In his official bid to “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falls short of any solid game plan.
Released Tuesday, Kennedy’s report—detailing how the Trump administration plans to tackle things like food marketing to children, pesticides, and food dyes—seems to lack any actual roadmaps, only promising to “explore” these issues.
President Donald Trump sits beside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“HHS and FTC, along with other relevant agencies, will explore the development of potential industry guidelines to limit the direct marketing of certain unhealthy foods to children, including by evaluating the use of misleading claims and imagery,” the report reads.
But according to Marion Nestle, New York University professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health, the report doesn’t have much substance.
“The report seems to twist itself into knots to make it clear that it will not be infringing upon food companies,” Nestle said in an email to NBC News. “MAHA has so much bipartisan support. This was the time to regulate food marketing to kids — not ‘explore.’”
She went on to say that the report is “short of specifics and weak on regulatory actions,” echoing a similar sentiment from professionals when the preliminary report leaked.
Kennedy was given flack for his flip-flop approach to common food pesticides like glyphosate and atrazine. While he used to refer to pesticide giant Monsanto—now owned by Bayer—as his “Lex Luther,” the new report suggests that these chemicals might live to see another day.
Related | Republicans who confirmed RFK Jr. now worried he might be a nut job
“EPA, partnering with food and agricultural stakeholders, will work to ensure that the public has awareness and confidence in EPA’s pesticide robust review procedures and how that relates to the limiting of risk for users and the general public and informs continual improvement,” Kennedy’s report said.
And while the report doesn’t explicitly discuss SSRIs, which are used to treat depression, Kennedy said during a press conference Tuesday that the National Institutes for Health intend to explore the right-wing theory that they play a role in the rise of school shootings.
“We had lots of guns when we were kids,” Kennedy said. “Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so. And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people. There are many things that could explain this. One is the dependence on psychiatric drugs.”
