Trump administration report on US child health cited nonexistent studies, media report says
Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
A U.S. government report on the health of American children cited scientific studies that did not exist to support its conclusions, according to a media report and some of the purported study authors on Thursday.The report produced by the Make America Healthy Again Commission , named after a movement aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, was released last week.It said processed food, chemicals, stress and overprescription of medications and vaccines may be factors behind chronic illness in American children, citing some 500 research studies as evidence.Digital news outlet NOTUS reported the citation errors, saying on Thursday it found seven studies listed in the report's footnotes that did not exist, along with broken links and misstated conclusions.White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters that any citation errors were due to "formatting issues." The government said it posted a corrected version of the report later on Thursday."The substance of the MAHA report remains the same - a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation's children," the Department of Health and Human Services said. Katherine Keyes , an epidemiology professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, was cited in the report as the author of "Changes in mental health and substance use among US adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic," which the report said was published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.She said that neither she nor the named co-authors of the paper had written it. "It does make me concerned given that citation practices are an important part of conducting and reporting rigorous science," she said.Psychiatry Professor Robert L. Findling did not author the article cited in the report as "Direct-to-consumer advertising of psychotropic medications for youth: A growing concern" in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, according to a spokesperson for Virginia Commonwealth University, where Findling is a professor.Kennedy has spent decades sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines, raising concerns within the scientific and medical communities over the policies he would pursue as health secretary. Since taking the role, he has fired thousands of workers at federal health agencies and cut billions of dollars from U.S. biomedical research spending.The studies attributed to Findling and Keyes no longer appeared in the MAHA report on the White House website as of Thursday evening.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
7 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Chandigarh: Long wait for GMCH trauma centre likely to end in June
In the works since August 2020, the 283-bed emergency-cum-trauma centre at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, is expected to become operational by June, confirmed director-principal Dr Ashok Attri. 'We have received the takeover letter from the UT engineering department and formed a committee for inspecting the newly constructed building. We are hopeful of starting the centre by next month,' said Dr Attri. The procurement of beds and furniture has been done by the hospital administration. The committee formed for the inspection of the newly constructed building, chaired by GMCH medical superintendent GP Thami, is looking after its nitty-gritties. The construction work and the installation of air conditioning system has also been completed. However, the cleaning and sanitisation work is still going on, with issues raised by the inspection committee getting resolved. UT chief engineer CB Ojha said, 'We have sent the inventory list to GMCH-32 as many costly equipment are kept in the building. The construction work has been completed from our end. We are now looking after the finishing work along with the hospital administration.' Back in 2019, the UT administration had given the go-ahead for the construction of the centre, with an expected expenditure of ₹52.77 lakh. Construction of the state-of-the-art facility had begun in August 2020, with completion estimated by February 2022 (18 months). But ever since, the deadline had got extended multiple times—first due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and then owing to environmental clearance delays and sluggish construction progress. Currently, the emergency wing of the hospital is equipped with 45 beds, buckling under the pressure of nearly 400 emergency cases daily. In the absence of adequate beds, patients continue to be treated on trolleys. The project was envisioned to take the load off PGIMER, which is currently the only trauma care facility in the city providing critical care to victims of road accidents, natural or man-made disasters and other emergencies. Once complete, the centre is expected to significantly ease this pressure, with 40 ventilator beds, operation theatres, ICU, isolation and ambulatory care wards, CT scan and MRI services.
News18
13 minutes ago
- News18
Maharashtra Reports 84 New Covid-19 Cases, Health Dept Urges Not To Panic
Last Updated: Currently, 467 COVID-19 cases are active in Maharashtra, with Mumbai accounting for 411 cases since the beginning of 2025. Maharashtra reported 84 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the state's total infections since January 2025 to 681, according to the state public health department, PTI reported. In a statement, officials stressed that most cases are mild and reiterated that there is no need for public panic. The department assured citizens that adequate testing and treatment infrastructure is in place across the state. Mumbai reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases with 32 infections, followed by Pune with 19 and Thane with 14. Other districts and cities reported smaller numbers of cases, including Thane district (2), Raigad (2), Navi Mumbai (1), Kalyan-Dombivli (1), Panvel (1), Nashik (1), Pune district (1), Pimpri-Chinchwad (3), Satara (2), Kolhapur district (1), Kolhapur city (1), and Sangli (3). Currently, 467 COVID-19 cases are active in Maharashtra, with Mumbai accounting for 411 cases since the beginning of 2025. Out of the 10,324 COVID-19 tests conducted statewide since January, 681 have tested positive. Authorities continue to monitor the situation and have urged citizens to follow precautions while assuring that the current scenario does not warrant alarm.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
44 minutes ago
- First Post
False citations: Did Trump admin use AI for MAHA report on US child health?
The report produced by the Make America Healthy Again Commission, named after the slogan aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was released last week. The 14-member commission included Kennedy, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Food and Drug Administration head Martin Makary among others read more A highly-publicized U.S. government report on the health of American children referenced scientific studies that did not exist among citations to support its conclusions in what the White House said were 'formatting issues' on Thursday. The report produced by the Make America Healthy Again Commission, named after the slogan aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was released last week. The 14-member commission included Kennedy, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Food and Drug Administration head Martin Makary among others. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It said processed food, chemicals, stress and overprescription of medications and vaccines may be factors behind chronic illness in American children, citing some 500 research studies, including those that did not exist, as evidence. Digital news outlet NOTUS reported the citation errors on Thursday. It found seven studies listed in the report's footnotes that did not exist, along with broken links and misstated conclusions, raising questions over whether the report had relied on artificial intelligence. Reuters independently confirmed two of the erroneous citations. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters that any citation errors were due to 'formatting issues.' The government said it posted a corrected version of the report later on Thursday, without providing details on how the mistakes had occurred. 'The substance of the MAHA report remains the same - a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation's children,' the Department of Health and Human Services said. Kennedy has spent decades sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines, which have long been backed by a scientific consensus on their effectiveness for controlling disease outbreaks, raising concerns within the scientific and medical communities over the policies he would pursue as health secretary. Since taking the role, he has fired thousands of workers at federal health agencies and cut billions of dollars from U.S. biomedical research spending. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Nobody has ever accused RFK Jr. of academic rigor,' said Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. 'The speed (of the MAHA report) suggests that it could not have been vetted carefully and must have been whisked through standard clearance procedures. The citation problem suggests a reliance on AI.' AI-generated fictions, known as 'hallucinations,' have also cropped up in court filings and landed attorneys in hot water ever since ChatGPT and other generative AI programs became widely available more than two years ago. Katherine Keyes, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, was cited in the MAHA report as the author of 'Changes in mental health and substance use among U.S. adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic,' which the report said was published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics. She said that neither she nor the named co-authors of the paper had written it. 'It does make me concerned given that citation practices are an important part of conducting and reporting rigorous science,' she said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Psychiatry Professor Robert L. Findling did not author the article cited in the report as 'Direct-to-consumer advertising of psychotropic medications for youth: A growing concern' in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, according to a spokesperson for Virginia Commonwealth University, where Findling is a professor. The studies attributed to Findling and Keyes no longer appeared in the MAHA report on the White House website as of Thursday evening.
