Joe Rogan Experience #1999 - Robert Kennedy Jr.


Here is a concise list of the main vaccine‑related studies and data sets Robert F. Kennedy Jr. describes in that segment, with what he claims they show.

1. National Academy of Sciences / FDA mercury-in-fish report (early 2000s)

  1. Five‑year report concluding that essentially all U.S. freshwater fish contain mercury at levels posing danger if eaten regularly.

  2. CDC‑linked study finding about 1 in 6 American women had blood‑mercury high enough that a fetus could have some degree of intellectual impairment.

  3. Used by RFK Jr. as the starting point for his concern about mercury exposure in children and pregnant women.

2. Vaccine court case: Porter Bridges

  1. Case of a child who developed autistic features (loss of speech, regression, stereotyped behaviors) after a “battery” of vaccines at age two, leading to a reported vaccine court award of about 20 million dollars for vaccine‑induced autism.

  2. RFK Jr. presents this as proof that U.S. vaccine court has acknowledged vaccines can cause autism in at least some children.

3. Pichichero (spelled “Piero”) human mercury kinetics study (2003)

  1. Children were given mercury via tuna (methylmercury); blood levels showed a long half‑life, with mercury detectable around 64 days later.

  2. Children were also given ethyl‑mercury–containing vaccine (thimerosal); blood mercury levels dropped quickly and were largely gone in about a week.

  3. RFK Jr. says this was originally taken to “confirm” quick excretion of vaccine mercury, but critics asked where the mercury actually went since it was not in urine, feces, hair, sweat, or nails.

4. Burbacher monkey study on ethyl vs methyl mercury

  1. NIH‑funded study by Thomas Burbacher using macaque monkeys given methylmercury (like fish) and ethylmercury (like thimerosal vaccines).

  2. Blood tests showed ethylmercury left the blood quickly, while methylmercury persisted longer.

  3. Post‑mortem brain analysis reportedly found that ethylmercury crossed the blood–brain barrier more readily and accumulated in brain tissue, causing neuro‑inflammation, while methylmercury had different distribution and time course.

  4. RFK Jr. uses this to argue that “disappearance from blood” does not mean safety for ethylmercury.

5. Danish “Morgenson” DTP study in Guinea‑Bissau (eBioMedicine / “eBioPharma”)

  1. Danish and African researchers analyzed roughly 30 years of health‑clinic records in Guinea‑Bissau, where children were weighed at 3 and 6 months and often received DTP (diphtheria‑tetanus‑pertussis) plus polio vaccine at the 3‑month visit.

  2. Because some children missed exact age cutoffs, about half were vaccinated between 2–5 months and half were not, creating what he calls a “natural experiment.”

  3. He claims the analysis showed girls who received DTP at 3 months were about 10 times more likely to die over the next three months than unvaccinated girls.

  4. The excess deaths were not from diphtheria, tetanus, or pertussis but from pneumonia, malaria, anemia, and other infections; RFK Jr. says the authors concluded DTP likely killed more children overall than the target diseases by impairing the immune system.

6. General claims about lack of placebo-controlled trials

  1. RFK Jr. asserts that “none of the vaccines” on the childhood schedule have been tested in true randomized, inert‑placebo–controlled pre‑licensure trials, unlike other medical products.

  2. He argues this absence makes it easy to miss signals like the mortality pattern he attributes to the Guinea‑Bissau DTP data.

If you’d like, I can next:

  • Cross‑check how these specific studies are described in the medical literature, or

  • Build a small table comparing what RFK Jr. claims versus what the published papers and major health agencies say about each study’s findings and limitations.

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