UNITED STATES, May 24 — Days before the 2024 presidential election, future Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a statement on X promising to end the US Food and Drug Administration’s “aggressive suppression” of such alternative therapies as raw milk, ivermectin, psychedelics and, somewhat perplexingly, “sunshine.
” While the post did not explain how the FDA was limiting Americans’ access to the sun, many dermatologists were dismayed when Kennedy abruptly withdrew a proposed FDA rule that would have banned minors from using devices that mimic sunlight — indoor tanning lamps. The rule, which was withdrawn March 16, would have also required indoor tanning facility users to sign a form acknowledging the risk of cancer, early skin aging and other health effects. Kennedy’s action comes at a time when many adherents of his Make America Healthy Again movement have adopted regular sun exposure as a core principle of wellness, with social media influencers encouraging followers to abandon sunscreen and build up their “solar callus,” or sun tolerance, instead.