As measles—and the ignorance fueling its resurgence—spread across the country, the irony in RFK’s actions is impossible to ignore. He promotes vitamin A as a measles treatment (where it has no utility whatsoever) while opposing the very technology behind genetically modified rice—a crop engineered to combat vitamin A deficiency where it is needed most.
Kennedy pushes the untenable ...
With some minor exceptions, vitamin A has little or no medical use in developed countries like the U.S. And certainly not against measles. But the full extent of Kennedy’s unscientific stance only becomes clear when we examine how his actions not only endanger unvaccinated Americans today but have also caused immense harm in other parts of the world. It is here where the irony becomes obvious.
As Dr. Chuck Dinerstein, the ACSH Director of Medicine, notes, "There is very little use for vitamin A in well-nourished people. The rate of vitamin A deficiency is rare in the U.S., affecting roughly 1% of the population, with slightly higher rates in neonates and individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases." It should also be noted that vitamin A must be taken with care. At high doses it can be dangerously toxic.
In poorer, undeveloped countries, especially in Asia, where rice is the primary staple food, there has been a tidal wave of blindness and disease caused by vitamin A deficiency. Xerophthalmia, which begins with night blindness and can progress to the complete loss of sight, affects 190 million children of preschool age worldwide. Every year, between 250,000 and 500,000 children worldwide will become blind – about half of them will die – from a condition that's largely preventable.
... and prevents the preventable
Kennedy’s advocacy for vitamin A as a measles treatment is not just scientifically unsound; it’s particularly galling given his opposition to a solution that could have saved millions of children from blindness and death.
If it's not clear what part Kennedy plays in this global tragedy it can be summed up in two words–Golden Rice, a genetically modified variety of white rice engineered to produce beta-carotene (hence its color).
Golden Rice, a genetically modified food, contains a gene that enables the rice plant to biosynthesize beta-carotene, which is readily converted to vitamin A in the body. Image: Flickr
What does this have to do with vitamin A? Everything. This is because the body rapidly converts beta-carotene into vitamin A (Figure 1).
Figure 1. (Left) Beta-carotene is enzymatically converted in the body to two molecules of retinol, one of the forms of vitamin A (1). (Right) Pure beta-carotene is bright orange, which accounts for the color of multiple plant products, for example, carrots, pumpkins, peppers, and maple leaves in the fall.
The triple crown of irony
Completing the "Irony Triple Crown" is the fact that, although vitamin A has no direct impact on measles, it does have a critically important use in treating some of those who have contracted the infection (2), in other words, those who are vitamin A deficient. This is because vitamin A deficiency wreaks havoc with the immune system, making measles far more dangerous. Children with low vitamin A levels are much more likely to become severely ill or die.
"Children under two years of age with measles infection who also had a very low vitamin A level had double the risk of dying compared to children with higher levels."
Bottom line
It would be difficult to imagine a scenario in which someone can get so much wrong in the world of public health that the consequences are reminiscent of a dark comedy. Yet somehow, Kennedy manages to be wrong in three completely different ways — a feat that would almost be impressive if it weren’t so dangerous.
When public health policies start sounding like satire, we should all be alarmed. Yet, here we are.
Notes:
(1) Vitamin A exists in three oxidation states: retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid. They are biologically interchangeable.
(2) Supplemental vitamin A helps prevent severe illness and death in vitamin A-deficient children with measles by reducing morbidity and mortality in those already seriously ill. The same applies to other infections of immune compromised children.
Josh Bloom
Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science
Dr. Josh Bloom, the Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, comes from the world of drug discovery, where he did research for more than 20 years. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry.
