section_path: Anti-vaccine advocacy and conspiracy theories on public health/Vaccines and autism claims/Controversy with Robert De Niro
section_name: Controversy with Robert De Niro
paragraph_text: Controversy with Robert De Niro
  
  On February 15, 2017, Kennedy and the actor Robert De Niro gave a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in which they said the press was working for the vaccination industry and did not allow debates on vaccination science. They offered a $100,000 reward to any journalist or citizen who could point to a study showing that it is safe to inject mercury into babies and pregnant women at levels currently contained in flu vaccines. Craig Foster, a psychology professor who studies pseudoscience, deemed the challenge "not science", calling it a "carefully constructed 'contest' that allows its creators to generate the misleading outcome they presumably want to see". Foster added, "Proving that something is safe is importantly different than proving that something is harmful."
  
  On February 15, 2017, Kennedy and the actor Robert De Niro gave a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in which they said the press was working for the vaccination industry and did not allow debates on vaccination science. They offered a $100,000 reward to any journalist or citizen who could point to a study showing that it is safe to inject mercury into babies and pregnant women at levels currently contained in flu vaccines. Craig Foster, a psychology professor who studies pseudoscience, deemed the challenge "not science", calling it a "carefully constructed 'contest' that allows its creators to generate the misleading outcome they presumably want to see". Foster added, "Proving that something is safe is importantly different than proving that something is harmful."