The Trump administration released its latest report Tuesday on how to \u201cMake America Healthy Again,\u201d the second installment of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.\u2019s strategy to combat chronic disease among children. While this report amplified calls to address long-standing environmental and behavioral practices that harm kids, experts said it was slim on details about how to turn policy priorities into regulatory action. They also worried about a disconnect between what this report says and how the Trump administration has unraveled research that would address these issues.<\/p>\n
Since the Senate confirmed him in February, Kennedy has promoted the concept and use of what he calls \u201cgold-standard science\u201d to expose the causes of child health outcomes, a phrase he repeated today when speaking about how the commission behind the report would proceed with development rules and recommendations. <\/p>\n
But health and environmental experts who spoke to PBS News said his actions speak louder than words; research has shown that actions like the administration\u2019s push to shred health and environmental regulations<\/a> could contribute to worsening, not improving, the outcomes<\/a> and wellbeing of children. <\/p>\n \u201cSecretary Kennedy has correctly identified chronic disease as a major driver of poor health and high healthcare costs,\u201d said Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a written statement. \u201cBut neither his record as health secretary nor most of the policies outlined in this report inspire confidence that he is the right person to solve this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The much-anticipated report was brief, fewer than 20 written pages filled with bullet points highlighting several policy priorities that Kennedy and the Trump administration have already touted or acted on in recent months. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of these 128 recommendations are things I\u2019ve been dreaming about my whole life,\u201d Kennedy said Tuesday at a press conference. <\/p>\n Marc Weisskopf, a professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, told PBS News that he was particularly heartened to see that the Trump administration says it is paying attention to the role that a lack of physical activity, access to nutritious foods and environmental factors can shape children\u2019s health outcomes. <\/p>\n But he also pointed to the disconnect between what this report says and how the Trump administration has unraveled research to better understand these issues and regulations designed to address them. <\/p>\n If the goal is to deliver \u201cgold-standard science\u201d and to protect children\u2019s health, Weisskopf said, \u201cWe need people who are knowledgeable about this work to be around the table.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at some of the issues the latest report seeks to address, and some important factors experts say were overlooked:<\/p>\n Targeting poor diet, additives and fluoride<\/p>\n In the same report where the administration slammed lax standards on food and linked them to deteriorated health outcomes, the Trump administration called for deregulation of agriculture and food.<\/p>\n