RFK Jr.'s MAHA report raises concerns about vaccines, American foods and prescription drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government report released on Thursday covering wide swaths of American health and wellness reflects some of the most contentious views on vaccines, the nation's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs held by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The much-anticipated “Make America Healthy Again” report, led by Kennedy and other top Trump administration officials, calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule, a review of the pesticides sprayed on American crops and a description of the nation's children as overmedicated and undernourished.

While it does not have the force of a law or official policy, the report will be used over the next 100 days for the MAHA commission to fashion a plan that can be implemented during the remainder of President Donald Trump's term, Kennedy said in a call with reporters. He refused to provide details about who authored the report.

“We will save lives by addressing this chronic disease epidemic head on, we're going to save a lot more money in the long run — and even in the short run,” Kennedy said.

But the most contentious parts of the report were already creating factions within the MAHA commission even as it strained to appease opposing forces within Trump and Kennedy's politically diverse coalition.

The report makes dozens of references to dietary guidelines and standards in Europe but Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin promised it would not yield more rigorous regulations. Instead, he described a system where companies will be encouraged to comply when presented with new “gold-standard science.”

“This cannot happen through a European mandate system that stifles growth,” Zeldin said in a call with reporters.

The report also raises concerns about corporate and industry-funded research skewing the results of studies on chemical and environmental impacts.

But that comes as sweeping budget and staff cuts propelled by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency have resulted in 20,000 jobs lost at the nation's health department and billions of dollars rescinded for research studies. The Trump administration also gutted the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program in its cuts of health-tracking programs.

Despite numerous studies and statements throughout the MAHA report that raise concerns about American food products, Trump Cabinet officials insisted that the nation's food supply is safe.

The report mentions that glyphosate, a commonly used chemical sprayed on crops, may cause serious health problems, including cancer. It also hammered on long-standing concerns about ultraprocessed foods – industrially made products high in refined grains, sugar, saturated fats and additives like artificial colors – which now make up about two-thirds of the diet for U.S. teens and children. Such products have been linked to a host of poor health outcomes, though documenting how they cause those problems has been notoriously difficult and time-consuming.

On Thursday, however, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins insisted: “The food supply is 100% safe.”

Farmers and Republican lawmakers had hounded the Trump administration leading up to the report's release, worried it would criticize the chemicals they use. Kennedy’s MAHA supporters, too, have been concerned that he would bend to pressure on the issue.

The White House has requested Congress approve an extra $500 million for Kennedy’s initiative, while proposing that the National Institutes of Health’s budget be axed by $18 billion. The MAHA report calls on the NIH to execute sweeping, nationwide studies of ultraprocessed foods.

The report also calls for increased scrutiny of vaccines, raising concerns about school mandates that require children to get vaccinated for admittance and suggests that vaccines should undergo more clinical trials, including with placebos.

Kennedy, a long-time vaccine critic who headed up a nonprofit that has made false claims about side effects from shots, has continued to raise doubts about the safety of inoculations even as a measles outbreak has sickened more than 1,000. Earlier this week, Kennedy's health department moved to limit U.S. access to COVID-19 shots.

The report also raises concerns about lack of physical activity among children and their prescription drug use, including antibiotics and medications used to treat attention deficit disorders.

Trump is expected to speak about the report Thursday afternoon at the White House.

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Associated Press writer JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, contributed to this report.