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The Trump administration recently released a long-promised report decrying the sorry state of the health of American children and saying how it planned to change this.
They correctly begin by noting that “Despite outspending peer nations by more than double per capita on healthcare, the United States ranks last in life expectancy among high-income countries — and suffers higher rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.” Unfortunately, they then largely focus their prescriptions on the wrong solutions.
The four areas on which they propose to work to improve our children’s health are ultra-processed food; chemicals in our environment; the lack of exercise due to the digital age; and over-medication and excessive vaccination.
I support (and have written about) reducing the over-abundance of ultra-processed food, particularly the use of high fructose corn syrup in our diet, but to date the RFK Jr.-run FDA has spent its energy on trivia such as red food coloring rather than going after big agriculture and big food, perhaps because these groups are big lobbyists and political contributors.
Our food supply does contain too many pesticides, but hunger and malnutrition threaten more American children than do pesticides, and the gutting of the social safety net by the Trump administration will make this problem worse.
More exercise is good for us all, children and adults, so we should be expanding access to outdoor spaces, including national parks, not limiting them as has been done with cutbacks to the National Park Service.
What is most telling about this report is what it does NOT cover.
The chemical that is the biggest threat to health is nicotine and the carcinogens in cigarettes, but there is not a word in this report about tackling the problem of youth vaping, which has been shown to lead to nicotine addiction and life-long smoking.
The insistence on reducing childhood vaccination, a cause that has made millions for Kennedy through his referrals of plaintiffs to class-action suits, is an enormous threat to children’s health. The disinformation spread by Kennedy and his allies has led to reduced rates of vaccination. Fewer children are being vaccinated, which means that diseases once thought eliminated, such as measles and whooping cough, are already making a resurgence. Thousands of American children, and millions world-wide, will die if the anti-vax movement holds sway.
Finally, no mention in the report is made of the leading cause of death in U.S. children and adolescents: death from motor vehicle accidents and firearms. Unlike every other western country, an American teenager is much likely to die by suicide or homicide with a gun than from illness. If RFK Jr. and his followers truly cared about America’s children, gun control would be top of their priority list. Its absence says it all.
Edward P. Hoffer, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.C., is an associate professor of medicine, part-time, at Harvard and a resident of Marion.
“……Finally, no mention in the report is made of the leading cause of death in U.S. children and adolescents: death from motor vehicle accidents and firearms……”
Should we ban automobiles as well?
The author does not say he wants to ban firearms. I believe he would advocate for greater regulation that would protect an individual and the public from danger from the automatic weapons used in mass attacks in public places. Present regulations allow individuals to have a gun to hunt and also protect their home if that gun is in a safe, locked place to protect any children living there.
Until Ralph Nader came along to advocate auto safety, there were many more auto deaths in the US. We have since had government regulations to improve highway safety by improving autos and requiring seat belts, etc. That is probably what the author is referring to .
No, but we should be much more vigorous in cutting down driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and enforcing traffic laws.
Cars weren’t always as deadly as they are today. Big trucks and SUVs with front end blind spots that make it difficult to see pedestrians, road designs that favor high speeds (look at recent efforts to address the deadly conditions in Rt 6 in Fairhaven for a local example) and underfunded public transit and infrastructure make it impossible to get around most communities without a car. A federal report is a policy setting document that could and should direct agency programming, regulations on car design for better passenger and pedestrian safety (aka why we have seatbelts and sensors today) and funding to states to address the infrastructure and transit issues…but instead we’re going after Tylenol and my kid might have to sit in classroom for 6 years with someone who doesn’t have the measles vaccine
Thank you for your response to RFK’s recent report on his plans to improve the health of America’s children. The public needs and appreciates feedback from respected physicians and researchers about this and other reports from RFK’s Health and Human Services Department. I watched RFK’s confirmation hearing and was disappointed when Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician and strong advocate for vaccinating children, was persuaded to support RFK’s nomination. I agree with and appreciate your comments.
Great piece! Well said. Thank you, Dr Hoffer for taking the time to write.