With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearing now scheduled for this week, there’s a lot of discussion about what Kennedy will or won’t do as secretary of Health and Human Services in President Donald Trump’s administration. Estimates are wide-ranging, but there’s one lens through which Kennedy frames everything and illustrates how he would approach policymaking as HHS secretary and beyond.  

Kennedy is always in detox mode, and that applies to everything. In an interview prior to November’s election, Kennedy talked about how the Democratic Party has largely forgotten about toxics. And he’s not wrong. Democrats have largely doubled down and bet big on carbon and its quantification. Their approach to nature has become a mere math problem. 

Kennedy suggests the environmental movement has all but forgotten about toxics and endocrine-disrupting and cancer-causing chemicals that are infiltrating our heads, hearts, hormones and habitats. Given this lack of leadership among his former allies, Kennedy now wants his fellow Republicans in the Trump administration to tackle toxics. 

Regardless of who leads on this, both Republicans and Democrats would do well to heed Kennedy’s comments. Because this could be one of the most important public health opportunities of our lifetime — as well as a political no-brainer. The public health and detoxification framing here should appeal to a wide range of Americans identifying as Republican, Democrat and independent.

Most Americans, in fact, want to protect their bodies from toxics infiltrating their heads, hearts, hormones and habitats and from forever chemicals that don’t break down in human or natural ecosystems. There is widespread support for policy that protects Americans and their health — and unsurprisingly so, since chemicals are showing up in every part of our bodies. A recent study shows that of the 14,000 known chemicals in food packaging, over 3,600 have been discovered in the human body. 

Regulating exposure to things like plastics, consequently, is an overwhelmingly popular and bipartisan issue. Eight in 10 Americans support a national policy reducing single-use plastics, and nearly nine in 10 people favor global rules prohibiting plastics.  

These numbers aren’t surprising because the problem is so widespread. Microplastics are in our brains at rates seven to 30 times greater than plastics found in other organs. One study shows a 50 percent increase in the last eight years, which is terrifying. Microplastics are also found in our hearts and in our blood, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and early death. And they’re turning up in our reproductive organs, creating fertility issues for men and pregnancy loss for women.

None of this is explicitly about carbon or climate, which are now partisan topics, unfortunately. Nor does that mean that we should drop the carbon focus, since they are related. Fossil fuel companies view plastics and petrochemicals as their backup plan after the transition to renewable energy.

Yet, all of this detoxification is ripe for political picking. And it will mean that we need to diversify party platforms and talking points. Because Kennedy is right that when it comes to detoxing our bodies and ecosystems, there is a real opportunity to lead.

There are a lot of Americans out there who don’t want toxics in their heads, hearts, hormones or habitats. They’re looking for leadership, and for a little bipartisanship in this increasingly fractious moment.

If Kennedy and the Trump administration are committed to making America healthy again, a serious approach that protects us from exposure to toxics would be a natural next step. Americans want it, and it’s long past time for Republicans to lead on it.  

Michael Shank, Ph.D., is adjunct faculty at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and a visiting scholar at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.