On Juneteenth in 2016 , Stein called for reparations for slavery . In accepting the nomination of the Green party , she reiterated this support , calling for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission " to provide reparations to acknowledge the enormous debt owed to the African American community . " Asked by '' The Washington Post '' whether she agreed with Ajamu Baraka 's characterization of President Obama as an " Uncle Tom " , Stein replied that it would be better ask Baraka about his choice of words , but added that he " was speaking to a demographic that feels pretty locked out of the American power structure . " In 2012 , Vote Smart reported that Stein wanted to " slightly decrease " spending on space exploration . She favored maintaining current levels of spending on scientific and medical research . In 2016 , Stein said NASA funding should be increased , arguing that by halving the military budget , more money could be directed towards " exploring space instead of destroying planet Earth . " In an interview with '' The Washington Post '' , Stein stated that " vaccines have been absolutely critical in ridding us of the scourge of many diseases , " and said that " t here were concerns among physicians about what the vaccination schedule meant , the toxic substances like mercury which used to be rampant in vaccines . There were real questions that needed to be addressed . I think some of them at least have been addressed . I do n't know if all of them have been addressed . " '' The Guardian '' says that " research has shown schedule-related concerns about vaccines to be unfounded , and that delays to vaccines actually put children at greater risk . Anti-vaxx campaigners often claim that there are dangerous compounds in vaccines , though decades of safe vaccinations contradict the claim and no evidence shows that trace amounts that remain in some approved vaccines cause any harm to the body . " In '' The Washington Post '' interview , Stein said that vaccines should be approved by a board that people can trust , and " people do not trust a Food and Drug Administration , " or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , " where corporate influence and the pharmaceutical industry has a lot of influence . " According to '' The Guardian '' , eleven members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee are medical doctors who work at hospitals and universities , and two work at pharmaceutical companies , GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur US . In response , Stein said that " Monsanto lobbyists help run the day in those agencies and are in charge of approving what food is n't safe " . Emily Willingham , scientist and contributor at '' Forbes '' , described Stein 's statements on vaccines as " using dog whistle terms and equivocations bound to appeal to the ' antivaccine ' constituency " . Dan Kahan , a professor at Yale who has studied public perception of science , says that it is dangerous for candidates to equivocate on vaccines , " Because the attitudes about vaccines are pretty much uniform across the political spectrum , it does n't seem like a great idea for any candidate to be anti-vaccine . The modal view is leave the freaking system alone . " In response to a Twitter question about whether vaccines cause autism , Stein first answered , " there is no evidence that autism is caused by vaccines , " then revised her tweet to " I 'm not aware of evidence linking autism with vaccines . " In a later interview at the Green party convention , Stein answered " no " to the question " do you think vaccines cause autism ? " She called this a " nonsense issue , meant to distract people " and likened it to smear campaigns used in previous presidential elections , citing the " Swiftboat issue " or the " birther issue , " pointing out that in her previous published work on autism and other child development issues , no mention was made of vaccines . When asked about vaccines by '' Jacobin '' editor Bhaskar Sunkara , Stein responded : " One of the issues I used to work on was reducing mercury exposure . That was an issue at one point in vaccines . That 's been rectified , " adding , " there are issues about mercury in the fish supply that many low-income people and immigrant communities rely on , and in indigenous communities especially . This is a huge issue and the FDA has refused for decades to regulate and to warn people . " In an October 21 , 2016 , interview , producer Bec Gill with the ScIQ YouTube channel asked Stein : " You talk extensively on your concern about corporate influence over U.S. vaccine regulations . My question is , what evidence do you have that corporate influence has caused either the FDA or the CDC to make decisions that endanger American children 's health ? " Stein offered as evidence Vioxx and Monsanto
Green party convention
2016 Green National Convention
Jill Stein