‘Make America Healthy Again Commission’ Focuses on Children and Often on Food
Hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed Feb. 13 as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish the Make America Healthy Again Commission with RFK Jr. as the chairman.
The commission’s description is almost exclusively aimed at childhood illnesses, and specific targets were split about evenly between medical treatment of children and nutrition-related issues. The executive order’s introduction mentions allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease, autism, fatty liver disease and obesity.
The commission’s membership will include the FDA commissioner, the secretary of agriculture, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, director of the National Institutes of Health and heads of nine other government agencies.
In addition to RFK Jr. as chairman, the executive director will be Sam Adolphsen, assistant to the president for domestic policy.
The commission will “study the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes, including the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation and corporate influence or cronyism.”
“Within 100 days of the date of this order, the commission shall submit to the president … the Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment,” which should include: comparing childhood chronic disease in America to that in other countries; the “over-utilization of medication, certain food ingredients, certain chemicals, and certain other exposures … to children”; and “best practices for preventing childhood health issues, including through proper nutrition and the promotion of healthy lifestyles,” among other bullet points.
Further, within 180 days, the commission should submit a “Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, based on the findings from the Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment … [which] shall address appropriately restructuring the Federal Government’s response to the childhood chronic disease crisis, including by ending Federal practices that exacerbate the health crisis or unsuccessfully attempt to address it, and by adding powerful new solutions that will end childhood chronic disease.”
Kennedy has advocated for dietary changes, reduced exposure to processed foods and stricter regulations on pollutants linked to illness.
It appears likely that congressional hearings will be necessary to establish the commission's budget and to seek clarity on how any suggested changes will affect existing public health programs.
