May 22 (UPI) — A Trump administration report released Thursday, backed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said highly processed foods, exposure to chemicals and excessive use of prescription drugs are among the factors responsible for chronic child illnesses in the United States.
“We must do more to improve the health outcomes of our kids and families,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins wrote in the report, released by the Department of Agriculture. “We are working to make sure our kids and families are consuming the healthiest food we produce.”
The report, prepared by the Make America Healthy Again Commission, comes on the heels of a first-ever move by Rollins to remove soft and energy drinks from Nebraska’s SNAP assistance program.
A recent report by the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that foods and drinks like soft drinks, fast food chicken nuggets and highly processed packaged snacks comprise up to 70% of calories consumed by children and adolescents.
Kennedy has called the nation’s kids “the sickest generation in American history.”
The report highlighted specific studies that support the worldview of Kennedy, a known vaccine skeptic, who has blamed processed foods and sedentary lifestyles for a childhood health epidemic.
The report did not offer specific solutions or a broad approach to tackling the issue.
The report implies a link between vaccines and illnesses, including autism, despite independent studies that have debunked that notion.
