RFK Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again agenda could impact food safety

RFK Jr., a lawyer-politician, could replace lawyer-politician Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human  Services. Or RFK Jr could be the next Secretary of Agriculture, replacing  Tom Vilsack, a lawyer.

Deputy FDA Commissioners are sometimes lawyers. Dr. Robert Califf, a cardiologist, is the outgoing FDA Commissioner.

The fact that the incoming Trump administration might be looking this broadly to put RFK Jr. to work says something about the power of the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

What’s precisely in that agenda, which RFK Jr. brought to the Trump campaign, isn’t entirely clear.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of former  Attorney General of the United States Robert  F. Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United  States. 

RFK Jr. has been involved in numerous environmental and medical issues. He’s been criticized for his views about vaccines. He also ran for president during the past year but ended up endorsing former Trump, who said RFK Jr. could “go wild” on health in the new administration.

His Make America Healthy Again plan is again getting attention and has numerous elements, including some that would directly apply to consumers. Options for using Health Savings Accounts would be expanded, and Presidential Fitness Standards would be brought back. He has also said that he will upend things — including cutting staff — at the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for keeping 80 percent of the nation’s food supply safe.

Those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance would be prohibited from using those funds to buy unhealthy foods like sugary sodas.

The European-like prohibition on pharmaceutical companies’ direct consumer advertising would be expanded to the U.S., and the Prescription Drug User Fee Act would be amended to influence the FDA.

USDA-NHS nutrition panel members will be prohibited from profiting from food and drug companies, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds will be banned from going to researchers with conflicts of interest.

Some of The Make America Healthy Again agenda appears to call for a revolution at USDA that would upend farm policy, food safety, animal welfare, and federal nutrition programs.  

RFK Jr. wants to “reverse 80 years of farm policy” because it means industrial agriculture, industrial meat production, factory farming, chemical-based farming, and carbon-based fertilizers, he says.

How those changes are going help with the 50 percent of children with chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease isn’t apparent.

It is the fact that chronic diseases are epidemic that the Make America Healthy Again agenda is supposed to be all about.

Others whose names are being floated for USDA Secretary include Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY; Indiana farmer Kip Torn; Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller; Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-PA; and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. 

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/11/rfk-jr-and-the-make-america-healthy-again-agenda-could-impact-food-safety/