Processed food, chemicals and the overprescription of medicine and vaccines may be linked to an epidemic of chronic illness among American children, according to a report issued by the Trump administration.
The dossier outlined the first findings of a “Make America Healthy Again” commission led by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary.
At an event at the White House on Thursday, President Trump vowed to launch the most sweeping overhaul of America’s health in generations. Kennedy said ]the report’s findings were a “clarion call … to end this crisis” of soaring rates of childhood obesity, diabetes, autism, cancer and mental health disorders.
The report has already faced pushback from industry groups. The pharmaceuticals giant Bayer said that some of the findings on pesticides were not “fact-based”.
The American Soybean Association also criticised the report, which it said was “drafted entirely behind closed doors”.
Trump vowed to take on powerful lobby groups from the pharmaceutical, food and agriculture industries, saying: “We will not be silenced or intimidated by the corporate lobbyists or special interests … I want this group to do what they have to do.”
The commission has about 80 days to develop a strategy on how the federal government should respond to the findings.
Trump and Kennedy presented the report during an event at the White House
JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Here are the main takeaways:
Bad diet
Ultra-processed foods that are high in added sugar, chemical additives and saturated fats make up almost 70 of the typical American child’s calorie intake, while consumption of fruit and vegetables has slumped, the report found.
They are linked to a range of chronic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.
Chemical exposure
The commission claimed that American children are exposed to more than 40,000 chemicals through the food they eat, the water they drink and the air they breathe.
Pesticides and microplastics are routinely found in the blood and urine of American children and pregnant mothers, the report said.
It did not call immediately for regulatory changes or a ban on pesticides used in farming, as some farm industry groups had feared. But it demanded further research into the weedkillers glyphosate and atrazine, highlighting studies linking the chemicals to health disorders in humans and animals.
Screen time
The report blames the transition from an active childhood to a “sedentary, technology-driven lifestyle” over the past 40 years for soaring rates of mental illness among American children.
American teenagers average nearly nine hours’ screen time a day outside school. More than 70 per cent of children — and 85 per cent of teenagers — get less than an hour of physical activity a day.
Loneliness, depression and sleep deprivation have soared. About 15 per cent of young men say they have no close friendships, a five-fold increase since 1990. Social media has fuelled rising rates of anxiety and depression. Girls and young women are at particularly high risk.
Overmedication
The health system has responded to these growing disorders with overprescription of medications “which may cause further harm”, the report said.
Prescriptions for ADHD in the US rose by 250 per cent between 2006 and 2016, “despite evidence that they did not improve outcomes long-term”, the commission claimed. Between 1987 and 2014, antidepressant prescription rates in teenagers have rocketed by 1,400 per cent.
The report cited studies claiming that more than 35 per cent of childhood antibiotics are unnecessary. Infants given antibiotics in the first two years of life are more likely to develop a string of chronic health conditions, including asthma, obesity and ADHD, the commission said.
One of the report’s most significant and controversial findings called for “more rigorous clinical trial designs” for vaccines and questioned the existing mandatory vaccine schedule for American children.
Corporate influence
The commission did credit the US health system for “remarkable breakthroughs” that have advanced the frontiers of modern medicine. But it claimed that powerful industry groups had taken control of the health establishment to keep patients in a “revolving door” of endless treatment.
The pharmaceutical industry has spent $4.7 billion on lobbying over the past 20 years and is hand-in-glove with federal agencies. Nine out of the last ten commissioners at the Food and Drug Administration — and some 70 per cent of the agency’s medical reviewers — went on to work for pharmaceutical companies after leaving government.
