WASHINGTON — A highly-anticipated White House report about childhood diseases has provoked a tug-of-war pitting farmers and some prominent Republican lawmakers against health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement ahead of its release.
President Donald Trump promised a review within 100 days that would analyze the ramifications that U.S. lifestyle — from the medications prescribed for children to the food served on their school lunch trays — has on childhood diseases like obesity, depression or attention deficit disorder. The report, led by a so-called “MAHA Commission,” is expected to be released on Thursday.
Farmers and Republicans are nervous about what the report might say about glyphosate, the ingredient commonly used in pesticides sprayed on crops. Kennedy has denied the report will be unfavorable to farmers.
Speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley warned that farmers have reached out to him, upset they have not been able to provide input on the MAHA report ahead of its release.
“I hope there is nothing in the MAHA report that jeopardizes the food supply or the livelihood of farmers,” Grassley said.
Last month, a group of 79 Republicans — including several senators who represent farming states — echoed similar concerns about the report saying in a letter to Kennedy that without the products agricultural “yields and quantity are negatively impacted.”
Glyphosate has been available for about 50 years and some farmers say it remains essential for controlling weeds without excessive tilling, helping to conserve both soil and fuel.
“There’s a reason why we still use: It works,” said Blake Hurst, a Missouri farmer who is past president of the Missouri Farm Bureau.
Kennedy, though, has built a sizeable following over many decades, in part, because of the lawsuits he’s waged against corporations, including the company that produced weedkiller Roundup. The World Health Organization has labeled that product’s key ingredient, glyphosate, as a probable carcinogen for humans.
On Wednesday a large group of his supporters sent Kennedy a letter calling on the commission to “hold the chemical industry” accountable in the report, noting that pressure is mounting.
“Evidence is piling up and the risks from pesticide exposure are undeniable,” the letter, signed by 360 self-proclaimed MAHA supporters that include farmers, former Kennedy campaign staffers and those who worked with him at his anti-vaccine nonprofit.
Dave Murphy, a fundraiser for Kennedy’s failed presidential bid, said that he submitted studies and comments on pesticides to Trump administration officials for inclusion in the MAHA report but said that there’s “a lot of pressure within Washington” over what the final report says on the issue.
During a senate hearing on Wednesday, Kennedy rebutted concerns from Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith that the report would “unfairly” target farmers.
“There’s not a single word in them that should worry the American farmer,” Kennedy said of his report. “We are not going to do anything to jeopardize that business model.”
Kennedy was appearing before the senate appropriations committee to discuss the White House’s proposed budget, which would give a $500 million boost for Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. That same proposal also makes deep cuts, including to infectious disease prevention, maternal health and medical research programs.
In February, Trump signed an executive order establishing a Make America Healthy Again Commission tasked with examining the “threat” that prescription drugs, chemicals and certain food ingredients pose to children.
That review was supposed to be led by several members of the president’s cabinet, including Kennedy, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy, who has pledged “radical transparency” since taking over the nation’s health department, never convened a public meeting of the commission. The White House only released brief, edited clips from a single, closed-door meeting of the commission held in March.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the report.
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Associated Press writers David Lieb in Missouri and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed.