White House acknowledges problems in RFK Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' report
Washington: The White House will fix errors in a much-anticipated federal government report spearheaded by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which decried America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs.
Kennedy's wide-ranging "
Make America Healthy Again
" report, released last week, cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not actually exist.
Asked about the report's problems, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated.
"I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated." Leavitt told reporters during her briefing.
"But it does not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government.
Kennedy has repeatedly said he would bring "radical transparency" and "gold-standard" science to the public health agencies. But the secretary refused to release details about who authored the 72-page report, which calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule and describes the nation's children as overmedicated and undernourished.
Leavitt said that the White House has "complete confidence" in Kennedy.
"Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected," HHS Spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an emailed statement. He described the report as a "historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the
chronic disease epidemic
afflicting our nation's children."
NOTUS reported Thursday that seven of the more than 500 studies cited in the report did not appear to have ever been published.
An author of one study confirmed that while she conducted research on the topics of anxiety in children, she never authored the report listed.
Some studies were also misinterpreted in the MAHA report. The problematic citations were on topics around children's screen time, medication use and anxiety.
Kennedy's MAHA report had already been stoking concerns among Trump loyalists, including farmers who criticized how the report characterized the chemicals sprayed on U.S. crops.
The report is supposed to be used to develop policy recommendations that will be released later this year. The White House has requested a $500 million boost in funding from Congress for Kennedy's MAHA initiative.
Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
30 minutes ago
- Time of India
John Kennedy, Georgia's top Senate Republican, joins race for lieutenant governor
AP image ATLANTA - John Kennedy, the top-ranking Republican in Georgia's state Senate, on Monday joined a growing field of GOP candidates seeking to become the state's next lieutenant governor in 2026. Kennedy, a Macon lawyer, is banking on the support of Georgia's business community after helping pass a law this year limiting lawsuits and civil verdicts. Burt Jones, the current Republican lieutenant governor, is expected to run for governor next year instead of seeking reelection. He's could announce his candidacy later this summer. Kennedy was first elected to the state Senate in 2014. Majority Republicans elected him president pro tem, the No. 2 position in the Senate, in 2023. Before that, Kennedy had been chair of the majority caucus and led the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts after the 2020 Census, securing Republican majorities. Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch of Dahlonega announced last month that he is running for lieutenant governor, saying he would model his candidacy on President Donald Trump. Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Blake Tillery of Vidalia is raising money for a possible bid. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Start Here - 2025 Top Trend Local network access control Esseps Learn More Other Republicans could seek the office as well, including state Sen. Greg Dolezal, of Cumming. Kennedy didn't mention Trump in his announcement, saying his top priorities as lieutenant governor would be a strong economy, education and public safety. "Georgians can be confident that my leadership will be focused on delivering conservative results, not empty rhetoric," Kennedy said in a statement. "And I know that by working together, we will keep Georgia growing, keep Georgia learning and keep Georgia safe." This year, Kennedy sponsored a law that is meant to curb the number of student absences in schools. Like the onetime president, Kennedy's initials are JFK. But this 59-year-old Kennedy, born less than two years after the president was assassinated, is unrelated and bears the middle name of Flanders. Georgia's lieutenant governor presides over Senate sessions, but senators decide how much power the official has. When senators agree, lieutenant governors can be influential. As president pro tem, Kennedy already works with Jones to set the agenda for the Senate. On the Democratic side, the only declared candidate is state Sen. Josh McLaurin of Sandy Springs.
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
The Corporate Culture Wars Have a Strange New Coalition
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- A new development in the culture wars is about to create a fresh set of headaches for corporate America. Issues that left-wing advocacy groups have been heckling companies about for decades are increasingly being taken up by the right — a shift that's adding complexity and risk for CEOs already struggling to navigate this moment's deep ideological rifts. There is no better example of the left-right convergence than Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent Make America Healthy Again report. Many of the factors it accuses of contributing to childhood chronic disease — ultra-processed food, pesticides, and corporate lobbying's influence on regulation — have historically been scourges of the left. 'What they're talking about and demanding is not that dissimilar than what the left has been talking about for the last 10 years,' says Charlotte Moore, CEO of Sigwatch, a consultancy and data provider that recently issued a report tracking some 160 US right-wing campaigning groups. But here's where things get complicated: While the end goals of these two factions might be the same, their framing is radically different. Right-wing activists focus on moral clarity and outrage (e.g. defending personal freedom, protecting children), while left-wing campaigns tend to evoke existential threats (e.g. saving a burning planet). We've already seen how the right has applied its tactics to incite a backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (freeing the public from the tyranny of 'wokeness'). Now it's zeroing in on a similar narrative as it tackles issues once thought to be outside the interests of conservatives. Take biotechnology, such as GMOs and pesticides. Activism around these concerns originated in lefty environmentalism. But right-leaning groups that have taken up the cause have instead focused on a rallying cry of the freedom to be healthy and protect children from being poisoned. The latter framing is especially powerful, transforming 'disputes into existential moral threats, where opponents aren't just wrong — they are corrupting or endangering the next generation,' as Sigwatch explains it. This should be a wake-up call for companies that thought the backlash against DEI and ESG meant they no longer had to pay attention to social issues. 'ESG is not going to resurrect itself, but the risks that come from having negative impacts on communities and societies have not gone away,' Moore told me. In fact, she sees those risks becoming more significant. Communities that weren't interested in these subjects when they were raised by bougie-seeming left-wingers can and are being mobilized on the very same issues by the right. It may also lead to pressure on companies and sectors, such as the energy industry, that previously viewed conservatives as allies. Companies should be prepared to see some unusual but powerful coalitions going forward. Vani Hari, for example, self-dubbed the Food Babe on social media, has long been an effective critic of Big Food — as well as a one-time Democratic supporter. Recently, though, she's aligned herself with the Trump administration, which has cast her as a central figure in its food policy. However, she would not discuss her views on Kennedy's vaccine skepticism or budget cuts to food programs with the New York Times, saying, 'I don't understand why it has to be all or nothing. My mission is my mission.' It's a sign that some more progressive figures are willing to ally with the right — despite not agreeing with it on everything — if it means furthering their agenda. Corporate America has been facing left-wing activists for decades, which has made their pressure less frightening and more routine. Moore says management teams are less sure of how to respond when the heat is coming from the right because they haven't seen it before. Case in point: how quickly companies caved to activist Robby Starbuck's attacks on DEI. The business world should expect to see savvy left-leaning activists like Hari reignite their campaigns by forming some of these unlikely partnerships. Despite the risks of being double-teamed by the left and the right, it's a better position than being pulled in two opposite directions. Just ask Target Corp., which has failed to make anyone happy with the way it's handled its DEI policies. Companies that find themselves in the middle of this unusual political overlap have a better chance to actually appease both sides. But it requires understanding — and treading carefully around — their divergent motivations. Those that take action by, say, eliminating a controversial food additive should let the move speak for itself. Issuing a self-congratulatory press release that talks about environmental stewardship or ESG will only raise the hackles of the right. That's a surefire way for a company to drag itself back into the outrage machine it's just tried to escape. Elsewhere in Bloomberg Opinion: This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Beth Kowitt is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering corporate America. She was previously a senior writer and editor at Fortune Magazine. More stories like this are available on
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 days 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.
