(Reuters) -U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff to probe the potential harms of offshore wind farms, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The move is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to scrutinize offshore wind development, which Trump himself has repeatedly criticized.
In late summer, the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Kennedy, instructed CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, to prepare research about wind farms’ impact on fishing businesses, the report said.
Kennedy has met NIOSH director John Howard about the issue and listed particular experts for Howard’s team to contact, Bloomberg reported.
The report added that the office of the U.S. surgeon general has also been involved in the initiative, which the HHS, prior to the ongoing government shutdown, aimed to have completed within a couple of months.
The HHS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah, Siddhi Mahatole and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alan Barona)
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