The White House has announced plans to correct errors found in a highly anticipated federal report led by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The report, titled ‘Make America Healthy Again’, was released last week and raised alarms about America’s food supply, pesticide use, and prescription drugs.
Although the report cited hundreds of studies, an investigation by the news outlet NOTUS revealed that some of the studies referenced did not actually exist.
Asked about the report’s problems, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated.
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“I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated.” Leavitt told reporters during her briefing. “But it does not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government.”
The news outlet NOTUS revealed Thursday that seven of the more than 500 studies cited in the report appear never to have been published. One researcher confirmed that, although she has studied childhood anxiety, she never authored the report that was cited. Some studies were also misinterpreted, particularly those addressing children’s screen time, medication use, and anxiety.
Leavitt said that the White House has “complete confidence” in Kennedy.
“Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected,” HHS Spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an emailed statement. He described the report as a “historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children”.
Kennedy, who has repeatedly promised to bring “radical transparency” and “gold-standard” science to public health agencies, has declined to disclose who authored the 72-page report, which calls for increased scrutiny of childhood vaccination schedules and describes America’s children as overmedicated and undernourished. The report is supposed to be used to develop policy recommendations that will be released later this year.
