Login
Poor diet, chemical exposure, chronic stress/lack of physical activity and overmedicalization are driving the chronic disease epidemic among U.S. children, according to the White House’s Make Our Children Healthy Again strategy report released today.
The 20-page report contains 128 recommendations by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission to President Donald Trump. These include conducting studies on vaccine injuries and the root causes of autism, and restructuring the federal government’s response to the childhood chronic disease crisis.
“The Trump Administration is mobilizing every part of government to confront the childhood chronic disease epidemic” as part of “the most sweeping reform agenda in modern history,” U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
“We are ending the corporate capture of public health, restoring transparency, and putting gold-standard science — not special interests — at the center of every decision,” Kennedy said.
According to the report, as the American diet “shifted dramatically toward highly processed food,” the prevalence of “obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions” rapidly increased, including among U.S. children.
Children are “exposed to an increasing number of synthetic chemicals” that are “linked to developmental issues and chronic disease.”
In addition, U.S. children “are experiencing unprecedented levels of inactivity, screen use, sleep deprivation, and chronic stress,” further contributing to “the rise in chronic diseases and mental health challenges,” the report states.
The U.S. also is facing “a concerning trend of overprescribing medications to children, often driven by conflicts of interest in medical research, regulation, and practice,” leading to “unnecessary treatments and long-term health risks.”
According to the report, several federal health agencies will partner to “study the root causes of autism,” in part through the use of a “Real World Data Platform” linking multiple databases to assist researchers studying autism and other chronic diseases.
Federal health agencies will also “investigate vaccine injuries with improved data collection and analysis” through the establishment of a new vaccine injury research program based at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Speaking at a press conference announcing the report’s release today, Kennedy said, there has been “no investigation of vaccine injuries in the past” and that federal health agencies typically ignored vaccine injury victims.
“The people who are injured deserve the same kind of care and consideration that we give to anybody who’s injured in this country,” Kennedy said.
The report’s recommendations include updating guidelines on fluoride in water and launching a new Initiative on Chronic Disease to “generate actionable results for diseases arising in childhood and adulthood.”
The strategy report stems from a February executive order by Trump establishing the MAHA Commission. In May, the White House released a 73-page “Making Our Children Healthy Again” report outlining the extent of the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S. and possible factors contributing to it.
The report also comes amid the forthcoming release of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) report linking autism to Tylenol use during pregnancy and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) launch of an “intense investigation” into child deaths following COVID-19 vaccination.
Report ‘cracks open doors that have been locked for decades’
Speaking at today’s press conference, Kennedy said the data show that the U.S. is “now the sickest country in the world.”
“We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world, and yet we spend more on healthcare than any country in the world,” Kennedy said. “This is an existential crisis for our country and I’m so grateful that I work for a president that is willing to run through walls to stop this and to heal our kids.”
Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, said she was “very encouraged” by the report’s recommendations, particularly the emphasis on improving data collection and analysis through a vaccine injury program at the NIH.
“The strategies in the report show a clear shift in government focus toward protecting public health and preventing childhood chronic diseases, instead of relying on the same failed approaches that have only made our children sicker,” Holland said.
Sayer Ji, chairman of the Global Wellness Forum and founder of GreenMedInfo, called the report “historic,” as it marks the first time “the U.S. government has officially challenged sacred cows in medicine, science and nutrition.”
“From vaccine injuries to insulin resistance, from electromagnetic fields (EMFs) to food-as-medicine, it cracks open doors that have been locked for decades,” Ji said.
However, the report also elicited criticism from some experts, who said it didn’t sufficiently address the harm pesticides pose to human health.
Zen Honeycutt, founding executive director of Moms Across America and the Neighborhood Food Network, said that although the report addresses “a wide range of environmental factors that have never-before been addressed by any other administration,” it still falls short.
She criticized chemical companies’ influence over the report, saying:
“We would rather that this MAHA Commission report had put the health and safety of our children first and made a bold commitment to reduce our children’s exposure to thousands of harmful pesticides — many of which are banned in other countries, many more of which have been given emergency use authorization without safety studies.”
Recommendations target food dyes, infant formula and fluoride
According to the report, HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will update dietary guidelines for Americans to align them with “science, data, and health recommendations.”
The report said FDA policies will target food ingredients and additives, including “policies to limit or prohibit the use of petroleum-based food dyes” and an “evidence-based systematic process for the post-market assessment of chemicals in food.”
The FDA will also “modernize nutrient requirements” for infant formula, including increased testing for heavy metals and other contaminants.
This initiative will include updated regulations to reform the FDA’s GRAS (“Generally Recognized as Safe”) designation, through which food producers can self-certify the safety of food ingredients without agency review or public disclosure.
According to the report, the CDC, NIH and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will update regulations for fluoride and “forever chemicals” in water.
Last year, a federal court ruled that fluoridation at currently recommended levels poses an “unreasonable risk” to children’s health. The EPA appealed that ruling.
The report also states that HHS, FDA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice will “increase oversight and enforcement” for “violations of direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising laws” — though the report stops short of calling for an outright ban of such marketing.
The report states that “egregious violations demonstrating harm from current practices will be prioritized” while HHS and FTC explore the development of new guidelines to limit the direct marketing of unhealthy food products to children.
HHS will also require “more transparency” and “additional guardrails” against corporate capture of federal health agencies.
The report calls for more research on water quality and contaminants, exposure to toxic chemicals, microplastics and electromagnetic radiation, the overprescription of mental health drugs, and the impact of air quality on children’s health.
The report also calls for “increasing public awareness and knowledge” through a series of public awareness campaigns, including an initiative to “educate Americans on the appropriate levels of fluoride.”
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won’t write. 
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
Report criticized for proposing government-industry partnership on pesticides
The report drew fire from food safety advocates who felt it did not go far enough in addressing the health harms of pesticides. They criticized the report’s call for the EPA to form partnerships with industry “to ensure that the public has awareness and confidence in EPA’s pesticide robust review procedures.”
In a statement, Elizabeth Kucinich, former director of policy for the Center for Food Safety, suggested that the report’s proposals on pesticides read like they were “written by Bayer and Monsanto.”
“We cannot call a system robust when it permits poisons already banned abroad. True pro-life agriculture protects children before profits,” Kucinich said. “Parents do not need propaganda, they need protection.”
David Murphy, founder of United We Eat, said in a statement that the report is “a major missed opportunity” and “a clear sign that Big Ag, Bayer, and the pesticide industry are firmly embedded in the White House.”
During today’s press conference, Kennedy said, “We are balancing complex issues with many, many diverse stakeholders. We’re looking at economic impacts and health impacts and environmental impacts, and we’re trying to make a policy that is going to work.”
Watch the press conference here:
- RFK Jr.: MAHA Report a ‘Clarion Call’ to End the Chronic Disease Epidemic
- MAHA Report Falls Short on Pesticides, Experts Say
- HHS Will Link Autism to Tylenol Use During Pregnancy, Wall Street Journal Reports
- FDA Conducting ‘Intense Investigation’ of Child Deaths Following COVID Shot
- ‘True Corruption’: Agency Capture Responsible for Chronic Disease Epidemic in U.S.
