Censorship of medical journals infects journalism too

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seems better suited as the subject of medical research than its arbiter. He’s not an editor or peer reviewer, and he’s definitely (and thankfully) not a judge. So why is he issuing veiled threats to scientific publications — in the process eroding vital source material for journalists? His title may be impressive (less so given that it’s from the same administration that appointed a mortgage regulator to run the nation’s intelligence agencies). But beyond that, he’s just some quack with a famous name who admits to dumping a bear carcass in Central Park and all sorts of other nonsense. Legal authority aside, he is in no position to question brainworm -free scholars’ judgment, let alone censor them. We haven’t conducted a survey,…