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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “What the plastic industry does is it externalize that cost.”

Featuring: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Independent | United States Secretary of Health and Human Services | National

The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande

Published May 28, 2026 | Video Starts at 19:39

I'm not trying to Impugn. Yeah, but you're supposed to pay for all the costs of getting that product, building it, and getting it to market. Right. And What the plastic industry does is it externalize that cost. You nailed it. And put the cost on the American people so that they get to avoid the cost and they get to out compete their competitors in the packaging industry. (19:39–19:43)

CLAIM

Asserts that the plastic industry externalizes its costs onto the public.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“We went from 1.9, which is already extremely low, 1.75, and it was the greatest drop in fertility that has been seen in human history.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 16:20-16:31
“Male sperm counts, I think in this country are down 50% for teenage males.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 17:35-17:40
“The Fresh Kills landfill is the highest point on the east coast of North America because we're subsidizing the disposal of garbage and…”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 23:26-23:41
“Back in the 1980s, we got leaded gasoline out of the gasoline. And as a direct result from that, the national average IQ went up two points.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 25:42-25:55
“It's like 1% of the volume of the human brain.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 36:26-36:29
“Every American on average has about a teaspoon [of microplastic in their brain].”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 37:29-37:37
“These [PFAs and PFOAs] are the plastic constituents. They can also be flame retardants and in glues.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 01:10-11:38
“These [PFAs and PFOAs] are ubiquitous in the environment.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 01:10-11:26
“Your body has such difficulty excreting them [PFAs and PFOAs].”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 11:44-12:00
“PFAs and PFOAs are what we call forever chemicals.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 11:59-12:03
“Every time we get one [chemical] banned, they alter a couple molecules on it and then sell the same thing.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 13:38-13:53
“It takes us 10 years to prove that it's doing the exact same thing as the predecessor chemical.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 13:46-13:53
“The fertility levels that we came up with in this last meeting a couple of weeks ago were stunning and historical.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 16:02-16:13
“Two is the replacement rate. And they actually believe that we're somewhere around 1.4 because there is data manipulation.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 16:33-16:43
“Clearly plastics and microplastics are part of that picture [of decreasing fertility].”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 17:28-17:34
“The ability for companies, for the plastic industry to externalize their costs means they're not functioning in a free market economy.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 20:34-20:43
“In Europe, they actually have taxes on producers that if you're going to A producer introduces a product like packaging into the stream of…”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 22:27-22:45
“In Europe, you know, they don't have landfills like we have.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 23:24-23:27
“Meanwhile, it killed a lot of firemen.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 24:31-24:34
“You know, you, you have all these firemen now were suffering from testicular cancer because of the chafing from the fire gear.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 24:39-24:50
“Lead caused behavioral issues and it caused violence.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 27:18-27:23
“That generation was the most violent generation in American history. We had the riots and, you know, crime rates going through the roof.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 27:24-27:33
“When the lead came out, it was coterminous with a reduction, a lot of that violence.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 27:35-27:41
“Plastics are not just causing physical problems, there are behavioral issues as well. And you know that they may be connected to ADHD and…”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 27:44-27:58
“The Bradford Hill criteria is a schematic for proving causation. It's used throughout medicine and the regulatory approval process.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 28:41-29:14
“Who was, you know, he was this very tenacious, courageous scientist who was the first one to length led to the laws in IQ and all these…”
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“So that's the subsidy that the industry is getting from us. Half of their revenues are subsidies off of our skin.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 34:42-34:52
“Who had dementia had consistently much higher levels of microplastics in their brain.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 37:29-37:37
“There's no way that we know of this time of chelating it out [microplastics from the body].”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 37:57-38:03
“Increased is the outcome we sued in the dark waters case.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 40:37-40:42
“We're putting $145 million into [the ARPA H program] to look for the first time at the fate of various kind of plastics in the human body.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 43:55-44:05
“And endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interact with the, with our sexual development or our hormone system.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 48:20-48:32
“Unfortunately, you should avoid phthalates, you should avoid fragrances when you get your cosmetic.”
The War on Microplastics with Dr. Leo Trasande | Uploaded May 28, 2026 | 51:28-51:34