Gareth O'Callaghan: Will RFK Jr’s health policies be as dangerous as his conspiracy theories?

Apart from being the quintessential covid protester, he believes the CIA has infiltrated the US media, and that pesticides in drinking water are creating ‘sexual dysphoria’ in young men

Robert Kennedy Jr is about to become one of the most influential men in the world of medicine, due to his popularisation of some of this generation’s most discredited health conspiracies.

Looks can be deceiving. My impression of Robert F Kennedy Jr is that he doesn't look well. He's clunky and moves slowly. His face and neck appear weather-beaten, shrivelled. He rarely smiles. He's 70, but he appears like a man in his late 80s who hasn't looked after his health.

He’s not helped by a condition he was diagnosed with 28 years ago called spasmodic dysphonia, a chronic neurological vocal disorder which gives his voice a strangled sound, a choking raspy growl. It’s often difficult to hear distinctly what he’s saying, and it’s obvious that it frustrates him at times.