When Robert F Kennedy Jr. was appointed as Secretary for Health and Human Services he adopted the slogan Make America Healthy Again. Let’s leave his stance on vaccine safety and the relative healthfulness of seed oils vs. saturated fats for another day. Two of his initiatives so far have been to eliminate synthetic colors in kids’ cereals (think Froot Loops) and to make infant formula safer and healthier.
Baby formula has been
found to have a high added sugar content and contain too much of some toxic
metals like arsenic.
Kennedy’s taking on “the
industrial food complex” is cautiously applauded by some health advocates from
across the political spectrum. I can’t believe I’m referencing both Scientific
American and Fox Business News on the same side of the issue.
But before we get too
excited about Trump’s appointment of Kennedy and his goals, let’s take a look
at what Trump is doing with pollution. Taking a few questionable chemicals out of a
few foods is insignificant compared to his promotion of environmental toxins.
In a NYT Guest Essay,
Thomas Edsall writes that Trump’s actions on the environment do not match his
stated goal. On March 4 in the joint session of Congress President Trump stated
“Our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our food
supply, and keep our children healthy and strong.”
But just like when he opened the American economy too early during the pandemic resulting in many unnecessary deaths, Trump is again putting profit and politics ahead of American lives. Here are some of the Trump administration's actions that will definitely make America unhealthy again:
· Slowing
and attempting to reverse the transition from fossil fuels to non-polluting
renewable energy sources (“drill, baby, drill”)
·
Trump
rolled back more than 100 environmental rules during his first term
·
Trump’s
pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is Lee Zeldin who Ben
Jealous, director of the Sierra Club, described as “an unqualified, anti-American
worker who opposes efforts to safeguard our clean air and water …”
·
On March
7 the DOJ dismissed a lawsuit against a neoprene factory for its chlorprene
pollution (a likely carcinogen) which was affecting a mostly Black community (was this considered a DEI initiative??)
·
Revoked limits on mercury and other toxic
pollution from power plants
·
Revoked
air pollution standards
·
Revoked
new standards for chemical plants that would reduce cancer risk by 96% for
those living nearby
·
Revoke standards
for managing coal ash waste
·
Slashing
grants for environmental health research
·
Repealing
the 2009 "endangerment finding" that legally justifies regulation of greenhouse
gases
·
Stalling
on a proposed ban on the cancer-causing chemical trichloromethylene (TCE)
·
In the March
12 announcement by Zeldin “EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S.
History” the word “health” appears only once – in the title of a Biden
executive order that was being revoked
·
Slashing
EPA budget by 65% and closing the EPA research department
Update March 27
· 10,000 employees laid off from Health and Human ServicesThe president of Earthjustice,
Abigail Dillen wrote “It is hard to
imagine a more sweeping agenda to make Americans less healthy.”
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/health/rfk-jr-food-safety-artificial-dyes.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/us/politics/formula-fries-rfk-kennedy-vaccines-measles.html
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