The circus continues out of Trump's Washington, where clown-car cabinet member Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now apparently wielding the power of the FDA to go after manufacturers of amyl nitrate, or poppers.Austin-based poppers maker Double Scorpio, who have previously showcased their artisanal poppers flavors at Folsom Street Fair and elsewhere in the universe of LGBTQ fairs, posted on their website Thursday that their offices were raided by the FDA, and they are ceasing operations for now."We don’t have a lot of information to share but we believe that the FDA has performed similar actions towards other companies recently," they write. "Thank you to everyone who has supported us these last eight years. We’ve always cared about making an authentic product and being engaged with and supporting our community."Poppers, which have been used as a gay party and gay sex drug for more than five decades, produce a brief high and can aid in sexual arousal. Amyl nitrate is in a class of drug known as vasodilators, which include blood pressure meds and ED meds like Viagra. Poppers are typically sold under euphemistic labels like "VHS head cleaner" and "air freshener."Fast Company reports that other makers of poppers have recently scrubbed their social media, and have likely seen raids as well. But, as KRON4 reports, this crackdown is likely being driven by newly installed Health & Human Services Secretary RFK Jr., and because of a semi-popular, longstanding conspiracy theory (also held by Joe Rogan!) that suggests that AIDS wasn't caused by a virus, but by immunodeficiency brought on by recreational drug use. Them, an online queer magazine, is basically saying "We told you so," after publishing an article in November reminding everyone that this was a pet theory of RFK Jr. We all know that he's loony toons, and now at the helm of our health system, and you only need look at his 2021 book The Real Anthony Fauci, where, as Them notes, "Kennedy frequently cited the long-discredited work of AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg, falsely claiming that 'heavy recreational drug use in gay men and drug addicts was the real cause of immune deficiency' among AIDS victims of the 1980s and 1990s." And Kennedy, who IS NOT A SCIENTIST, further writes that he has never "found any evidence that HIV ever actually kills a T-cell." A 2023 paper on the National Institutes of Health website, which at this rate is probably going to get scrubbed by Trump-Nazi censors, debunks this poppers theory and reviews all the literature over the years that suggested a causal connection between poppers and HIV."During the HIV surge in the 1980s, inhaled volatile nitrites (poppers) were hypothesized as a possible cause of the AIDS," the abstract reads. "Later it was found that poppers use was not the cause but rather a marker associated with HIV acquisition and sexual behaviors without the use of prevention tools."And while poppers have typically been primarily associated with gay men, gay men are also known for trendsetting, and a New York Times trend piece from 2022 noted how poppers have become a "party girl favorite" for straight people too in recent years. Get 'em while you can, kids! It sounds like poppers might not be so easy to find in a few weeks or months, if RFK Jr. has his way. ...read more read less