Trump creates MAHA commission on childhood chronic illness

President Trump on Thursday launched a commission to be headed by new HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that will study childhood chronic illnesses, including asthma, autoimmune illnesses and autism.

The big picture: The Make America Health Again Commission, announced shortly after Trump swore in Kennedy in the Oval Office, is charged with creating a strategy on improving childhood health, with explicit directions to scrutinize the use of common medications like stimulants.

Zoom in: Trump's order calls for a report within 100 days that assesses the "threat that potential over-utilization of medication," along with certain food ingredients and chemicals pose to children.

• The order specifically directs the commission to assess widely-used mental health interventions like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers and stimulants, as well as weight-loss drugs.
• The commission will also examine the effectiveness of federal data on childhood health and evaluate current child health education and funding programs.

The group is directed to create a strategy for a response to childhood chronic illness within 180 days.

Kennedy will chair the commission, which will also include secretaries of the departments of veterans affairs, education, agriculture, environmental protection and other agencies, as well as White House leaders including the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

• The leaders of the FDA, CDC and NIH are also included. The order does not mention how administrators of Medicare and Medicaid.

The order also directs NIH to prioritize research on the "root causes" of illness.

• Agencies should work with farmers to ensure the health and affordability of U.S. food, and all federally funded health research should be transparent and "avoid or eliminate conflicts of interest that skew outcomes and perpetuate distrust," the order adds.

• It also indicates that changes could extend into what health insurance plans cover: The order directs agencies to make "expanded treatment options" available and to allow health insurance plans can cover benefits that support lifestyle changes and disease prevention.

Context: Before being nominated to head HHS, Kennedy built the MAHA movement around concerns about the food supply and drug industry profiteering.

• It taps into public frustration with corporate medicine and what supporters claim it is an overriding public health focus on infectious diseases.
• But along the way, it became a forum for some conspiracy-tinged ideas about corruption within the FDA, fluoride in drinking water and vaccines.