Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the findings of the 73-page report from the presidential commission to Make America Healthy Again that assessed the root causes of chronic disease in children. The report laid the blame for the crisis on numerous factors including poor diet, chronic stress, environmental chemicals, lack of physical activity, and overmedicalization.
“We will end the childhood chronic disease crisis by attacking its root causes head-on — not just managing its symptoms,” Kennedy said in a statement. “We will follow the truth wherever it leads, uphold rigorous science, and drive bold policies that put the health, development, and future of every child first.”
But new reporting is casting doubt on the highly promoted MAHA report and the veracity of its cited sources. According to NOTUS, much of the report’s sourcing is full of errors and inconsistencies including the referencing of seven studies and papers that seemingly do not exist. In one instance, a footnote lists a paper entitled “Changes in mental health and substance abuse among US adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic” that was allegedly published in JAMA Pediatrics, a renowned medical journal. However, the provided link to the paper doesn’t work.
Additionally, NOTUS contacted Katherine Keyes, an epidemiologist listed as one of the authors of the paper, and she confirmed that no such paper exists. “The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” she told the outlet in an email. “We’ve certainly done research on this topic, but did not publish a paper in JAMA Pediatrics on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title.”
In another example, the report cited a piece entitled “Direct-to-consumer advertising of psychotropic medications for youth: A growing concern” that was said to have been authored by Robert L. Findling, a psychiatric researcher. But when NOTUS contacted his employer, Virginia Commonwealth University, a spokesman confirmed that Findling did not write the referenced article.
During a press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed NOTUS’s reporting on the MAHA report, expressing confidence in its findings.
“We have complete confidence in Secretary Kennedy and his team at HHS. I understand there were some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated,” she said. “But it does not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government.”
The paper’s seemingly invented citations have prompted speculation that some form of artificial intelligence might’ve been utilized while preparing the report. But when asked if AI was used to assemble the report, Leavitt deferred to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I can’t speak to that,” she said.