WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is set to correct errors in the report led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which criticized the nation’s food supply, pesticides, and prescription drugs.
The report titled “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA for short) was published last week and cited hundreds of studies, but a closer review by the NOTUS news organization found that some of the studies cited did not actually exist.
When asked about the report’s problems, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report would be updated.
“I understand there were some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed, and the report will be updated,” Leavitt told reporters at the briefing. “But this does not negate the content of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports ever published by the federal government.”
Kennedy has said repeatedly that he would bring “radical transparency” and “gold-standard” science to public health agencies. However, the secretary declined to disclose details about who authored the 72-page report, which calls for tighter scrutiny of the child vaccination schedule and describes the nation’s children as overdosed and undernourished.
Leavitt asserted that the White House has “total confidence” in Kennedy.
“Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected,” said Andrew Nixon, the department’s spokesperson, in an emailed statement. He described the report as a “historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the epidemic of chronic diseases affecting the children of our nation.”
NOTUS reported on Thursday morning that seven of the more than 500 studies cited in the report apparently were never published. The author of one of the studies confirmed that, while she conducted research on topics related to anxiety in children, she was not the author of the report in question. Some studies were also misinterpreted. The problematic citations concerned issues such as children’s screen time, medication use, and anxiety.
The report had already been drawing concerns among Trump loyalists, including farmers who criticized how it depicted the chemicals sprayed on crops.
The report is expected to be used to develop policy recommendations that will be released later this year. The White House has requested a $500 million funding increase from Congress for Kennedy’s MAHA initiative.
