What they do: The administration has proposed slashing NIH research funding by 40 percent, unlawfully terminated thousands of grants (which CSPI successfully challenged in court), and censored NIH research with which the administration disagreed ideologically. The administration is also actively attacking academic institutions and casting doubt on the integrity of the world’s leading medical journals, even suggesting government scientists will be barred from publishing in them.

Food Chemical Safety

What they say: “Children are exposed to an increasing number of synthetic chemicals, some of which have been linked to developmental issues and chronic disease. The current regulatory framework should be continually evaluated to ensure that chemicals and other exposures do not interact together to pose a threat to the health of our children.”

What they do: In April, the Administration fired all 200 employees in the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which is responsible for preventing exposure to environmental hazards, including lead poisoning in children. Then, in early June, agency staff received emails indicating that they should come back to work, but senior officials in the agency itself advised employees that the decision may not be final.

This back-and-forth in staffing demonstrates a lack of commitment to protecting children from harmful chemicals and seriously undermines the agency’s morale.

We agree with that there is an urgent need to improve children’s health, but the policies of the administration as demonstrated by the passage of the OBBBA do just the opposite. It remains to be seen whether the policies recommended in their upcoming strategy report will align with that narrative, or whether we will continue to see federal actions that directly contradict the MAHA rhetoric.

To Protect Health, We Urge MAHA to Consider These Policies

In the areas of improving diet and reducing chemical exposures in childhood (two of the four drivers of chronic diseases listed in the MAHA report), we urge the MAHA Commission to consider the following evidence-based policies.

1. Publish Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) that adopt and uphold the science-based recommendations of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC).

Fifty-five public health and medical organizations, including CSPI, support this recommendation, given that the DGAs are required by law to reflect the preponderance of scientific evidence, which the DGAC has summarized in its recent Scientific Report. However, RFK Jr. has publicly stated that the DGAs will be only four pages long, raising questions about their scientific validity.

The DGAs matter not just for public dietary advice. They are also the cornerstone of federal nutrition programs and policies, directly shaping nutrition standards for national school meal programs, for example, and subsequently affecting the health of more than 30 million children who rely on those meals.

2. Address the food and nutrition security needs of vulnerable children and communities who will go hungry due to cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the OBBBA.

Nearly one in four U.S. children receive SNAP benefits, which help reduce poverty, food insecurity, healthcare expenditures, and risk of chronic conditions later in life. But those children—who are part of the 42.1 million people who rely on SNAP to put food on the table—will suffer due to the OBBBA.

To pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the OBBBA includes clauses creating bureaucratic hoops that roughly 8 million people are projected to be unable to jump through, thus putting them at risk of losing their benefits.

The OBBBA imposed new work requirements on both SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries; removed the SNAP work requirement exemptions for veterans, former foster youth, and people experiencing homelessness; and blocked immigrants who are lawfully present in the U.S., such as refugees and asylum seekers, from receiving SNAP benefits. Work requirements like these ultimately increase costs to states and taxpayers, harm health, and drive struggling families deeper into poverty.

In addition to dealing with new work requirements, starting in 2027 state governments will need to pay an unprecedented share of the food benefits and administrative costs associated with SNAP. To cover these higher costs, states will scramble and likely resort to cutting benefits, limiting state employees’ salaries, raising state taxes, or eliminating funding for other programs. In the worst-case scenario, states could completely withdraw from the nation’s most important nutrition program entirely—a disaster in the making.

The OBBBA also limits future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan used to set SNAP benefit levels, which means that the government will have no flexibility to adjust SNAP benefits based on rising food prices, consumption patterns, or changes in dietary guidance.

If the MAHA Commission truly aims to improve childhood health, its next report must provide policy solutions to ensure that children in food-insecure households are able to access and afford nutritious food as the OBBBA’s provisions take effect.

3. Reinstate funding for SNAP Education (SNAP-Ed).

The OBBBA defunds SNAP-Ed, a nationwide program helping individuals eligible for SNAP make healthy choices on a limited budget. Evaluations of SNAP-Ed have demonstrated its power to help families across the country. With cuts to SNAP described above, this support is even more critical. HHS’s proposed $20 million “ Take Back Your Health” ad campaign is no substitute for the evidence-based strategies of SNAP-Ed, which was funded at $536 million in FY25.

4. Regulate the food industry to improve both chemical safety and nutrition.

The MAHA report repeatedly bemoans the food industry’s role in harming children’s health but concludes with calls for industry deregulation instead of increased accountability. We have seen this play out in reality, with RFK Jr. announcing plans to “phase out” synthetic food dyes, but leaving it up to the industry to voluntarily remove dyes.

To systematically improve food safety, the administration should take much-needed action on closing the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) loophole, which allows companies to add new ingredients into the food supply without notifying FDA. So far, RFK Jr. has only ordered FDA to “explore” what can be done about the loophole.

And, while food chemical safety reform is important, it isn’t enough—the administration also needs to ensure that we’re getting proper nutrition. It can do this by finalizing front-of-package nutrition labeling on packaged foods and moving forward with added sugar and sodium reduction targets across the food supply.

Suggested Actions for Readers

Implementing these strategies will require the government to allocate the necessary funds (through appropriations) and personnel to agencies (by undoing the mass firings) so that federal workers can do their jobs.

You can act by signing letters and petitions to state and federal representatives around these issues, and by sharing your stories with your legislators and the media. You can also join CSPI’s email list to stay up to date on what the administration is actually doing—not just what they’re saying—and receive action alerts to make your voice heard. Additional resources can be found at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Food Research & Action Center, and No Kid Hungry.

Together, we can hold the MAHA Commission and the administration to their word.