White House acknowledges problems in RFK Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' report (citations to nonexistent studies)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

White House acknowledges problems in RFK Jr.'s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report

By AMANDA SEITZ
Updated 7:41 PM EDT, May 29, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House will fix errors in a much-anticipated federal government report spearheaded by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which decried America’s food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs.

Kennedy’s wide-ranging “Make America Healthy Again” report, released last week, cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not actually exist.

Asked about the report’s problems, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated.

“I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated.” Leavitt told reporters during her 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.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/maha-report-errors-rfk-health-studies-f382af8552dbc1729329a13e58f1f3c4

[Skittles]

1. in any other job YOU WOULD BE FIRED for such shoddy performance

but that is a FEATURE of Trump.2

[rog]

2. Misleading AP headline (OP quoted accurately).

Leavitt only referred to so-called 'formatting errors' -- did not address nonexistent citations, AI 'fingerprints', etc, etc.

As a matter of fact, they leaned in to the 'minor errors' position, according to the article.

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 reporting in the article is ok, other than the headline, which 'should' read: "White House does NOT acknowledge problems ..."

An author of one study confirmed that while she conducted research on the topics of anxiety in children, she never authored the report listed. Some studies were also misinterpreted in the MAHA report. The problematic citations were on topics around children’s screen time, medication use and anxiety.

[rog]

3. Just adding new reporting from NOTUS.

Bypass Paywall: https://archive.is/20250530134451/https://www.notus.org/health-science/maha-report-update-citations

The MAHA Report Has Been Updated to Replace Citations That Didn’t Exist
An updated version of the report replaces citations, after the White House blamed errors on “formatting.”

It looks like the MAHA report is still a mess, though.

While the replacement references all appear to be to real sources, it’s not immediately clear whether they all support the claims the report is making.

The study included in the original report supposedly written by epidemiologist Katherine Keyes, for example, was replaced with a link to an article from KFF Health News on a similar topic.

The new version of the report also swapped citations that NOTUS identified as being misinterpreted in the original. A study that was originally cited to back up the report’s claim that psychotherapy can be as effective as psychotherapeutic drugs in the short term was replaced with another study after one of the first study’s authors told NOTUS that their research didn’t actually include psychotherapy as one of its conditions.

Another administration source stood by the report. “Citation issues happen all the time,” they told NOTUS. “The bulk of the report is still factually accurate — nothing changes in the report.”