RFK Jr.'s MAHA report raises concerns about vaccines, American foods and prescription drugs

WASHINGTON — A government report released on Thursday covering wide swaths of American health and wellness reflects some of the most contentious views on vaccines, the nation's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs held by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The much-anticipated "Make America Healthy Again" report calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule, a review of the pesticides sprayed on American crops and a description of the nation's children as overmedicated and undernourished. "Never in American history has the federal government taken a position on public health like this," Kennedy told a group of MAHA supporters during an event unveiling the report on Thursday. While it does not have the force of a law or official policy, the 69-page report will be used over the next three months for the MAHA commission to fashion a plan that can be implemented during the remainder of President Donald Trump's term. Speaking to MAHA supporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump praised the report. "There's something wrong and we will not stop until we defeat the chronic disease epidemic in America," Kennedy refused to provide details about who authored the report. The HHS report scrutinizes vaccines, without evidence that it's warranted Increased scrutiny of childhood vaccines — credited with saving millions of people from deadly diseases — figures prominently in the report. It poses questions over the necessity of school mandates that require children to get vaccinated for admittance and suggestions that vaccines should undergo more clinical trials, including with placebos. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic, has raised doubts about the safety of shots even as a measles outbreak has sickened more than 1,000 Americans. This week, Kennedy's health department moved to limit U.S. access to COVID-19 shots. The report does not provide any evidence that the childhood vaccine schedule, which includes shots for measles, polio and the chickenpox, is to blame for rising obesity, diabetes or autism rates, said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins University. "It's not as if they're positing any kind of causal link," Adalja said, adding that Kennedy is "is trying to devalue vaccines in the minds of Americans." Controversy over farming chemicals divides 'MAHA' movement Parts of the report highlight growing factions within the Trump administration's MAHA movement, even as the report strained to appease opposing forces within the politically diverse coalition that Trump and Kennedy have fostered. The report makes dozens of references to dietary guidelines and standards in Europe, but Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin promised it would not yield more rigorous regulations. "This cannot happen through a European mandate system that stifles growth," Zeldin said in a call with reporters. Despite numerous studies and statements throughout the MAHA report that raise concerns about American food products, Trump Cabinet officials insisted during a call with reporters on Thursday that the nation's food supply is safe. The report mentions that glyphosate, a commonly used chemical sprayed on crops, may cause serious health problems, including cancer. The World Health Organization has said that the chemical is a probable carcinogen to humans, although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is unlikely. Farmers, who — alongside Republican lawmakers — hounded the Trump administration leading up to the report's release, swiftly criticized the report's comments on the chemicals. "The Make America Healthy Again Report is filled with fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides," the National Corn Growers Association said in a statement. But Kennedy's MAHA supporters were also disappointed, saying the report didn't go far enough when it came to chemicals used on crops. "If the Trump White House and Republicans don't take pesticides and glyphosate's link to human health issues seriously, it will cost them the MAHA vote in the midterms," said Dave Murphy, a former Kennedy fundraiser who spearheaded a push for the issue to be addressed in the report. Talking about the report on Thursday, Trump reiterated his "love" for farmers. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins acknowledged the tight rope Trump officials are walking to keep farmers, many of them in Republican-leaning states, happy while also working to satisfy Kennedy's eclectic and health-conscious following. "Do all of us agree on everything? Of course not," Rollins said. "But the place that we have landed, which is, I think all of us agree, is that this is not a binary choice between an industry, agriculture and health." Ultraprocessed foods also blamed for unhealthy Americans The report comes out stronger, however, against ultraprocessed foods — industrially made products high in refined grains, sugar, saturated fats and additives like artificial dyes that now make up two-thirds of the diet for U.S. teens and children. Such products have been linked to a host of poor health outcomes, though documenting how they cause those problems has been notoriously difficult and time-consuming. The MAHA commission report "is a pretty accurate depiction of the nutrition crisis facing our country," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an expert in nutrition and policy at Tufts University. The report focuses not only on ultraprocessed foods, but also on how too few fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and fish are present in U.S. diets, he noted. But the report leaves out excess salt, which causes harm, even in young children. The MAHA report calls on the National Institutes of Health to execute sweeping, nationwide studies of ultraprocessed foods, even as the White House has called for $18 billion to be axed from the agency's budget. An extra $500 million has been requested from Congress for Kennedy's MAHA initiative. The report raises concerns about other environmental and chemical research results, funded by corporations and industry, being skewed. But the MAHA commission's call for more neutral research comes as sweeping budget and staff cuts propelled by Trump's Department of Government Efficiency have resulted in 20,000 jobs lost at the nation's health department and billions of dollars rescinded for research studies. The Trump administration also gutted the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program in its cuts of health-tracking programs. The report also raises concerns about the lack of physical activity among children and their prescription drug use, including antibiotics and medications used to treat attention deficit disorders. Some in the MAHA movement have raised concerns about offering medications, even over-the-counter drugs like pain relievers, to children. But Trump spent 10 minutes during Thursday's event telling MAHA supporters how he's working to lower the cost of prescription drugs. The East Room crowd, packed full of MAHA supporters that offered applause for Trump's calls to investigate chronic disease in children, responded mildly — and eventually stopped clapping entirely — as he continued to talk about lowering drug costs. "I think it's going to go down as one of the most important things we've ever down because drug prices are going to go down," he said, as Kennedy looked on. Associated Press writer JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, contributed to this report.