Friends of the Earth Slams MAHA Commission Report for Putting AgroChemical Profits Over Children’s Health
USDA cuts to healthy school food programs and conservation contradict report’s USDA recommendationsWASHINGTON – Today, a draft of the Trump Administration’s Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission “Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy” was leaked to the media.
Over the past six months, USDA has gutted programs that provided fresh, healthy foods to schools and food banks, cut farm-to-school grants, eliminated infrastructure support for small farmers and ranchers, cut thousands of conservation staff and canceled billions of dollars’ worth of conservation projects — all actions that directly contradict the report’s own recommendations.
In response, Kari Hamerschlag, Deputy Director of the Food and Agriculture Program at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:
Trump’s MAHA Commission draft strategy is a gift to the agrochemical industry and a slap in the face to the health of the American people and the MAHA voters that helped elect him. Instead of protecting families from toxic pesticides, it proposes speeding up approvals and launching PR campaigns to convince the public that chemicals are safe because the EPA has “robust review processes.” The strategy’s token nods to whole foods, organics, and conservation are empty promises in light of the Administration’s many rollbacks to healthy school food and conservation programs. This is not a roadmap for a healthier America — it’s a green light for agribusiness profits at the expense of our communities, environment, and children’s health.
If the Administration is serious about kids’ health, it should reverse course and provide funding for schools to source local food and cook meals from scratch. USDA also needs to reform its own purchasing programs by diversifying suppliers, phasing out processed meats, and disallowing the conversion of USDA subsidized commodities into ultra-processed products.
Expert contact: Kari Hamerschlag, (510) 207-7257, [email protected]