As the Trump administration presents deep cuts in federal health agencies, Robert F Kennedy Jr. has produced a 72 -page summary in environmental toxins, chemicals and ultra -processed foods that, according to him, are causing an “existential crisis” in the United States.
In an interview on Thursday afternoon with Tom Llamas, a senior national correspondent for NBC News and the next presenter of “Nightly News”, Kennedy, secretary of health and human services, said the The report “Make America Healthy Again”, which blamed the sedentary lifestyles of technology and the excessive prescription of medicines, represented “the first time in history” that the federal government has recognized The “negative impact of these environmental exhibitions in the American people.”
The long report entered into great detail about what is wrong with children in the United States, but did not offer much depth about what federal health agencies would do to “make them healthy again.”
Llamas asked Kennedy why, “in the spirit of government efficiency,” the report offered no more solutions, “because I could have written this on day 1”.
Kennedy promised that “we are going to do something about it” within 60 days. “We are going to deliver the recipe for the initiatives we need to do.”
The Maha report published on Thursday gave a dark vision of children’s health, focusing on chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and neurological development disorders, however, it does not mention socio -economic factors or the lack of access to medical care that contribute to such conditions in children.
On the other hand, said Kennedy, who has authority over Medicaid, “medical care costs are expanding 2% more than our economy.” About 40% of all children in the United States receive health insurance through Medicaid.
Ultraprocessed foods and environmental toxins were at the top of Kennedy’s problems that must be approached urgently for increases in chronic diseases during childhood.
He has already said that the government will work with the food industry to replace artificial and synthetic food dyes with natural alternatives.
“I brought the food companies in two weeks after arriving at office, and obtained many of them at that time at the beginning, according to that they were going to do something about it,” Kennedy told Llamas on Thursday. “We have already quickly followed the approval, last week, of three new dyes based on vegetables.”
Here are few key conclusions:
Easy to use dietary guidelines are approaching
Kennedy said the Trump administration is working to simplify what he called “long” and complicated documents aimed at advising people about healthy eating.
The new guidelines in process, he said, would lead families to focus on integral foods instead of ultraprocessed foods.
He highlighted state efforts to prohibit the purchase of soft drinks and energy drinks under the supplementary nutritional assistance program, previously known as food coupons.
Can you reverse children’s diabetes?
Kennedy said many childhood diseases can be treated with food, including type 1 diabetes, which he called youth diabetes.
“In many cases, youth diabetes and prediabetes, which now affect 38% of adolescents, can completely revert the diet,” Kennedy said. “Food is medicine, and food also affects mood, affects mental illness, affects the immune system and we must ensure that our children have access to good food and that parents have access to the best information so that they can make good decisions for their children.”
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body does not insulin, and is not connected to obesity. Around 2 million people in the United States have type 1 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. In general, it is first diagnosed in children and young adults. People with type 1 diabetes can control symptoms with insulin and are recommended that they follow a high diet in vegetables and fiber, but the disease is not reversible.
Are children’s vaccines safe? Do they contain fetal tissue?
Kennedy said that the measles-potella (MMR) vaccine contains “millions of particles derived from fetal tissue.”
That is misleading, experts said.
It is true that some vaccine investigations used elective abortions cells more than 50 years ago. This is because some viruses simply grow better in those cells and, therefore, can be studied more widely.
But in the laboratory, these cells go through an intense purification process to ensure that human DNA is not transferred to vaccines.
“New cell lines are not being generated,” said a pediatric infectious disease doctor respected nationwide. The doctor’s employer did not authorize an interview in the registry.
“Theologically, I’m quite conservative,” said the doctor. “If we were taking new cell lines of new pregnancy endings, it would have a different sensation about it.”
What about that fall in contaminated water?
On May 11, Kennedy published photos in X and his grandchildren splashing in a Washington stream, DC, known for being contaminated with raw wastewater.
The photos, especially those that circulated online that show it without a shirt in the stream, caused questions about whether Kennedy knew the potential dangers of swimming in a body of water that had been contaminated for decades.
Kennedy said it depends on the American public to keep the public roads free of contamination. “We have the right to use them to swim, to fish, and we should worry about the people who are contaminating them.”
