for the time. Thank you for having me. The President just signed an executive order making some news here when it comes to pharmaceutical ads. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: The President just signed an executive order that’s an historic change in the way that pharmaceutical advertising is done on television. And the order basically reinstates or gives us now the opportunity to reinstate the 1997 rules. Prior to 1997, pharmaceutical advertisers were required to put all the side effects on their ads. Many of them didn’t advertise because of what it did to the length of the advertising. And the removal of that requirement, in 1997, the FDA changed the rule to allow them to report the side effects on a website or on a telephone. And they only had to report a few of them on television. And that triggered a proliferation of these ads. There’s only two countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies on television. We’re one of those countries. New Zealand is the other. It’s had a disastrous impact on human health, on people’s relationships with their doctors, and really on the entire gestalt where Americans are led to believe that there’s a pill for every ill. And that you don’t have to exercise. You don’t have to pay attention to your diet. Whatever goes wrong with you, you can fix with a drug.

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