Last week, President Trump appeared before a joint session of Congress to lay out a list of policy priorities his administration will pursue over the next three and a half years – one of which is to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA). The slogan has become a favorite of moms and dads who are skeptical about the current public health industrial complex.
To restore confidence in these institutions, an agenda of extreme transparency is needed to overcome Uncle Sam’s track record of fumbling the ball.
Let’s start with the fabled “food pyramid.” Launched in the 1990s by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the nutrition guide delineated six different food groups that it claimed were part of a healthy diet. As many can remember from school health curricula, it included grains, vegetables, fruit, protein, dairy, and, yes, sweets.
But since then, the thinking behind the food pyramid has been largely debunked. In fact, many argue the food pyramid’s affinity for bread, rice, and pasta is a significant factor driving the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Obesity rates have doubled since 1990. To borrow a phrase from The Music Man, something is wrong in River City.
Fast forward to 2011, and First Lady Michelle Obama helped to unveil a newly designed dietary diagram called “MyPlate.” If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone. A government study finds 3 out 4 Americans have no idea what it is. After decades of being misled, who would pay any attention to yet another cartoon dietary standard coming out of Washington?
The federal government has no place being the food police. But agencies do have a role in promoting health and preventing disease through public education. To that end, transparency is needed to restore confidence in government-created diet recommendations. The upcoming process for establishing the next iteration of the Federal Dietary Guidelines would be a good place to start.
It’s a report jointly put out every five years by the Department of Health and Human Services and USDA that advises Americans on a healthy diet. It also informs school lunch menus and food assistance programs. Those crafting the report should welcome public input and visibility at every step of the process. Even the appearance of food industry executives influencing the guidelines should be avoided.
Confidence in public health agencies that approve new medicines and vaccines is also in need of a tune-up. The chaos and confusion that characterized the COVID-era has understandably made some Americans think twice about what they are putting into their bodies. The dynamic has led to elevated levels of vaccine hesitancy across the country, which some are connecting to the recent measles outbreak in Texas.
The best strategy to address vaccine skepticism is not government coercion, but rather – once again – transparency. That means ensuring the process to review new vaccinations unfolds under the light of day rather than in a black box. That’s why recent actions by HHS to indefinitely postpone advisory panels that review vaccine safety and effectiveness are counterproductive.
Instead of blowing up these processes, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should focus on ways to better educate Americans about how these review systems work, who is leading them, and opportunities to get involved. Sunlight is the best disinfectant that can both restore the integrity of the process and improve confidence in the country’s public health institutions.
The country’s network of public health institutions is facing an America that is increasingly skeptical of their work. An agenda of extreme transparency in approval and advisory processes for food and medicine will help to restore confidence, and Make America Healthy Again.
Dr. Chris Stansbury is a partner at West Virginia Eye Consultants. He is a former Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, as well as a partner of the Job Creators Network Foundation.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
Author
