RFK Jr.’s MAHA Movement at Odds With Food Industry Ahead of Midterms + More
Source: Children’s Health Defense
RFK Jr.’s MAHA Movement at Odds With Food Industry Ahead of Midterms
The “Make America Healthy Again” movement is seeing pushback from the food industry. The National Association of Manufacturers published a video addressing some of the changes Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to make, and it warns that the food industry is “under increasing strain” due to federal and state rules. When it comes to food safety and the ingredients allowed in many of the foods people eat, the industry wants the same rules across the board. To get their point across, they’re using a key Trump administration talking point: affordability.
“We must also ensure that policy changes aren’t done in a state-by-state patchwork manner that drives up food costs,” said Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of the Food Industry Association. “Instead, we must focus on nationally uniform designs to help consumers meet their health goals within their budgets.”
The National Association of Manufacturers is demanding a single standard for food and its ingredients. They also want to be part of MAHA policy talks. “Because when policy makers work with our industry, we can continue to feed the country in ways that strengthen the U.S. food system and help keep food safe, accessible and affordable for American shoppers,” Sarasin said in the video.
Why RFK’s CDC Is Endorsing ‘Shared Decisionmaking’ for Vaccines
In the year that US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been in office, his agency has made unprecedented changes to the childhood immunization schedule, removing universal recommendations for a half-dozen vaccines in favor of “shared clinical decisionmaking.”
The term has become something of a mantra for Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, who is also temporarily leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said he believes “very fundamentally in shared decisionmaking.” And in her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate health committee in February, US surgeon general nominee Casey Means invoked shared clinical decisionmaking when senators pressed her about her views on vaccines.
On its face, the term seems reasonable. It refers to a conversation between a health care provider and a patient or their guardian about the benefits and risks of a medical intervention and whether it makes sense for that individual to receive it. But public health experts say that the term has been co-opted by the MAHA movement as a way to undermine vaccines.
US Sued by Food Stamp Recipients Over Restrictions on Sugary Drinks, Candy
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Food stamp recipients sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday to undo Trump administration efforts to prevent them from using benefits to buy products such as sugary drinks, energy drinks and candy. In a complaint filed in the Washington, D.C. federal court, five plaintiffs said the restrictions “destabilize food access” for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the 22 U.S. states where the department has approved so-called “food restriction” waivers.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have endorsed the waivers as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement. The plaintiffs — who live in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia — said they or family members rely on the restricted foods to manage health conditions such as diabetes and allergies, or to obtain energy boosts needed to conduct their daily lives.
They said the waivers cause confusion at the checkout line, and cause irreparable harm by forcing them to choose between spending cash on restricted items, or forgoing spending on basics such as rent and transportation.
Republicans Fret Over RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine Policies While MAHA Moms Stew
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fielding pressure from the White House to relax his controversial approach to vaccine policies as the midterms near, but his most steadfast supporters are pressing for more aggressive action — like restricting covid-19 vaccines and pesticide use — to carry out the Make America Healthy Again agenda.
The tensions risk fraying Kennedy’s dynamic MAHA coalition, potentially driving away critical supporters who helped fuel President Donald Trump’s 2024 election win.
The movement’s grassroots membership includes suburbanites, women, and independents who are generally newer entrants to the GOP and laser-focused on achieving certain results around the nation’s food supply and vaccines.
EPA Adds Ann Arbor Chemical Plume to List of Nation’s Most Contaminated Sites
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added the former Gelman Sciences Inc. site in Ann Arbor to the federal Superfund National Priorities List, marking a significant step toward addressing a decades-old groundwater contamination problem.
This placement identifies the location as one of the nation’s most contaminated sites and allows the EPA to use additional legal authority and federal resources to accelerate cleanup efforts.
“With this Superfund designation, EPA will use its statutory authorities to hold the company responsible for near- and long-term actions to more expeditiously address possible risks to human health and the environment,” said EPA Regional Administrator Anne Vogel. “Thanks to Administrator Lee Zeldin’s leadership, EPA is making good on its promise to the community to protect drinking water sources and ensure clean drinking water to families living in and near the community.”
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