Linda Boyle: MAHA report on childhood health crisis in America is a ‘Must Read’

By LINDA BOYLE

President Trump’s  Executive Order 14212 of Feb. 13 established the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission.  

Within the first 100 days, the commission was required to submit to the President the Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment. Then within 180 days, the Commission had to submit to the President its strategy based on the findings to improve the chronic childhood disease crisis.  

The charge was threefold:

• Evaluate the scope of the crisis and identify contributing factors that may add to the overall state of childhood health.  
• Advise and assist the President to inform the American people on the crisis, using “transparent and clear facts”
• Provide the President with “Government-wide recommendations on policy and strategy” to address the contributing factors and to “end the childhood chronic disease crisis”.   

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK), Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), released the first report on the childhood health crisis on May 22, 2025. 

The MAHA report identified four core drivers of the childhood chronic disease crisis:

• Poor Diet: Almost 70% of our children’s calories come from ultra-processed foods—linking this dietary shift to rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes.  
• Cumulative Load of Chemicals: “Beyond glyphosate, the report broadly warns that pesticides, microplastics, and dioxins are commonly found in the blood and urine of American children, pregnant women” to include breastmilk —some at high levels.  Add to this the “cumulative burdens” of multiple exposures. 
• Lack of Physical Activity and Chronic Stress: There has been a significant decline in physical activity in our children along with increased screen time (nearly nine hours daily for teens).  Additionally, there is a rise in chronic stress, sleep deprivation and mental health issues including depression and anxiety.
• Overmedicalization: Concerns were raised about the “growth of the childhood vaccine schedule” and more medications being prescribed to our children, “including antidepressants, ADHD stimulants, and antibiotics, questioning their long-term impact and calling for more safety data and non-pharmacological interventions”. There has been a 250% increase in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) prescriptions between 2006 and 2016.  Between 1987 and 2014 there has been a 1,400% increase in antidepressant prescriptions.  

MAHA Report Findings on Childhood Health Crisis include: 

• Autism:  1 in 31 Children
• ADHD:  10% of Children
• Childhood Cancer:  Up 40%
• Teenage Depression:  Doubled
• Suicide Deaths Among Young People:  up 62%
• High School Students Considered Suicide:  3 million
• Children with Allergies:  1 in 4

This assessment is just the first step in a process laid out by President Trump’s Executive Order, that established the MAHA Commission in February, shortly after Kennedy’s swearing-in. The report will now be used over the next 80 to 100 days by the MAHA Commission to fashion concrete policy recommendations to be implemented during the remainder of President Trump’s term.

Sadly, our children are likely to have shorter life spans due to these chronic diseases, despite the U.S. spending more on healthcare than other wealthy nations.

“Today’s children are the sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease, and these preventable trends continue to worsen each year, posing a threat to our nation’s health, economy, and military readiness,” the report states.  More than 40% of our children have at least one chronic health condition.

There are far reaching consequences to this chronic disease crisis. Shockingly, over 75% of American youth (aged 17- 24) aren’t eligible for military service because of obesity, poor physical fitness, and/or mental health challenges.

The report identified the negative impacts of lobbying, advertising and “corporate capture” of the media and scientific journals by the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. 

This has led to concerns Congresspersons from agricultural states and farming groups about what economic impact this will have on agriculture, especially the use of chemicals on crops.  The farmers are especially concerned about glyphosate and atrazine that are used routinely on crops. These herbicides are linked to cancer, reproductive disorders and other conditions. 

Kennedy maintains policy changes won’t “hurt” the farmers, but time will tell.  The stakes are high on both sides of the issue.  But the stakes are even higher for our children.

Big Pharma is also concerned as to what this could do to their profit margins.  They have been pushing medications to fix everything when a simpler solution without chemical medication may be possible.  

RFK Jr.’s team has 80 days to come up with the policy recommendations based on this report. That’ll be due out some time in August.  

Sadly, we have relied too much on the easy fix-taking a pill to fix everything.  And our farmers have relied too much on herbicides to maximize profits for too long. 

We spend more money on healthcare than any other Western country, and our children are the sickest.  It’s time we make a change—for the future success of our nation. 

We must find a balance. Our children are too important to sacrifice to corporate profits.

Linda Boyle, RN, MSN, DM, was formerly the chief nurse for the 3rd Medical Group, JBER, and was the interim director of the Alaska VA. Most recently, she served as Director for Central Alabama VA Healthcare System. She is the director of the Alaska Covid Alliance/Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom.

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