White House to update flawed RFK Jr. "MAHA" report

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" report on the causes of chronic disease in children cited over 500 studies, but several of those studies didn't exist, the digital news outlet NOTUS found.

NOTUS on Thursday found seven of the studies cited appear never to have been published. An author of one of the studies said while she did conduct research on anxiety in children, she did not author the report that was listed in the MAHA report. Some studies were also misinterpreted in the report. The problematic citations were on topics around children's screen time, medication use and anxiety.

Multiple current and former federal health officials had already raised a number of issues with the report, which they said misstated several facts and left out already well-documented drivers known to be causing chronic disease in children that health authorities are already working to address.

The report described growing rates of several health issues, including childhood obesity, diabetes, autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, cancer, allergies and autoimmune disorders. It blamed poor diet and ultra-processed foods, lack of physical activity, chronic stress and too many prescriptions and vaccines for children's health disorders.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked by reporters about the nonexistent studies Thursday and said the report would be updated.

"I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated," Leavitt said during the White House briefing. "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."

Kennedy has repeatedly said he'd bring "radical transparency" and "gold-standard" science to the public health agencies. But the secretary refused to release details about who authored the 72-page report, which calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule and describes the nation's children as overmedicated and undernourished.

Leavitt said that the White House has "complete confidence" in Kennedy.

"Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected," HHS Spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an emailed statement. He described the report as a "historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation's children."

The report is supposed to be used to develop policy recommendations that will be released later this year. The White House has requested a $500 million boost in funding from Congress for Kennedy's MAHA initiative.

Alexander Tin contributed to this report.