Draft of ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Report Suggests RFK Jr. Won’t Push Pesticide Regulations

Well|Draft of White House Report Suggests Kennedy Won’t Push Strict Pesticide Regulations

A highly anticipated White House report on the health of American children would stop short of proposing direct restrictions on ultraprocessed foods and pesticides, which the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has called major threats, according to a draft of the document that was reviewed by The New York Times.

The report, if adopted, would be good news for the food and agriculture industries, which feared far more restrictive proposals than the ones outlined in the draft. Through his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, Mr. Kennedy has sought to overhaul the nation’s diet by pushing those industries to make major changes.

The draft includes an array of policy proposals calling for research into topics like electromagnetic radiation, children’s oral health, the role of the microbiome and the health effects of air quality and microplastics. It also recommends government action on a wide range of issues, including initiatives to increase breastfeeding rates, address infertility, promote physical activity and educate the public on the effects of vaping.

Questions about a possible push for new pesticide regulations were raised in May when the White House released an initial report, from a presidential commission chaired by Mr. Kennedy, that raised strong concerns about possible links between pesticides and childhood diseases. It also linked the dominance of ultraprocessed foods in children’s diets to a range of chronic diseases.

Those findings touched off tensions between Mr. Kennedy’s movement and Republican lawmakers who have traditionally drawn support from powerful agriculture, food and drug lobbyists.

The Times obtained the draft of the new report from a former federal official. An industry official confirmed that it was nearly identical to a copy the administration had recently shown the official at the White House.