Northern Viewpoint: Making America Unhealthy Again

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 (I've seen estimates as high as 400-500,000), 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