Topline
The White House did not deny Thursday that a report on childhood chronic disease produced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” Commission was partly based on fictitious research—even as Kennedy has repeatedly claimed widely available medical research is unreliable.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks on as he testifies before a … More
AFP via Getty ImagesKey Facts
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report, released May 22, contained “formatting issues that are being addressed and the report will be updated,” when asked by a reporter about revelations it cited several nonexistent medical studies and misinterpreted others.
Leavitt did not deny the alleged errors, first reported earlier Thursday by NOTUS, but defended the MAHA report, telling reporters they “do not negate the substance of the report,” which she said is “backed on good science that has never been recognized by the federal government.”
When asked if artificial intelligence was used to compile the report, she said “I can’t speak to that” and referred the reporter who posed the question to HHS.
Several scientists cited as authors of studies listed in the footnotes told NOTUS they never participated in the supposed research: “The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” epidemiologist Katherine Keyes, listed as an author of a study on adolescent anxiety, told NOTUS.
Another study, “Overprescribing of oral corticosteroids for children with asthma,” doesn’t lead to any search results, and one of the alleged authors listed, pulmonologist Harold J. Farber, told NOTUS he conducted similar research but the MAHA report made an “overgeneralization” of his findings.
Some citations include broken links and incorrect or missing authors and issue numbers, according to NOTUS, while other findings are seriously exaggerated: for example, the report claims one paper found “antipsychotic prescriptions for children increased by 800% between 1993 and 2009,” but the paper cited found an eight-fold increase from 1995 to 2005.
Tangent
Kennedy said Tuesday he was considering banning government scientists from publishing research in major medical journals, calling the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet “corrupt” in an interview with the “Ultimate Human” podcast. “Unless those journals change dramatically, we are going to stop NIH scientists from publishing in them and we’re going to create our own journals in-house,” he said, pointing to concerns about the influence of pharmaceutical companies.
Key Background
The report was produced by the “Make America Healthy Again” Commission President Donald Trump formed earlier this year via executive order to study chronic childhood illness, such as asthma, obesity and autism. It attributes the prevalence of childhood disease, in part, on “ultra-processed food,” environmental toxins and the “overmedicalization” of children, among other medical practices. It also calls for more testing for vaccines and questions the vaccine schedule.
Further Reading
RFK Jr. Says Americans Shouldn’t Take Medical Advice From Him (Forbes)
RFK Jr.’s Conspiracy Theories: Here’s What Trump’s Pick For Health Secretary Has Promoted (Forbes)
U.S. Stops Recommending Covid Vaccine For Pregnant Women, Children—Critic Immediately Slams Move (Forbes)
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