RFK Jr clashes with NBC reporter in fiery on-air spat about fluoride in tap water: ‘Listen to me!’

Robert F Kennedy Jr. became involved in a fiery on-air argument with an NBC reporter over his calls for the removal of fluoride from the US water supply.

The former presidential hopeful lost his cool during a debate with news journalist Vaughn Hillyard in Palm Beach, Florida.

Kennedy claimed the mineral lowers children’s IQ during the interview, which took place after Donald Trump’s election victory.

The reporter interrupted, which led to an explosion in the air.

‘Listen to me!’ he smoked.

RFK J has pledged to remove the substance from public water supplies in his first appearance as an official in a possible Trump administration.

He emphasized that the mineral “lowers the IQ of our children.”

“I think fluoride is on its way out,” Kennedy exclaimed on Wednesday, before being pressed by Hillyard on what he would actually do.

“How would you let that happen?” Hillyard asked. ‘This is your chance, that’s what you’re proposing to me. How would you make that happen?

“I think the sooner it goes out, the better,” he said.

“I’m not going to force anyone to take it out, but I’m going to advise the water districts on their legal liability, their legal duty to their service, to their constituents.

‘And I’m going to give them good information about science. And I think fluoride will go away.”

The former presidential candidate was interviewed by news journalist Vaughn Hillyard in Palm Beach, Florida

Kennedy claimed the mineral lowers children’s IQ during the interview, which took place after Donald Trump’s election victory

Robert F Kennedy Jr. is an ardent anti-vaxxer and stated that he would remove fluoride from public water systems if given a position in a possible Trump White House

Kennedy has spoken out against fluoride, claiming it causes bone cancer, IQ loss and neurodevelopmental disorders.

The staunch anti-vaxxer has been eyeing a position within Trump’s administration since withdrawing from the presidential race in August and endorsing the Republican candidate.

Adding fluoride to water is touted as a major public health achievement, but doubts about its benefits and concerns about its health effects are growing.

Water fluoridation is the standard national policy in the US, England and Canada, but other developed countries such as Germany, Sweden, Scotland and Switzerland have stopped it, arguing that people now get enough fluoride from other sources, such as toothpaste and mouthwash.

And earlier this year, a US federal judge ruled that the EPA must reassess national fluoride regulations based on a study conducted by a federal organization that provided “moderate confidence” evidence that fluoride was linked to lower IQ in children.

The staunch anti-vaxxer has been eyeing a position within Trump’s administration since withdrawing from the presidential race in August and endorsing him.

The US began adding fluoride to their tap water in the 1940s. About 72 percent of Americans who use public utilities receive fluorinated drinking water

Still, Dr. Paul Offit, a physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told NPR that Kennedy’s claims are misleading.

Dr. Offit said: ‘Fluoride has tested well. It clearly and definitively reduces the number of cavities and is not associated with any clear evidence of the chronic diseases mentioned in that tweet.

Other health authorities stand behind Offit, calling water fluoridation one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.

The NIH says it helps prevent cavities, prevent disease and avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in related medical costs for Americans.

Much of the literature on water fluoridation, which began in the US in 1944, shows that the practice is safe.