Health Wanted: RFK Jr.'s First Year

The Episode

There’s a saying in parenting: “The days are long, but the years are short.” This could also apply to the whirlwind first year of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

This week on Health Wanted, we take a walk down memory lane to review all that RFK Jr. and the MAHA movement have been able to accomplish in their first year…for better or for worse.

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The Listener Questions

Can peeing in a toilet that hasn't been flushed cause urinary tract infections?

Peeing into an unflushed toilet is highly unlikely to cause a urinary tract infection (UTI).

It is a myth that urine is sterile, but the amount of organisms in a healthy person’s urine is very small. Most UTIs are the result of cross contamination of bacteria from our own digestive tract that gets introduced into the urethra and then multiplies and moves towards the bladder and kidneys. So, urine is not necessarily going to be the big issue.

Plus, think about it from a physics perspective. If there’s back splash, it’s because the urine is coming out with force. Bacteria would have to be like a very strong salmon swimming up stream to get in there.

Always make sure you’re wiping front to back to prevent contamination, but UTIs from an unflushed toilet are about as risky as an sexually transmitted infection from a toilet seat. Things would need to line up in a really specific, really bad way for that to be of any real concern.

Is it common to get scarlet fever after having mono?

It’s possible that a case of mono could lead to scarlet fever, but it would not be in the same way that mono leads to multiple sclerosis or lupus. In those cases, the Epstein-Barr virus infects cells that are part of the immune system, only to be reactivated and then attack our own bodies.

But being sick with mono, which is the disease caused by an infection with Epstein-Barr, could temporarily lower your immune response, making you more susceptible to other infections.

Though scarlet fever does still exist today, it’s fairly rare. It’s caused by group A strep, which is the bacteria that causes strep throat. This bacteria can create a toxin that gets into the bloodstream and causes a rash that spreads over the body.

A case of mono could contribute to secondary infections like strep throat. Your immune system is already working to fight the viral infection and your throat tissue is inflamed and sore, making you more susceptible to bacterial infections. It’s also possible that someone could be immunocompromised for another reason, which would make them more susceptible to both mono and scarlet fever.

What is going on with greenhouse gas regulation in the U.S.?

On February 12, the Trump administration finalized a repeal of the Endangerment Finding, the longstanding, science-based finding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare. 

The science behind climate change can be really complex, but here’s the bottom line: Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere warms a planet, humans emit about 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, and our planet is hotter. This is not coincidental—since 1880, greenhouse gas emissions have increased in correlation with global temperatures.

Carbon dioxide, among other chemicals like methane and nitrous oxide, are called greenhouse gases because they cause a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. We talked about this in our extreme summer heat episode but here’s the reminder:

• Imagine you just parked your car in a sunny spot while you go to run some errands.
• Just like your car windows let light in, earth’s atmosphere allows energy from the sun to pass through.
• But, if you have your car windows rolled all the way up, the heat from the sun can’t escape, and by the time you return your car has become a sauna on wheels.
• Similarly, greenhouse gases cause more of the sun's energy to go through the atmosphere than what goes out, trapping in heat and warming the planet. 

For those of you who have been bundled up for the first part of 2026 due to a significant series of winter weather events, it might be hard to feel like global warming is happening. But cold snaps and global warming can and do coexist. It’s important to remember that climate change represents the temperature of the planet over decades, not just what happens in our backyard. 

We also know that climate change poses a direct threat to human health. As a result of climate change, the number of extreme weather events over the past 50 years has increased by a factor of five. Just in the past year, we’ve seen deadly floods, devastating wildfires, excruciating heat waves, and a growing number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. Climate change also drives issues like water scarcity, reduced food production, air pollution, and the spread of vector-borne diseases. Each of these impact health both directly and indirectly. 

The EPA’s Endangerment Finding, which has been in place since 2009, serves as the legal foundation for federal regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Repealing this finding effectively ends the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is heating the planet. 

In response, health leaders including the American Lung Association, the American Public Health Association, the Alliance for Nurses for Healthy Environments, and Physicians for Social Responsibility have stated that this repeal is dangerous and threatens the health of the American people. 

Now why exactly was the Endangerment Finding repealed? According to the Trump administration, the Endangerment Finding is unnecessarily expensive and impedes American energy dominance. They claim that the repeal will “eliminate over $1.3 trillion of regulatory costs.” 

But, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, in 2024 alone there were 27 confirmed weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each that affected the United States. The World Economic Forum estimates that the global cost of climate change damage is estimated to be between $1.7 trillion and $3.1 trillion each year by 2050.

Catch all the listener questions and Laurel’s answers on the full episode of Health Wanted by:

• Streaming at wabe.org or the WABE app
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