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A new book by Dick Russell provides the first in-depth account of how and why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became involved in America’s public health crisis and, in particular, the chronic disease epidemic afflicting children in the U.S.

Based on dozens of interviews with Kennedy and his colleagues, “The Real RFK Jr: Trials of a Truth Warrior” details how Kennedy evolved from one of the country’s top environmental attorneys into a medical freedom advocate and outspoken critic of Big Pharma.

Kennedy is the founder and chairman on leave of Children’s Health Defense (CHD). Russell is the author of 15 books and a longtime collaborator with Kennedy on a variety of writing projects.

In his book, available June 20, Russell describes how on multiple occasions, mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities approached Kennedy at speaking engagements and urged him to look into the issue of mercury in vaccines.

Unable to ignore these dedicated and anguished mothers, Kennedy studied the peer-reviewed science and found evidence of a shocking coverup by the pharmaceutical industry — the science clearly indicated that thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, was causing an unprecedented epidemic of neuroimmune damage to children nationwide.

The injuries began occurring after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added numerous mercury-containing vaccines to the childhood vaccination schedule — something the agency did after Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, a law granting vaccine manufacturers immunity from liability for injuries and deaths from their products.

Since then, the number of children diagnosed with autism has exploded, from 1 in 10,000 children in Kennedy’s generation to 1 in 36 children in 2023.

“The Real RFK Jr.” explores how pharma-funded mainstream media chooses not to report on legitimate vaccine safety concerns, and how it has banned Kennedy from debating the issue with journalists.

Readers also will learn how Kennedy’s commitment to calling out industry and regulatory agency corruption intensified throughout the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, Kennedy forged alliances with pioneers in the medical freedom movement, including filmmaker Eric Gladen and entrepreneur J.B. Handley.

“The Real RFK Jr.” follows Kennedy as he addresses hundreds of thousands of people at a rally in Berlin and makes the fateful decision to write a book “undressing the emperor” — Dr. Anthony Fauci. Readers will get a behind-the-scenes look at how, despite a total blackout from the media, the book came to sell more than a million copies.

“The Real RFK Jr.” also chronicles the emergence of CHD as the country’s leading health freedom advocacy organization and culminates at the organization’s inaugural conference in October 2023.

The book includes the author’s interviews with many leaders in the health freedom movement. It also contains excerpts from Kennedy’s private journals reflecting on the years of anguish he experienced after the assassinations of his uncle and his father, revealing how he managed not only to survive but to become a man of immense conviction, compassion and courage.

After turning away from numerous opportunities to run for high office over the past several decades while raising his six children, Kennedy, in April, announced that he would challenge an incumbent Democratic president for his party’s nomination.

Watch the CHD.TV interview with Dick Russell: