A call to "turn the tide" of childhood disease
Kennedy's MAHA report calls out industry corruption and chemical dangers, but fails to push for meaningful policy changes
Exposures to pesticides and other chemicals, ultra-processed foods and over-prescription of medications are among the factors contributing to an epidemic of chronic disease in America’s children, according to a government report issued Thursday by the Trump administration’s controversial “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission.
The 68-page assessment calls for a “transformation” of US food, health and “scientific systems” as a means to address what the report calls the “sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease”.
The report blames complacency in scientific and medical institutions, corrupted federal and state policies guided “more by corporate profit than the public interest,” and US food and agricultural systems that have “embraced ultra-processed ingredients and synthetic chemicals.” The report specifically calls out corporate influence over research, regulators and lawmakers as factors contributing to the problems.
The commission report spotlights glyphosate, the key ingredient in the popular Roundup brand, citing “a selection of research studies” that have noted a “range of possible health effects, ranging from reproductive and developmental disorders as well as cancers, liver inflammation and metabolic disturbances.”
The report additionally cites concerns with the weed killer atrazine, also used widely in farming, including research linking atrazine to endocrine disruption and birth defects.
But the report tread carefully after being pressured by the powerful agrochemical industry, echoing industry statements that “precipitous changes” such as restrictions on pesticides could have an “adverse impact” on farmers and the food supply.
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