Latest news with #MahaCommission
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Key takeaways: RFK Jr's ‘Maha' report on chronic disease in children
Donald Trump's health secretary and long-time vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr presented a highly anticipated report on children's health this week. The 'Maha commission' report, referring to the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement, was required by a presidential executive order in February. The report focuses on chronic disease among children. The 68-page report broadly summarizes five areas affecting children's health, with a focus on ultra-processed foods, environmental chemical exposure, lack of physical activity, 'overmedicalization,' and 'capture' of regulatory agencies. It notably omits some of the most common causes of chronic disease and death in children, insinuates there could be harms where there is lack of evidence, and avoids discussing how Republicans have already changed the health system in ways researchers believe are harmful. Art Caplan, professor of bioethics at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, told the Guardian that the report has 'interesting ideas about health and children's health and crackpot fringe tin-hat-wearing nonsense – it's got it all'. Here are five of the key takeaways from the report. The most common causes of death among children are car crashes and firearms accidents. The report ignores these issues, as well as behaviors that often start in adolescence and lead to chronic disease in adulthood, such as smoking and alcohol use. It also criticizes water fluoridation, without mentioning its protective effects against cavities. Also, absent from the report is a discussion of how the administration has already changed the health department in ways that advocates argue will benefit industry and could exacerbate chronic disease. For instance, Kennedy eliminated two smoking prevention offices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in what one former regulator told Stat was 'the greatest gift to the tobacco industry in the last half century'. He also eliminated a world-leading sexually transmitted disease laboratory. In another example, one of the nation's leading researchers of ultra-processed foods quit his 'dream job' after facing what he described as censorship from the administration (the health department reportedly asked him to return). In a similar vein, the Trump administration cut a program that delivered local whole foods to schools soon after taking office, in spite of Kennedy calling for healthier school meals. The report is roughly broken up into five sections focusing on ultra-processed foods, environmental chemical exposures, children's mental health, 'overmedicalization' and 'corporate capture' of regulators by the industries they are supposed to oversee. Kennedy has harped on many of the issues listed in the report for months in public appearances and even though his defunct presidential campaign – especially including ultra-processed foods and obesity. Although some of these concerns may find bipartisan support – such as the focus on 'forever chemicals' such as PFAS – it also pushes into areas where the science is unsettled. For instance, the report mentions that high levels of fluoride are potentially associated with reduced IQ, but does not mention its well established protective effects against cavities – the most common chronic condition in children according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Similarly, the report argues that the childhood vaccine schedule is causing concern among parents for,'their possible role in the growing childhood chronic disease crisis' – without citing evidence that vaccines are linked to any specific chronic disease. Even before the report was published, congressional lawmakers were being bombarded by calls from agricultural and chemical lobbyists wary of how the report would criticize their products – and indeed it did. One of the report's sections questions whether 'crop protection tools' including 'pesticides, herbicides and insecticides' could harm human health. It then specifically name-drops glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, and atrazine, a common herbicide. That is sure to make for strange political bedfellows and consternation within the Republican party. Similarly, the report cites synthetic dyes and ultra-processed foods are potentially harmful. Chemicals and food additives have been issues of concern for decades on the left. However, the Maha movement has also catalyzed opposition to them on the right. The commission's members are made up of the heads of intersecting agencies, including Kennedy at the Department of Health and Human Services, and the heads of the departments of agriculture, housing, education, veterans affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency among others. However, the exact authors of the report are unknown. This contrasts with Kennedy's repeated promise at his confirmation hearing that his health department would practice 'radical transparency'. The work of the 'Maha' commission was reportedly spearheaded by senior Kennedy adviser Calley Means, a former food lobbyist and healthcare entrepreneur who rose to prominence as a Maha truth-teller. Means co-wrote a bestselling book with his sister, current US surgeon general nominee Casey Means, which blames many of America's ills on sedentary lifestyle and poor diet. One of the key issues the report identifies is the influence of food, pharmaceutical and chemical companies on American policy. They are monied and powerful. As a result, getting real change through Congress is certain to be tough – especially in an administration devoted to reducing regulations.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
