RFK Jr. Releases HHS Report on Children's Health

TIME

The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children.   The just-released follow-up action plan, which outlines the Trump Administration’s strategy for fixing the problems identified by the first report, mentions ultra-processed foods only once, pledging that government agencies would continue to try to develop a definition for them.

Transcript

00:00Today's report outlines a bold framework to improve children's health through 128 targeted

00:06directives and strategies.

00:08This report is the result of a thorough and robust policy process that relied heavily

00:14on the input and expertise of families, farmers, doctors, industry leaders, and innovators.

00:22This strategy aims to create systemic change to protect and promote children's health

00:26through four key pillars, one, driving innovation through research, two, policies to realign

00:32incentives and systems, three, increase public awareness and knowledge, and fourth, private

00:39sector collaboration.

00:40There's never been a president in my lifetime that is more willing to challenge businesses

00:45when they overreach and was more fearless about challenging entrenched interests in our

00:53society.

00:55And so many times I've had discussions with him about a certain injury or illness, and

01:02how unpopular it will be if we talk about the solutions, which are going to hurt certain

01:07businesses.

01:08And he said, I don't care.

01:09He says again and again, I don't care.

01:11This is children.

01:13We need to save the children.

01:14A lot of these 128 recommendations are things that I've been dreaming about my whole life.

01:23I've been working for in congressional campaigns and presidential campaigns for other candidates.

01:30And they get into office and they say, well, we just can't do it.

01:34A lot of these things are things that I never thought about.

01:36But there are real scientific issues that need to be addressed.

01:40Why are autism rates going up so quickly?

01:43What can we do about it?

01:46What's the answer for type 1 diabetes for kids?

01:52What are the long-term effects of the rising use of antidepressants in children?

01:59The problem of ADHD.

02:01You can go on and on and on and on.

02:03What you have is a picture of real questions that need to be answered with excellent science.

02:09At the Trump EPA, we are accelerating innovative and vetted crop protection products to enhance

02:16an American system of agriculture that is already the best in the world.

02:21At the same time, EPA is aggressively confronting and addressing the threat of banned pesticides

02:27imported or smuggled into the United States from China and elsewhere.

02:31These are highly toxic substances that can be fatal to humans and animals and damage our

02:37environment.

02:39It is a top priority in line with the Make America Healthy Commission to protect Americans

02:44from this threat.

02:45The EPA is arguably the most rigorous, the most data-backed, the most scientifically deep review

02:57process in the world, and to approve any product that is used by our farmers.

03:05It will have gone through years upon years upon years of research.

03:11Tools that are meant to fight disease, such as vaccines, antibiotics, and therapeutics, can

03:15save lives, can also trigger adverse events in some patients.

03:19And that truth must no longer be denied or distorted.

03:22We are bringing transparency and research to this critical connection.

03:26We had lots of guns when we were kids.

03:28We had comparably the same number of guns.

03:31Nobody was doing that.

03:32We had gun clubs at my school.

03:34Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so.

03:37And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people.

03:42So, and this is not happening in other countries.

03:44There are many, many things that happened in the 1990s that could explain these.

03:49One is the dependence on psychiatric drugs, which is, in our country, is unlike any other

03:58country in the world.

03:59It could be, there could be connections with video games, with social media, or a number of

04:07things, and we are looking at that at NIH.

04:10So, we are doing studies now.

04:14We're initiating studies to look at the correlation and the connection, potential connection, between

04:22over-medicating our kids and this violence.

04:26The committee, the advisory committee of immunization practices, is reviewing the science on every

04:33vaccine, reviewing the reports in the vaccine adverse event reporting system and in the scientific

04:42literature, and they will be reviewing vaccine recommendations.

04:47So, you know, that is something, there's a panel of experts.

04:50It's going to meet again, I think, on September 18th, and they're going to do a real gold standard

04:57scientific review.

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