More than 250 food and agricultural groups in the USA, including grain and oilseed associations, are urging the government to let the sector have an input in decisions made by its Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, according to a World Grain report.
In a letter dated 17 June, the groups urged the US government to allow them to have an opportunity to contribute to the development of policy recommendations related to the recent MAHA Commission report, as well as any future commission activities, the 18 June report said.
“The process by which the commission’s most recent report was created lacked transparency and any opportunity for public engagement,” the letter said.
“The MAHA Commission would benefit from inviting public comment and formally including representatives from food and agriculture in any future reports.”
The letter was addressed to Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary for the US Department of Health and Human Services; Brooke Rollins, secretary for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA); and Lee Zeldin, administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Signatories of the letter included the American Soybean Association, the Corn Refiners Association, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Grain and Feed Association and the National Oilseed Processors Association.
Published on 22 May, the MAHA Commission report concluded that American children would experience fewer childhood chronic diseases if they altered their diets away from ultra-processed foods (UPFs); reduced their exposure to chemicals, including pesticides; and were not over medicated.
In their letter, the industry groups noted a 29 May article by Notus saying that while the MAHA Commission report cited over 500 studies, the citations contained errors ranging from broken website links to mis-stated conclusions, World Grain wrote.
Seven of the cited sources did not appear to exist at all, according to the Notus article.
The industry groups’ letter also noted an 11 April letter sent to Kennedy, Rollins and Zeldin from members of the US Congress urging the MAHA Commission to safeguard its work from activist groups promoting misguided policies, which could result in “shoddy” science, a less affordable food supply and poorer health outcomes.
The associations also cited USDA data showing that US agriculture output had tripled since the 1940s while decreasing the total use of labour, land and inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides.
Soil health practices such as reduced tillage and cover crops have also increased while innovations have allowed the USA to produce more food without converting environmentally sensitive lands like forest or prairies, according to the letter.
“Despite these successes, the MAHA Commission report paints a very different … story about American agriculture and our food system,” the letter said. “The stakes are high going forward. The unintended consequences of making uninformed decisions for US food production based on misinformation or unproven theories would be sweeping for our nation’s farmers.
“It would lead to US producers increasingly falling behind our global competitors, making our country more reliant on foreign imports for our food supply.”
