Human rights activists and a member of a prominent family in American politics Robert F Kennedy Jr is on course to seeking Democratic Party nomination to succeed President Joe Biden in 1924 elections.

Kennedy, founder of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), on Wednesday moved a step closer to seeking the Democratic nomination after filing the requisite paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

As of press time on Thursday evening local time, Kennedy had not made an official announcement. In an email sent earlier on Friday morning by CHD Acting President Laura Bono to CHD members, Kennedy said: “My top priority is to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children and robbed us of our values and freedom.”

Stating that these goals have always been “central to CHD’s mission,” Kennedy explained that he founded CHD “after parents concerned about the meteoric rise in childhood chronic diseases approached me time and time again, urging me to look beyond what mainstream media and government health agencies were telling the public about what was causing these increases.”

He said: “After carefully reviewing the science, it was clear to me that vaccines and other toxic environmental exposures were inextricably linked to rising rates of autism, allergies, autoimmune disorders and a host of other conditions.

“I knew I could never turn my back on the children and families so profoundly affected by these exposures. My commitment to health freedom, preventing future injuries, unmasking those responsible and holding them accountable will never diminish.”

Kennedy, formerly chairman and chief litigation officer for CHD, is now the organisation’s chairman-on-leave.

He is an environmental activist and attorney and founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance, the world’s largest clean water advocacy group with more than 300 local Waterkeeper groups, protecting water on six continents.

Time magazine named Kennedy its ‘Hero for the Planet’ for his success in helping New York’s Riverkeeper group lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The New York City watershed agreement, which Kennedy negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.

Kennedy has successfully litigated many cases against corporate polluters, including the landmark victories against Monsanto in 2018 and DuPont in 2019, in the contamination case that inspired the movie Dark Waters (2019).

He is the author of more than 10 books, including American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family and The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.

• A Tell / The Defender report