During his election night party, President Trump promised to let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. do whatever he wants to "make America healthy again." With Kennedy as America's top health official, that process is now well underway. The Make America Healthy Again Commission that Trump established after taking office released its first report on Thursday and Kennedy, the commission's chair, described it as a "diagnosis" of what the report calls America's "chronic childhood disease crisis," USA Today reports. He said the commission will now work on policy recommendations for the White House. "The prescription comes in 100 days," he said. At a White House event, Kennedy said the report was a "call to action for common sense," adding that America has "relied too much on conflicted research, ignored common sense, or what some would call 'mother's intuition.'"
- A "unifying theory." Axios describes the report as seeking to set out a "unifying theory around what's causing conditions like obesity, autoimmune conditions, and behavioral disorders in kids"—though it also seeks to strike a balance with economic interests, especially when it comes to pesticides.
The 69-page report was split into four sections dealing with ultra-processed food, chemicals in the environment, children's screen time, and the "over-medicalization of our kids." Health experts praised the report's focus on the importance of whole foods, the Washington Post reports. But the widely anticipated hard line against pesticides was watered down after pushback from farm groups and chemical companies, the Post reports. The report did, however, say an updated assessment on the herbicides glyphosate and atrazine will be released next year, USA Today reports.
The "overmedicalization" warned of possible long-term risks of psychiatric and weight-loss drugs. It also criticized the growth of the childhood vaccine schedule and said parents are worried about the "appropriate use of vaccines and their possible role in the growing childhood chronic disease crisis."
- Criticism. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins University, tells the AP that the report doesn't show any evidence that vaccines are behind rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and autism. "It's not as if they're positing any kind of causal link," Adalja says. Kennedy, he says, "is trying to devalue vaccines in the minds of Americans."
- More criticism. 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," Jessica Glenza writes at the Guardian. She notes that the report compares US life expectancy and healthcare costs to other wealthy nations, but "it does not mention how other nations typically finance healthcare for all citizens: often at minimal or no cost."
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