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Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are declaring a war on microplastics. 

These tiny bits of plastic, which are less than 5 mm in size, can persist in our environment for hundreds or thousands of years. They may also build up in our bodies, our hearts and our brains, causing untold damage.                           

For the first time, the EPA is adding microplastics and pharmaceuticals to its Contaminant Candidate List for drinking water, which will help to prioritize funding and pave the way for potential future regulation involving Congress. 

​​RFK JR LAUNCHES $134M+ NATIONAL PROGRAM TO STUDY MICROPLASTICS IN THE HUMAN BODY, DRINKING WATER

HHS is also launching the Systematic Targeting of Microplastics — or STOMP — to study how microplastics accumulate in the body.

Kennedy spoke with Fox News in an exclusive interview accompanying the EPA/HHS announcement.

“We do not have the science that distinguishes between the impacts of these different types of plastics, and maybe if we identify those impacts, the damaging ones can be immediately eliminated, because you can replace them with something else,” he said.

“Our job — and we are really at the limit of our power right now — is to try to answer those questions before we take another action.”       

RFK JR BACKS BEEF, DECLARING ‘WAR ON PROTEIN IS OVER’ AS HE THANKS AMERICA’S CATTLE RANCHERS            

Kennedy pointed to emerging science suggesting microplastics’ direct impacts on public health. 

“Some of them may be benign – others are very, very harmful,” he warned. “The science shows if they cause inflammation, they cause oxidative stress.”

“As a body, they are endocrine disruptors, so they interfere with fertility,” he added.             

As emerging research suggests a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and neurodegenerative disease when microplastics are present at the cellular level, “the time to act is now,” according to Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor of pediatrics and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

During a panel accompanying the announcement, Trasande compared the issue to efforts to reduce lead exposure in the 1970s, when the government took action as soon as the danger was identified, even before all research was complete.

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Kennedy, who has a long history of fighting chemicals in the environment, blames big businesses for causing the problem and wants them to clean it up. “That’s a lesson we are all supposed to have learned at kindergarten – that you clean up after yourself, you don’t force the public to do it.”

The same approach applies to pharmaceuticals that make their way into the environment, he noted.

“Particularly for our children, it’s very alarming. They are swimming around now in a toxic soup. It’s coming from everywhere,” Kennedy warned. “It’s coming from their food. It’s coming from agriculture. It’s coming from the air and water, and it’s coming from pharmaceutical drugs.

“Lee has directed his agency under President Trump to do this study so we can start regulating the discharge of these chemicals,” he went on. “A lot of them you can remove through carbon technology and other technologies.”

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Administrator Zeldin said he believes the fight against microplastics is a bipartisan issue. He is calling for more education and transparency when it comes to microplastics and public health, cautioning against the federal government proposing a one-size-fits-all solution. 

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“You want to be able to get the answers, you want to see the gold-standard science,” he said. “You demand radical transparency. You’re looking through the website, and it’s ignoring what you came to that web page to look for. I feel like there’s a communication gap – and when there’s a communication gap, there’s a trust gap.”

Zeldin and Kennedy have been working closely under President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda and say they enjoy working together. 

“There’s no American in this country who can’t get heard somehow by Secretary Kennedy, and it’s just an honor to serve alongside him,” Zeldin said.

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Kennedy added, “I like everybody in that Cabinet, but Lee and I work with particular closeness, and I’ve really enjoyed the relationship.”                                           

It is clear they would like this relationship to continue, even if their roles change. “You never know what’s going to happen,” Kennedy said.

Singer LeAnn Rimes has gone viral for her reaction while receiving jaw release therapy.

In a session with Garry Lineham, co-founder of Human Garage in California — a resource for self-healing practices — Rimes received an intra-oral massage, releasing the tension in her jaw. She seemed to instantly feel relief, sobbing on the table.

Jaw release therapy, which involves the massaging or stretching of muscles in the face, is popular for relieving TMJ pain, headaches and jaw clicking, according to experts.

LEANN RIMES BREAKS DOWN INTO TEARS WHILE UNDERGOING ‘DEEP JAW RELEASE’

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Lineham shared that stress has an immense impact on human health, especially on muscle tension and pain.

“We hold emotions in our body,” he said. “Emotions cause a sympathetic response or a stress response in the body.”

“Stress is one thing that impacts every disease, whether it’s emotional or physical, whether it is genetic,” he went on. “Stress is the thing that makes genetics pop. If you take away stress, those genetic markers no longer express themselves.”

STUDY REVEAL WHY CHEWING GUM MIGHT ACTUALLY HELP WITH FOCUS AND STRESS RELIEF

Clenching the jaw can create stress, which happens naturally with physical and emotional exertion, according to Lineham.

“If you clench your jaw and hold it there for three to five minutes … you’ll actually fire adrenaline and norepinephrine (hormones and neurotransmitters),” he said.

This sends a message to the body that you’re bracing for an “attack,” releasing hormones like stress, Lineham added.

“When you release the jaw, then instantaneously you come out of fight or flight mode.”

How jaw release works

Jaw release therapy targets the fascia, or the connective tissue that supports the body’s muscles, organs and joints. Stretching the fascia also allows the muscle to stretch, providing relief, Lineham said.

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“When you release the jaw, then instantaneously you come out of that fight or flight mode,” he said. “And if you’ve been there for a long time, like most people have, it instantaneously shocks the nervous system in a good way.”

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Dr. Justin Richer, oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Riverside Oral Surgery in New Jersey, shared the benefits and risks of jaw release treatment with Fox News Digital.

Certain muscles in the body, such as the shoulder or back, can tense up and “overreact to problems that are going on within them,” said the doctor, who did not treat Rimes.

“Jaw release is almost like a massage or similar technique, to put pressure on the muscles and let the tension that’s built up just kind of relax away,” he said. “It’s not something that a lot of people do.”

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The procedure is most beneficial for those with symptoms of TMJ, facial and muscle pain, and tightness, according to Richer.

Some physical therapists and massage therapists offer this treatment, but Richer recommends seeking help from an oral-facial pain specialist or surgeon who “really understands the anatomy of the jaw joint.”

“If it’s done properly, there’s very minimal risk,” he said. “What we get concerned about is undue manipulation of the joint, so either cracking or distorting or trying to forcefully move the joint . . . that can actually cause undue harm from an orthopedic perspective.”

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Despite the benefits, Richer stressed that this kind of therapy may be a temporary fix, as it could be treating only the symptoms of an underlying problem.

“Get a diagnosis first before you go ahead and start manipulating things,” he advised.