In a move that surprised absolutely no one who has been paying attention, an FDA advisory committee hand-stacked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has voted to lift restrictions on manufacturing four unapproved peptides for human use. Votes on three more are scheduled for today. The decision comes despite a glaring lack of evidence that these things are safe or effective - but hey, who needs data when you have conviction?

Peptides, for the uninitiated, are basically proteins' shorter, less ambitious cousins. They're chains of 10 - 20 amino acids, compared to proteins that can stretch to hundreds or thousands. Some, like insulin, are legit life-savers with decades of research behind them. Others are just biological junk - random fragments that may or may not do something interesting if you squirt them into your body. Knowing which is which takes years of study. But RFK Jr. and his fellow peptide enthusiasts, who fear the well-understood proteins in vaccines, are perfectly happy to inject mystery peptides based on internet anecdotes.

Kennedy telegraphed this outcome months ago when he began stacking the advisory board with allies who have clear financial interests in selling these unapproved drugs. In June, he added members who, with one exception, stood to profit from the ban's reversal. Yesterday, those appointees provided the decisive votes, while all pre-Kennedy members voted against. Despite Kennedy's promise of "rigorous scientific evaluation," no safety or efficacy data were presented. When a committee member asked whether the FDA had ever approved anything never tested in humans, an FDA official said no. The FDA could reject the committee's advisory recommendation - but doing so would put its experts in direct conflict with a man who can simply fire them.