RFK's health report omits key facts in painting dark vision for US children
A new report led by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr lays out a dark vision of American children's health and calls for agencies to examine vaccines, ultra-processed foods, environmental chemicals, lack of exercise and 'overmedicalization'. Kennedy has made combatting the chronic disease 'epidemic' a cornerstone of his vision for the US, even as he has ignored common causes of chronic conditions, such as smoking and alcohol use. The 69-page report is the result of a February executive order by Donald Trump that established a 'Make America Healthy Again' (Maha) commission and required it to report on children's health. While the report broadly summarizes scientific evidence about nutrition, mental health, chemical exposures and children's mental health, it ignores the leading causes of death for children – firearms and motor vehicle accidents – and one of the most common chronic conditions: dental cavities. 'We will save lives by addressing this chronic disease epidemic head-on. We're going to save a lot more money in the long run – and even in the short run,' Kennedy said in a press call on Thursday about the report. Notably, the report reflects some of Kennedy's bugbears where science is unsettled, but argues research 'demonstrates the need for continued studies', such as on fluoride in water and electromagnetic radiation. The report also criticizes the growth in the childhood vaccine schedule. The vaccine schedule is widely accepted in the medical community as safe and effective. Additions are publicly debated in meetings with both career government scientists and outside expert advisers. It also points to research that the report argues 'raise[s] important questions' about medications – such as antidepressants, stimulants, GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and gender-affirming care – which are widely considered safe and even standard care. The flavor of the report is well-represented in a section on 'medicalization', which describes the potential for 'undetected but potentially major long-term repercussions'. The portion describes 'established harms' as 'the tip of a potentially vast iceberg representing both detectable short term negative effects, and potentially hidden negative effects with long term implications'. The report comes as the administration has taken a raft of actions researchers consider contrary to the health of Americans, such as eliminating world-leading sexually transmitted disease research laboratories and highly effective tobacco-prevention offices and pushing health leaders and researchers to quit or be fired in the face of censorship and politicization. While the report compares US life expectancy and healthcare costs to peer-developed democracies, it does not mention how other nations typically finance healthcare for all citizens: often at minimal or no cost. By contrast, about 26 million Americans lack health insurance coverage, and the Republican-controlled House passed a bill only hours earlier that was expected to kick 13 million low-income people off public health insurance by 2033 and cut federal food support for the poor. Health spending in the US is also characterized by unbridled prices and substantial administrative costs associated with administering a labyrinthine public-private system. In spite of the report's apparent bias toward issues of concern for Kennedy, there are some areas which, much like the Maha movement itself, will make strange political bedfellows. For instance, many of the left and right likely share concerns over industry capture of regulators of food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. 'Pesticides, microplastics and dioxins are commonly found in the blood and urine of American children and pregnant women – some at alarming levels,' the report states, citing issues of pollution that will likely resonate on a bipartisan basis. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion In the past, it has been Republicans who typically fought against regulations on those industries. This anxiety was reflected even before the report's release, as many Republicans representing rural and agricultural districts criticized the report before its publication, including in a letter from 79 Republican lawmakers in early April and in questioning from the Mississippi Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith this week on Capitol Hill. 'It's no secret you were involved with pesticide litigation prior to becoming secretary,' said Hyde-Smith, who asked whether Kennedy could remain objective when writing the report. 'There is not a single word in them that should worry the American farmer,' Kennedy replied. 'You can prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt?' Hyde-Smith retorted. 'You'll see the report,' Kennedy said. That pressure, in turn, has prompted pushback from influencers in Kennedy's orbit, including many who identify directly with the Maha movement. The work of the Maha commission was reportedly spearheaded by senior the Kennedy advisor Calley Means, a former food lobbyist and healthcare entrepreneur who rose to prominence as a Maha 'truth-teller'. Means co-wrote a bestselling book with his sister, the current US surgeon general nominee Casey Means, which blames many of the US's ills on sedentary lifestyle and poor diet.
