The new opportunity for a healthier America inspires hope and excitement, but Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. himself inspires confusion and worry. The 71-year-old was recently sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), aiming to refocus government offices on chronic illness rather than infectious disease. While many of his policies are well-intentioned, it’s outright alarming to have health policies dictated by someone who doesn’t fully believe in vaccines and, more generally, modern medicine.
There’s no doubt America needs to be healthier. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), around 20% of adolescents are prediabetic and 40% are overweight or obese, far worse than the 8.8% international prediabetic rate and 16% international obesity rate. Kennedy’s new position makes him the head of the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Medicaid. He has approached this change in power aggressively, with mass layoffs at HHS because of alleged conflicts of interest. At the same time, some of his priorities are focused on health rather than economic gain.
The recently launched Make America Healthy Again campaign (MAHA) takes aim at seed oils, over-processed food, food dyes, unnecessary additives and those multinational corporations with almost total control over the food industry, commonly known as “Big Food.” His approaches are rooted in the prevention of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, and conditions such as Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and autism. He plans to make America rethink nutrition, physical activity, overreliance on medication, environmental impacts and food and drug quality and safety.
With promises of transparency and thorough research, those intentions seem relatively pure. After all, why shouldn’t America be healthier? The worrisome part is that many of Kennedy’s claims aren’t exclusively rooted in science, and there’s no promise that the positive parts of MAHA will happen. While most of his actions are beneficial, statements like “vaccines cause autism” and “Wi-Fi causes cancer” strip him of his credibility.
The hypocrisy of the MAHA campaign is laughable. Kennedy claims to recognize the threat of environmental factors to health, but this is nothing short of confusing coming from the administration that took the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, World Health Organization, and clean water protections. His focus on chronic illness and disease is important, but he takes data out of context. Banning medications to treat mental illness and learning disabilities won’t make them disappear. Changing a child’s diet will not get rid of their ADHD. Mental illness is not exclusively caused by external factors but lies mainly within brain chemistry.
This is not to say the MAHA campaign doesn’t have a good side. Kennedy wants healthier lunch options in schools, for example. “We shouldn’t be subsidizing people to eat poison,” he told Fox News hosts on Feb. 13. He advocates for ingredient transparency and a new focus on non-processed food.
Banning unnecessary additives of fat, starches and sugars is crucial in making America a healthier society. America allows a myriad of chemicals that other countries have already banned. And taking on fast food is welcome even if Kennedy doesn’t exactly have the approval of President Donald Trump, who has a very public, long-lasting friendship with Ronald McDonald. Without the support of the president and major food corporations, a transformation of the American food industry would be so difficult to achieve that it might not even be a plausible outcome.
Response from the public regarding Kennedy’s plans is mixed. Many are opposed to his pharmaceutical policies limiting access to certain drugs, but his food bans are met with approval from Democrats and Republicans alike. America definitely needs a change, but Kennedy is not the right messenger.
