NBC News
The expected continuation of the Make America Healthy Again report (MAHA, in English, and which in Spanish means: “to make the United States healthy again) of the Trump administration, published on Tuesday, aims to outline measures to improve childhood health – posing for better nutrition, more exercise and a review of vaccines and medications – but is little concrete and does not present drastic measures against pesticides and food Ultraprocess.
The second installment of the Maha report, called “Make Our Children Healthy Again” (make our children healthy again), aims to expand the initial evaluation carried out in May by the White House and the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which referred to children as “the most sick generation in the history of the United States.”
Tuesday’s report aims to serve as a road map to address chronic children’s diseases. But in many cases, it presents as new ideas that the administration has already taken.
“Many of these 128 recommendations are things that I have been dreaming about,” Kennedy said during a press conference, describing them as “historical collaboration” among health workers, teachers and industry.
The report basically focuses on four key areas: invest more in research; political reforms, including a new “vaccination framework”; Sensitize the population about health problems that affect children; and collaborate with the private sector. It does not mention food insecurity or armed violence, two key threats to child health.
(Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdraws $ 500 million in funds for the development of vaccines against respiratory viruses such as COVID)
Many public health experts affirmed that the ideas of the report to improve childhood health are good in theory, but that they lack a clear strategy.
“As you say, where is the heart of the matter?” Said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “If one of my postgraduate students gave me this, I would send it to write it again.”
Marion Nestle, an emergency professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at the University of New York, said in a similar way that the report “lacks specific details and is weak in terms of regulatory measures.”
“His main message is still ‘more research is needed,” Nestle said. “It does not say enough about what needs to be done to improve the feeding of American children.”
The plans to limit ultraprocessed foods and chemicals do not get as far as some of Kennedy’s supporters, Nestle said.
“The report seems to twist to make it clear that it will not violate the rights of food companies,” Nestle said in an email. “Maha has a great bipartisan support. It was time to regulate the commercialization of food for children, not to ‘explore'”.
(Colorectal cancer cases are doubled in young patients)
With regard to environmental chemicals, the report “refers in some ways to the best practices of the industry, trusting that this recommendations and is self -regulated,” said Avenel Joseph, vice president of policies of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“The EPA already collaborates with the industry. EPA has already developed many different technologies that can detect chemicals,” Joseph said. “So I’m not sure what is intended to change in that aspect.”
President Donald Trump created the Maha Commission in an executive order in February, commissioning him to identify the “fundamental causes” of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and neurological development disorders, such as autism in children. Together with Kennedy, the Commission includes other senior officials, such as the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, in English), Lee Zeldin.
The new report reflects many of the opinions that Kennedy has publicly shared, including his concern about the excessive prescription of medicines to children, their sedentary lifestyle and the negative impact that technologies such as smartphones have on their mental health. It also criticizes children’s vaccines, a habitual objective of Kennedy, who states that children receive too many vaccines before reaching adulthood.
Much of the report includes measures that the administration has already announced.
In the “Political Reforms” section, it is stated that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture will soon publish the dietary guidelines for 2025-2030, which “conform to science, data and health recommendations.” The updated guidelines are published every five years, and the government began working on the 2025 update under the Biden administration.
(Important medical groups demand the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for their actions against vaccines)
In the same section, the continuous effort to develop a formal definition of “ultra -process foods” is indicated, a process that the Department of Human Health and Services (HHS, in English) announced that it would begin in July. The report makes no other mention of ultraprocess foods.
Another outstanding reform is the help to schools to restore the presidential test of physical aptitude. Trump restored the National Physical Aptitude Evaluation in July and put Kennedy in charge of his management.
The report also says that the Department of Agriculture will help States to restrict the purchase of junk food through exemptions from the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, in English), a measure that has already been taken in several states with the support of HHS.
Eric Mitchell, president of the Alliance to end hunger, said the report goes against Trump’s measures, since Congress recently approved a law to cut SNAP funds and canceled a 1,000 million dollars program to provide local agricultural products to food banks and banks.
“We host with satisfaction the renewed national interest in improving and promoting nutrition,” Mitchell said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Trump’s government measures to combat hunger have so far been insufficient.”
(Hospitals closure, children without insurance and difficulty getting recipes: the impact of Trump’s fiscal plan)
As for artificial food coloring, an issue that both Kennedy and the Commissioner of the Food and Medicines Administration (FDA), Marty Makary, have promoted as a political achievement, the report states that the FDA will continue to apply policies to limit or prohibit these additives. In April, Kennedy said that the government plans to gradually eliminate all artificial coloring coloring coloring by the end of next year.
The federal agencies, including the Federal Commerce Commission and the Department of Justice, will take energetic measures against the infractions of the advertising laws of prescribed medications, particularly on social networks, according to the report.
The HHS will also work to address conflicts of interest in the government, which includes demanding the public dissemination of subsidies for investigation and strengthening the reuse requirements for members of the Advisory Committees.
Kennedy has already taken measures that, according to him, will reduce conflicts of interest. In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a database in which the conflicts of interest of the current and previous members of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines of the Agency were listed, most of which were already in the public domain.
In June, Kennedy fired all members of that committee, claiming “conflicts of persistent interest.” However, a recent study revealed that the committee had registered a historical minimum of conflicts of interest for almost the last decade. The new members appointed by Kennedy for the Committee have expressed their skepticism about vaccine safety, which has raised doubts about their objectivity.
One of Kennedy’s main priorities as Secretary of Health has been vaccines. Kennedy has been an anti -vaccine activist for a long time and is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, an anti -vaccine defense group. The report asks for a new “vaccine frame”, focused on reviewing the child vaccination calendar, investigating injuries caused by vaccines and guaranteeing a “transparent and maximum quality science.”
(RF Kennedy Jr. Advisors support flu vaccination in general but do not recommend certain vaccines)
In June, the CDC Vaccines Advisory Committee composed of people designated by Kennedy, announced that it would create a working group to study the cumulative effects of recommended children’s vaccines and another to reevaluate vaccines that have not been reviewed in more than seven years.
In August, the agency hired Resef Levi, Professor of MIT Operations Management who has affirmed that COVID vaccines cause serious damage and death, to direct their working group about immunization against COVID. The HHS also reactivated his working group on vaccine safety.
“Parents cannot protect their children from diseases if Secretary Kennedy destroys the vaccination system of this country,” Joseph said.
Another section of the report dedicated to “increasing awareness and knowledge of the public” affirms that “it will train parents to make informed decisions increasing transparency and access to reliable information on health and nutrition.” Fluorine, pesticides and “medical tests” are among the awareness campaigns listed. The report also mentions the possible health risks of time that children spend in front of the screen and vapeo products, such as THC. It makes a mention to alcohol consumption.
In addition, the administration plans to eliminate barriers for small farmers who sell their own milk, which Nestlé described as a “great victory” for companies that sell whole or raw dairy products. Kennedy himself is a raw milk fan, who is not pasteurized. Drinking raw milk can expose people to dangerous pathogens, such as E. coli, salmonella and Listeria.
(The Trump government has its worst week of recent months in court)
It was discovered that the first report of the Maha Commission, published in May, contained a series of false citations that suggested the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Patrick Traynor, professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Florida, said there is no clear evidence that AI has been used to prepare the new report, which does not contain any appointments.
“We have done a general analysis and there is nothing in particular that stands out as a great test,” Traynor wrote in a message.
