Feedstuffs
Food and ag groups seek more input in MAHA activities
More than 250 groups call for public input and formal involvement in future policy discussions with the MAHA Commission.
By Kristin Bakker, Digital Content Specialist
In a June 17 letter to leaders of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, 258 food and agriculture groups representing millions of U.S. farmers, ranchers, producers and ingredient manufacturers called for better transparency in the commission’s activities and a seat at the table in discussions.
The groups would like greater inclusion of the food and agriculture perspective in any policy conversations, after feeling that their voices were mostly left out of the inaugural MAHA report, which focused on the root causes of America’s health crisis and childhood chronic diseases.
The lack of transparency, stakeholder engagement and public input involved in developing the report resulted in it containing “numerous errors and distortions that have created unfounded fears about the safety of our food supply,” the letter states.
In fact, shortly after the MAHA report was released May 22, it was revealed to contain several false or nonexistent research citations, and the White House quickly posted an updated file.
The groups’ letter to Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin highlights “concerns that the erroneous representations about food and agriculture, as well as the poor evidence used to support those findings, could have been avoided if there had been greater opportunities for stakeholders to participate and provide input to the commission,” according to a statement from the organizations.
“To prevent future misrepresentations and errors, the groups specifically call for formal inclusion of food and agriculture representatives in the commission’s processes and opportunity for public comment on all future reports and activities,” they added.
The organizations emphasized that agriculture has made significant improvements in productivity and sustainability over decades, contrary to the negative picture the report paints, and warned about the “unintended consequences of making uninformed policy decisions.”
The commission is scheduled to release a report in mid-August on policy recommendations based on its first assessment.
Avoiding a hidden agenda
Kennedy, who chairs the MAHA Commission, has made many of his personal views on health highly public. His open stance against certain crop chemicals, food additives and ingredients, seed oils and processed foods has left many agriculture groups feeling like they have a target on their backs.
Industry stakeholders and lawmakers alike have been concerned from the get-go about the direction Kennedy and the MAHA Commission will take on food and health-related policy.
In March, more than 300 organizations wrote to the MAHA leaders calling for the commission to use sound science and data in evaluating products essential to food and agriculture, specifically crop protection products, biotechnology and food and feed ingredients, pointing out that the U.S. already uses “a robust regulatory process” to ensure food and feed ingredient safety.
That was followed by an April letter from several members of Congress urging the MAHA Commission leaders to use sound science and risk-based analysis in their work, particularly on crop protection tools and food-grade ingredients, and not be swayed by the opinions of activists and lobbyists.
Kennedy’s history as an environmental lawyer litigating against Monsanto over its glyphosate-based crop chemical led Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) to caution against a potential “hidden agenda” and “confirmation bias” during a Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee hearing with the secretary in May, just before the MAHA assessment was released.
“If Americans lose confidence in the safety and integrity of our food supply due to the unfounded claims that mislead consumers, public health will be at risk,” she warned.
The MAHA report will be used to guide health and nutrition policy for the nation, hence the urgency for transparency and a meaningful dialogue among all parties that could be affected by policy changes – “because no one person or organization has all the answers to health ailments affecting our population,” the industry letter points out.
Excluding stakeholder and public input could have “sweeping” consequences for agriculture that leads to U.S. producers losing ground to global competitors, an increasing reliance on food imports, higher food prices and potentially lower consumption of fresh produce, the letter warns.
“The stakes are high going forward,” the groups added.