The left was all-in on whole foods and health until Trump embraced it.
Now they're pro-pesticides and pro-artificial adulterants.
The White House's "Make America Healthy Again" or "MAHA" commission, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has published its first report on what it says are four leading drivers of childhood chronic disease.
"The report is the product of a consensual process, and it represents a collaborative effort of all the agencies and the White House. And it represents a consensus that is probably the strongest and most radical consensus by a government agency in history about the state of America's health," Kennedy told reporters in a call ahead of its release.
Thursday's release is the first in a process laid out by President Trump's executive order in February. By August, the commission is due to follow up with a policy strategy to address the findings raised in this report. Kennedy called the report a "milestone."
"MAHA's become hot," Mr. Trump told a roundtable that included Kennedy and other top administration officials at the White House on Thursday.
It's amusing that Trump calls it "hot."
The "chronic disease crisis" in children is described in the report as growing rates of a number of issues including childhood obesity, diabetes, autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, cancer, allergies and autoimmune disorders.
"More than 40% of American children now have at least one chronic health condition," Mr. Trump said Thursday. "Since the 1970s, rates of childhood cancer have soared, in many cases, by nearly 50%. ... In the 1960s, less than 5% of the children were obese, now over 20% are obese. ... Think of this one, this is the one that gets me every time, and it seems to be getting worse -- just a few decades ago, one in 10,000 children had autism. Today it's 1 in 31."
Medical experts attribute much of the increase in autism to better and more widespread testing and diagnostics.
Some of it, yeah. What about the rest of it?
These are the people who will only buy food from Whole Foods (aka "Whole Paycheck") themselves but now that Trump is pushing for a more healthful food industry, they're intensely skeptical.
Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that the Trump administration was not seeking "a European, mandate-driven regulatory system that stifles growth" as a result of the process.
"It will happen through a renewed focus on improved science throughout the federal government and our partners. And through unleashing private sector innovation to produce better solutions for our children," Zeldin said.
Multiple current and former federal health officials criticized the report, which they said misrepresented several facts and left out other well-known drivers of childhood chronic disease.
"They're looking for specific causes and silver bullets to draw attention to. However, prevention is all about making it easier for people to make healthy choices," said one current federal health official in a message, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
It's just unbelievable. Every bit of commentary from CBS is negative.
The wide-ranging report is organized around four topics that it describes as the "potential drivers behind the rise in childhood chronic disease that present the clearest opportunities for progress":
Poor diet, driven primarily by ultra-processed foods
Cumulative exposure to chemicals like food additives and pesticides
Lack of physical activity and chronic stress
"Overmedicalization" with too many prescriptions and vaccines
These largely reflect many of the themes that Kennedy has long spoken about, including as a longshot presidential candidate last year and as the head of the nation's public health agencies in recent months.
"It is very strong, it's very frank, and it is a clarion call to do something with utmost urgency to end this crisis. And that's what we wanted," Kennedy said of the report.
For example, under the heading of ultra-processed foods, the report echoes Kennedy's criticism of the shift from using "minimally processed animal-based sources like butter and lard" to seed oils like corn and canola. And it takes aim at the federal dietary guidelines process, which is due to release a major update later this year.
...
It calls out the "growth of the childhood vaccine schedule," which Kennedy has long denounced, often with misleading claims about how vaccines were not sufficiently vetted for safety and efficacy.
"The number of vaccinations on the American vaccine schedule exceeds the number of vaccinations on many European schedules, including Denmark, which has nearly half as many," the report says.
The report also reiterates Kennedy's criticism of the CDC's vaccine safety monitoring efforts, like in the Vaccines Adverse Event Reporting System and Vaccine Safety Datalink, as well as the federal approach to compensating childhood vaccine injury.
It also criticizes groups like the American Medical Association for efforts to address disinformation about vaccines, saying it "undermines the open dialogue essential to protecting and improving children's health."
RFKJr. praised Trump for increasing the Hotness of MAHA.
The Vigilant Fox
@VigilantFox
NOW: RFK Jr. Reveals Trump Made a MAHA Pledge--Before MAHA Even Existed.
This is the real origin story of one of the most powerful political alliances in modern history.
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat beside President Trump, laid it out:
"I do want to say something," Kennedy began.
"Because I get a lot of credit for steering this administration toward the MAHA movement--but I joined the campaign in August."
"It was in June that he made a speech specifically on this issue."
"It was a MAHA speech--before MAHA existed."
Kennedy said that speech caught his attention.
"I took note of it at the time and thought: there's potential here for common ground."
Then he turned directly to Trump and said:
"I want to thank you for your vision, for your courage, for standing up... President Trump is a populist president."
"He is on the side of the middle class, the working class, the poor in this country."
The crowd erupted in applause.
And Kennedy closed with a statement few would expect from a Democrat:
"I've never seen a president--Democrat or Republican--that is willing to stand up to industry when it's the right thing to do."
Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
BREAKING: At the MAHA Commission meeting, Trump just declared he will NOT stand down to the Big Pharma and Big Food lobbyists.
"Unlike other administrations, we will NOT be silenced or intimidated by the corporate lobbyists or special interests."
MUSIC TO MY EARS!
RFK Jr. and President Trump are on a quest to end the childhood chronic illness epidemic. ????????????????
"There's something wrong. And we will not stop until we defeat the chronic disease epidemic."
"Its first report on childhood health - here are just some of the alarming findings. And they really are alarming. It's unbelievable, terrible."
"More than 40% of American children now have at least one chronic health condition. Since the 1970s, rates of childhood cancer have soared, in many cases, by nearly 50%."
"In the 1960s, less than 5% of the children were obese. Now over 20% are obese."
"Just a few decades ago, 1 in 10,000 children had autism. Today, it's one in 31. Last time I heard the number, was one in 34, right? Now it's one in 31."
"We're going to get it done. For the first time ever, this report examines some of the root causes that many believe are making our children sicker and our population sicker. It just doesn't stop with the children. It's our population also."
"Such as the ultra-processed over-medicalization and over-prescription, and widespread exposure to potentially toxic chemicals."
One of the downsides of Trump is that he has no regard for long-established Normzzz of DC -- the compromises and treaties that were signed decades ago, like about never crossing Big Ag, that still persist although no one remembers the conflict that caused the treaty.
Of course, that's simultaneously his biggest upside.
The full 25 minute presentation is here.