Home | News | RFK Jr. and Makary Battle From America’s Big Food To Big Pharma

RFK Jr. and Makary Battle From America’s Big Food To Big Pharma

He has also criticized fluoride in drinking water and seed oils, claiming that people were being "unknowingly poisoned" by canola and sunflower oil that are used in fast foods.

Robert f. Kennedy jr. in Iowa, august 2023 (Photo:© Jhansen2 |Dreamstime.com)

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By Akerele Christabel

November 27, 2024
3:28 pm
Los Angeles, CA

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr appears to be easing into his role as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. The environmental lawyer who endorsed Trump after launching an unsuccessful bid for Democratic nomination as president was appointed the previous week as the new face of DHHS. He is now poised to lock horns with the big boys in the food industry. Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was tapped to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency in charge of ensuring the safety of pharmaceuticals and the US food supply. Makary was a vocal critic of how the Biden-Harris administration handled the COVID-19 pandemic. He also accused the White House officials of promoting “unsupported claims” about the effectiveness

Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was tapped to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency in charge of ensuring the safety of pharmaceuticals and the US food supply. Makary was a vocal critic of how the Biden-Harris administration handled the COVID-19 pandemic. He also accused the White House officials of promoting “unsupported claims” about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 mRNA injections.

Makary was an advocate of natural immunity, which is the theory of becoming immune to a disease by being infected with it. He claimed it was “at least” as effective as immunity provided by vaccines.

Dr. Marty Makary chosen by Trump to head FDA (Photo: MedPage Today)

In his announcement of Makary, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “FDA has lost the trust of Americans and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator. The Agency needs Dr. Marty Makary, a Highly Respected Johns Hopkins Surgical Oncologist and Health Policy Expert, to course-correct and refocus the Agency.”

Makary will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic.”

Robert F. Kennedy is now weighing up a decision to take the fight to food companies known for heavy usage of food additives. The proposed crackdown is still in its early stages. Moreover, a sign-off from Trump and his transition team is needed to set the crackdown in motion.

Robert F. Kennedy especially aims at a provision in the FDA regulations that considers food additives as “generally recognized as safe”. This loophole has allowed companies to arbitrarily decide which chemicals they deem safe to add to their products without consulting the agency. While companies with new chemicals can choose to go through a “voluntary” process to earn a spot on the agency’s list of substances that are “generally recognized as safe,” making it easier to market foods with the additives, officials acknowledge companies often bypass it.

The newly appointed head of the Department of Health and Human Services is not alone in his battle against ultra-processed foods and the companies behind them. Calley Means, a top adviser to Kennedy’s transition team, said this month on the Liz Wheeler show that “corrupt regulatory interpretations” had broken the regulation of additives under the GRAS process, saying it had become a “totally rigged system.”

“But when it comes to food, when it comes to ‘generally recognized as safe,’ complete self-policing from this industry, allowing them to put chemicals in our food that are banned in every other country and have hundreds of studies saying are harmful, there needs to be a review,” Means added.

“It does undermine the overall credibility of the system when it is possible to get a chemical on the market without prior review by the FDA,” the agency’s top food official, Jim Jones, said at an event hosted by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA earlier this year.

“This is a bananas system. This is not the way that new food chemicals should be approved and come into our food supply,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group.

Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign to make America’s diet safe again will cut across several fronts, including ultra-processed foods that contain products altered to include added fats, starches and sugars, like frozen pizzas, crisps and sugary breakfast cereals. He has also criticized fluoride in drinking water and seed oils, claiming that people were being “unknowingly poisoned” by canola and sunflower oil that are used in fast foods.

However, Kennedy’s efforts to redeem American food will be an uphill battle. For one, Kennedy’s position might put him at loggerheads with President-elect Trump, a longtime lover of fast food who worked to roll back stricter health requirements for school lunches during his first term.

Also, experts believe that the planned food reforms could be an effort in futility. Former FDA officials maintained that the agency does not have authority over the “catch-all of ultra-processed foods”. Both the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA regulate the food industry. The FDA does not make the rules. It only carries out policies passed by Congress and works to limit unhealthy foods by enforcing limits and labelling on certain nutrients, like sodium and saturated fat.

Kennedy might also face industry backlash for proposals to ban pesticides and genetically modified organisms commonly used by American farmers. “The businesses will complain,” according to Rosalie Lijinsky, a former FDA official of 33 years.

As America totters on the edge of change, it remains to be seen how much Robert F. Kennedy can succeed in his bid to drastically change such a pivotal aspect of American life.