MAHA Draft Report: Pesticides, Processed Foods Unmentioned, But Conspiracy Theories Abound

Rumors, Conspiracies, etc.

from the tin-foil-report dept

We’ve already demonstrated over the course of plenty of posts that RFK Jr. is wildly incapable of running Health and Human Services. The fact that he was even nominated for a role in managing American health is absolutely bonkers, but that a Senate filled with supposed grown adults voted to confirm his appointment to HHS should, and I believe will, become a historical stain on the legacy of that particular institution. But while Kennedy has demonstrated he’s incapable of applying real medical science to his job, and indeed sometimes even a basic level of humanity, he’s also infecting HHS with his conspiracy theories.

Anti-vaxxers running ACIP, the panel that approves of vaccination schedules? Check! A committment to have HHS get to the bottom of all those chemtrails in the sky? Check! But if you want to really see the conspiracy theories run amok, you need only look at a drafted report from HHS entitled Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy.

Does it have a strategy for reducing ultra-processed foods in the diets of children? Nope! How about pesticides? Nope! New regulations on industry to create a healthier ecosystem for children? Nope! But it does include some of Kennedy’s favorite conspiracy theories.

That includes attacking water fluoridation, casting doubt on the safety of childhood vaccines, pushing for more physical activity in children to reduce chronic diseases, getting rid of synthetic food dyes, and claiming that children are being overprescribed medications.

While the importance of water quality is raised in the report, it’s only in the context of fluoride and not of any other key contaminants, such as lead or PFAS. And although the draft strategy will prioritize “whole, minimally processed foods,” it offers no strategy for reducing the proportion of ultra-processed food (UPF) in Americans’ diets. The strategy merely aims to come up with a “government-wide definition” for UPF to guide future research and policies.

Also notably absent is any mention of the leading cause of death in children, which is lead poisoning. A very specific kind of lead poisoning, in fact, as in the it’s from the kind of lead that gets fired out of a firearm. It is just completely unaddressed, inconvenient to Kennedy’s narrative and thusly ignored. If we could solve that problem, combined with reducing motor vehicle deaths for children, you’d essentially cut the number of child deaths in half. Neither issue even gets a mention in the report.

Instead we’re out here battling flouride over the objections of dentists everywhere, food dyes (which, fine, whatever), and I guess potentially 5G and WiFi signals?

Amid the predictable MAHA topics and industry concessions, one short section stands out for its obvious link to conspiracy theories. The draft includes a brief section on electromagnetic radiation that says the health department, along with other unnamed federal agencies, will conduct studies to find “gaps in knowledge” regarding safety and efficacy.

While the section is vague, it brings to mind Kennedy’s long history of falsely claiming that electromagnetic radiation, in the form of Wi-Fi and 5G, causes a variety of health problems— including cancer, autism, a variety of mental and cognitive problems, post-traumatic stress, fatigue, and Type 2 diabetes.

Yes, it’s vague, but Kennedy has been much more explicit about this sort of thing prior to his profane appointment in government.

In a 2023 podcast with Joe Rogan, Kennedy made the unsupported claim that “Wi-Fi radiation opens up your blood-brain barrier, so all these toxins that are in your body can now go into your brain.”

In his Senate confirmation in January, Kennedy confirmed in an exchange with Senator Andrew Kim (D-NJ) that he still believes that and that 5G is equally harmful. He added that it “changes DNA” and does “other things.” He has previously stated that 5G is being used for mass surveillance.

You can bet that’s exactly what Kennedy is going to pursue from that vague section. This entire report reads like a list of his favorite unproven or debunked pet conspiracy theories. The exceptions, such as ultra-processed foods and pesticides, both of which were also big priorities of Kennedy prior to joining the government, are those that would annoy industry and commerce.

He’s not a crusader. If he was, it wouldn’t matter that big business didn’t like his report. I’m not even sure if he’s a true believer any longer. He might just be a conspiracy-addled and/or peddling charlatan setting himself up for more power or pay.

But he is dangerous, to be sure. And this report is nonsense and devoid of actual science.

Filed Under: 5g, chemtrails, conspiracy theories, fluoride, health and human services, maha, processed foods, rfk jr., wifi