"I will … continue my long record of standing up to Big Pharma by creating a special presidential commission to investigate what is causing the decades-long increase in childhood diseases, autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility and other chronic health problems."
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled his first Make America Healthy Again commission report, which calls on the federal government to confront the root causes of childhood chronic disease. The report focuses on vaccines, processed foods, obesity and autism — issues that Kennedy has long discussed.
"Today's children are the sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease and these preventable trends continue to worsen each year, posing a threat to our nation's health, economy, and military readiness," the May 22 report states.
The 72-page report stems from President Donald Trump's campaign promise to create "a special presidential commission to investigate what is causing the decades-long increase in childhood diseases, autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility and other chronic health problems." It's one of 75 Trump campaign promises on the MAGA-Meter, which PolitiFact uses to periodically evaluate the administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term and Joe Biden.
Kennedy described the report as a product of historic government "consensus," but the response from health experts was more diverse. Many health experts agreed with points in the report, including that Americans are eating too many ultra-processed foods, while criticizing other aspects of Kennedy's messaging.
William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said the U.S. has had an increase in diabetes and obesity. However, he disputed that today's children are the "sickest generation."
"Our life expectancy at birth has been increasing steadily over time," Schaffner said.
Marion Nestle, a retired New York University professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, called the report "a devastating picture of what our society has done to kids."
"It's a call to action, and a loud and powerful call to take on the food, drug, chemical, and other industries," Nestle said.
But healthy eating is only a piece of the puzzle, wrote Miranda Yaver, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh. Millions of Americans live in "food deserts," which means they lack access to nearby supermarkets and affordable produce.
The report says that the majority of medical costs are related to chronic diseases. A critical way to manage disease is through health care, Yaver wrote. But the report's release coincided with House Republicans' passage of Trump-backed legislation that is expected to push at least 8.6 million people off of their insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
On vaccines, the report touts their benefit for children "by protecting them from infectious diseases." Kennedy, who has made false and misleading statements about vaccines, announced May 27 that the federal government would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children or healthy pregnant women.
The report is correct about an increase in autism rates but ignores explanations for the increase. The autism criteria shifted in 2013 when three diagnoses — autistic disorder; Asperger's syndrome; and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified — were merged into a singular autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
Kennedy had set a self-imposed deadline of September to find the cause of autism, but he recently pushed it back.
"We'll have some of the information (by September). To get the most solid information, it will probably take us another six months," Kennedy said May 22 on CNN. By the end of those additional six months, "I expect we will know the answers of the etiology of autism."
The report is also notable for what it doesn't address, including gun violence, which particularly affects teenagers. It also makes scant mention of substance abuse.
In August, the presidential task force plans to submit a strategy to restructure the government's response to childhood chronic disease, the report said.
"Until then, it's hard to know what they actually intend to do," Nestle said.
We will check in on the commission's progress at that time, but for now we rate this promise In the Works.
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President Donald Trump issued an executive order creating a commission to study childhood chronic diseases, to be chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has championed vaccine skepticism and baseless theories about autism.
The order is the first step in Trump's campaign promise to "continue my long record of standing up to Big Pharma by creating a special presidential commission to investigate what is causing the decades-long increase in childhood diseases, autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility and other chronic health problems."
It's one of 75 Trump campaign promises PolitiFact is tracking on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term and Joe Biden.
The executive order says within six months, the commission will develop a strategy to restructure the government's response to childhood chronic diseases. The commission will assess the "threat" posed to children by "potential over-utilization of medication," certain food ingredients, and chemicals and psychiatric medications.
Medical experts said some statements in Trump's order omit important context. For example, the order says, "American life expectancy significantly lags behind other developed countries."
But Dr. Georges Benjamin, American Public Health Association executive director, said one study showed that lack of access to universal health care and underinvestment in primary care and prevention are the reasons the U.S. lags other nations.
Trump's order says "autism spectrum disorder now affects 1 in 36 children in the United States," calling it "a staggering increase" compared with the 1980s.
The figure is accurate, said Evan H. Dart, University of South Florida associate professor in the school psychology program, but there are reasonable explanations for why that might be the case.
The autism criteria shifted in 2013 when three diagnoses — autistic disorder; Asperger's syndrome; and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified — were merged into a singular autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, Dart said.
"This alone could explain large increases in medical diagnoses of autism since the 2000s, even more so compared to the 1980s," when autism first appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Dart said.
Autism spectrum disorder covers a wide range of symptoms and allows individuals with very mild impairments to receive a diagnosis. "We have very sensitive screeners that help detect autism in extremely young children now that simply didn't exist in the 1980s," Dart said.
The executive order didn't address childhood vaccines. Dr. Irwin Redlener, Albert Einstein College of Medicine professor of pediatrics, said vaccines have improved child survival across the world.
Experts told us that addressing chronic conditions requires examining multiple factors.
For example, with obesity, the commission should address nutritional education, access to healthy foods, physical activity promotion, environmental factors, health care interventions and research and data collection, said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, a Harvard University obesity medicine physician and pediatrician.
We will monitor the commission's progress, including when it reaches the timetables for action. For now, we rate Trump's progress In the Works.
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