Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again commission report is set to be released by May 22, gathering data on how toxins may be contributing to widespread diseases.
The report will offer a comprehensive look at how Americans have become sick from exposure to toxins in food, environment and pharmaceutical drugs, Vani Hari, a food activist who will be at the White House for the launch of the report, told USA TODAY.
For instance, it will highlight the toxin glyphosate. A 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that 87% of 650 children tested had herbicide glyphosate in their urine. The primary exposure to glyphosate, which is used in weed killers like Roundup, occurs through food.
“It is literally President Trump declaring war on the ultra-processed food and pesticide companies,” Hari said.
A poll showing broad support for aspects of the Make America Healthy Again agenda also will be released on May 22. USA TODAY received an exclusive look at the results of the poll.
Just hours after Kennedy was sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Services on February 13, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, commission. Named for a catchphrase championed by Kennedy, the commission was tasked with studying the potential contributing causes for the “childhood chronic disease crisis” and producing an assessment within 100 days.
In April 2019, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released an analysis connecting glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and recommended monitoring children’s exposure to the weed killer. However, the Environmental Protection Agency has not taken steps to ban the pesticide, concluding that it had “inadequate information to assess carcinogenic potential.”