Critics decry White House’s Maha report on chronic illnesses in children | Trump administration

The Trump administration published its second Make Healthy Halthy Again (MAHA) report, this time on chronic diseases in children, confirming a report disclosed last month that the administration would not stop offering direct restrictions on pesticides and ultra processed foods.

On Tuesday, the Make America Healthy Again commission published a 20 -page report which is trying a balance for the priorities of the partisans of the Secretary of Health, Robert F Kennedy Jr, with the interests of influential agricultural companies. He also requests an overhaul of the country’s vaccine injury system and stricter surveillance of certain prescriptions.

In addition to echoing the project circulated in August, it follows the controversy of the panel, which linked chronic infantile diseases to poor nutrition, chemical exposure and “over -mediation”.

“The Trump administration mobilizes each part of the government to face the chronic childhood illness epidemic,” Kennedy said in a statement.

“This strategy represents the most radical reform agenda in modern history – realign our food and health systems, stimulate education and release science to protect American children and families.”

White House Domestic Policy Council and the Ministry of Health and Social Services will design a framework for vaccinations that emphasize “American modernization vaccines” using “transparent and standard sciences”, according to the report.

In particular, the report does not impose limits on pesticides, despite Kennedy’s declaration on the use of “each part of the government” to combat infant disease. In fact, the agricultural industry emerged as a clear winner in negotiations, apparently effectively persuading the Trump administration to soften Kennedy’s thrust to restrict conventional agricultural practices.

Despite no new ban on pesticides, the report suggests that the government should measure exposure to consumer chemicals and encourage precision technologies to reduce the use of herbicides.

It also adopts measures favorable to chemical companies and pesticides, such as acceleration of the approval of the environmental protection agency of new pesticides and the expansion of the use of non -animal test methods to assess chemical security.

In July, Trump killed nearly $ 15 million in research on chemical contamination of American agricultural land. Later this month, his administration canceled a subsidy of $ 20 million for drinking water in rural California contaminated by pesticides, nicknamed the subsidy.

Rather than slowing down the use of pesticides, the report focuses on other reforms such as adaptation of Food and Drug Administration approval processes, examining food ingredients and updating technology and vaccine times. In some areas, the plan increases the objectives supported by industry which, according to criticism, could worsen health risks, such as the acceleration of journals of new chemicals.

The plan also offers a group to examine the prescription trends for psychiatric drugs for children, including antidepressants, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers, a problem that Kennedy stressed several times, arguing that such drugs are overused and harmful.

He recommends additional research on subjects such as the reuse of older drugs for new treatments, the use of artificial intelligence in medical studies and investment in chronic disease surveys in children.

Scientists, health professionals and environmental defenders continue to react with dismay both Kennedy and the Maha movement.

The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Susan J Kressly, criticized the report, affirming in a statement that he “lacks details” on the way in which the Trump administration plans to resolve certain questions and “the main engines that harm children’s health, including armed violence and environmental risks”.

She also declared that she “could not ignore the fact that this report is published in the context of other recent prejudicial actions of the administration and congress which undermine many recommendations of the report … [the food program for low-income Americans]As well as its chaotic and confusing actions restricting access to the vaccine, aggravates – and not efforts to improve the health of children. »»

Rebecca Wolf, senior analyst in food policy for Food & Water Watch, said that the Maha report is “a gift” to great agriculture and that its “deregulative proposals read as a list of industry wishes. The truth is that industrial agriculture makes us sick … The report is most remarkable for what it lacks: any real action on toxic pesticides linked to the increase in national cancer rates. “

Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, described the “Shocking Fail” strategy that “harm manufacturers across the country and consumers who benefit from an efficient, healthy and profitable supply chain.

Earthjustice, a non -profit organization of environmental law, published the following declaration after the publication of the report: “Trump’s Maha commission says it wants a healthier nation, but at each turn, the Trump administration dismantles the security agencies responsible for the protection of our health and the intestinal protections that prevent pesticides from our food, and products forever out of our water.”

He adds: “Only companies take advantage of this program, while families, especially children, will pay the price with cancer and learning disabilities.”