RFK Jr.’s Reasoning to Ban Phones in School Sparks Backlash

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supports banning cell phones in schools—a stance that aligns with the views of many Americans when it comes to classroom restrictions. However, his reasoning has sparked backlash from some online.

Newsweek has filled out a media request form on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website for comment on Saturday.

Why It Matters

A majority of American adults say they support a ban on middle and high school students using their cell phones during class, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey.

The poll of 5,110 adults conducted between September 30 and October 6, found that 68 percent support a classroom ban on cell phones, while 36 percent back an entire school day ban. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.

Kennedy Jr., who has pledged to “Make America Healthy Again,” has frequently spread health misinformation, including claims linking vaccines to autism, a connection that has been widely discredited by scientific research.

What To Know

In a Fox & Friends interview on Thursday, Kennedy Jr. noted several health hazards related to cell phone usage in school and said: “Cell phones also produce electromagnetic radiation, which has been shown to damage, to do neurological damage to kids when it’s around them all day, and to cause cellular damage and even cancer.”

A peer-reviewed study, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and completed in November 2023, found that exposure to radiofrequency fields from mobile phone use “likely does not increase the risk of brain cancer.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which Kennedy Jr. now oversees in his departmental role, also found that “the evidence to date suggests that cell phone use does not cause brain or other kinds of cancer in humans.”

The NIH says that the radiofrequencies emitted from cell phones “all fall in the nonionizing range of the spectrum, which is low frequency and low energy. The energy is too low to damage DNA…DNA damage can cause changes to genes that may increase the risk of cancer.”

A video segment of Kennedy Jr.’s interview has been circulating online, receiving backlash from some.

Ashish K. Jha, a physicist who has been serving as dean of Brown University School of Public Health since 2020, wrote in an X, formerly Twitter post on Saturday that Kennedy Jr. is pushing the “right policy (get cellphones out of kids hands during the school day)” but has a “wacky reasoning” for it.

Carl Hendrick, a professor of education at Academica University of Applied Sciences, called out the secretary’s reasoning and wrote on X on Saturday: “There’s so much actual evidence to support banning phones in schools but RFK chooses the one that’s from a guy on TikTok with sunglasses and 12 followers who ‘did their own research.'”

Kennedy Jr. also noted in his Fox & Friends interview the connection between social media use and depression, a link that several studies have supported, particularly among adolescents and young adults.

Nine states have passed state-wide policies that restrict or ban cellphone use in schools, according to KFF, which include Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia.

What People Are Saying

Arijit Chakravarty, a biologist, wrote on X, on Friday: “The link between cell phone electromagnetic radiation and brain damage is unproven.”

Danielle D’Souza Gill, an author and wife of GOP Texas Representative Brandon Gill, wrote in an X post on March 20: “RFK Jr. just announced he’s working to remove cell phones from schools due to them harming the health of children and even causing cancer. This would be incredibly beneficial to kids! Thank you @SecKennedy!”

Heath Mayo, an attorney who founded Principles First, wrote on X: “Cell phones produce low-level radiation which study after study has shown to be completely harmless. RFK either doesn’t know that or doesn’t care. He would rather spout made-up things he heard at a bar once because it’s easier than doing his homework. Embarrassing he leads HHS.”

Gonzalo Monroy, an energy expert with over 100,900 followers on X, wrote on Saturday: “Cellphones, smartphones cause cancer. That’s the argument of RFK Jr. The worm ate the good side of his brain.”

Gianmarco Soresi, a comedian and actor, wrote on X on Friday: “There are so many justifications for getting phones out of schools and he just had to pick the one that was the most bats*** crazy.”

What Happens Next?

Kennedy Jr. has yet to outline a timeline for advancing his proposal to ban cell phones in schools.