HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary hold a press briefing to announce a ban of petroleum-based food dyes in our food.
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00:00All right, good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. I'm Kyle
00:05Diamantis, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at FDA. It's my honor and privilege to introduce
00:11to you the Commissioner of FDA, Dr. Marty McCary, a renowned surgeon, scientist, researcher,
00:18and public policy expert. Dr. McCary was confirmed as the 27th Commissioner of the FDA
00:24by a bipartisan vote of the Senate. Dr. McCary joined FDA from the Johns Hopkins University
00:29and Hospital where he founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Surgical Trials and Outcomes Research,
00:34was named an endowed chair in the gastrointestinal surgery, and for the past 22 years has held an
00:40active clinical practice. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles in medical literature,
00:46has conducted and led landmark cross-disciplinary research on a range of subjects including obesity,
00:52cancer care, and adverse event monitoring. He is the author of a leading book on the microbiome,
00:57food policy, and other important health topics. A member of the prestigious National Academy of
01:04Medicine and the recipient of numerous honors and awards, his work has had a major and lasting impact
01:10on health policy in the field of medicine. One of the things I appreciate about Dr. McCary
01:16is that he cares deeply about people and has devoted his life to service. He was in the operating room
01:21caring for a patient the day before his Senate confirmation hearing last month.
01:24We're lucky to have him as our commissioner. He's all about helping people and driving outcomes,
01:30and today is another example of that. Please join me in welcoming FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty McCary.
01:38Thank you. Thank you, Deputy Commissioner DiMontis. Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, Dr. Bhattacharya,
01:52Governor Speaker, the many Maha moms and the kids here supporting the effort. Thank you for being here.
01:58Thank you. That's great.
01:59Today, the FDA is taking action to remove petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply
02:11and from medications. For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living
02:17in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals. The scientific community has conducted a number of studies
02:25raising concerns about the correlation between petroleum-based synthetic dyes and several health
02:31conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance,
02:39cancer, genomic disruption, GI issues, as I've seen in the hospital, and allergic reactions.
02:46For example, this Lancet study conducted a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study on food dyes
02:59and concluded that artificial colors in the diet, quote, result in increased hyperactivity.
03:06So why are we taking a gamble? Parents, moms and dads have also tried to raise attention to the issue.
03:16Some parents have observed that these chemicals cause hyperactivity and even aggressive behavior,
03:21and that it subsides when the chemicals are removed from the diet of the child, and sometimes even
03:27reoccurs when those petroleum-based chemical dyes are reintroduced. As I know from my experience,
03:36taking care of children as a doctor, you have to always listen to the mom.
03:42Other studies have found that artificial colors that create vibrant colors mess with the child's
03:50developing brain to make ultra-processed foods more attractive even when the child already feels full.
04:00These studies have associated food colors directly with obesity and diabetes. While America's children are
04:08sick and suffering, 41% of children have at least one health condition, and one in five are on medication.
04:17The answer is not more Ozempic, more ADHD medication, and more antidepressants. There's a role for those
04:26medications, but we have to look at underlying root causes. The F in FDA stands for food.
04:34Now, there's no one ingredient that accounts for the child chronic disease epidemic. And let's be
04:41honest. Taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply is not a silver bullet that will
04:46instantly make America's children healthy. But it is one important step. This administration is not
04:53interested in continuing down the path of doing the same old things as we watch our nation's children
05:00get sicker. We need fresh new approaches. Cancer and diabetes in young people is going up at an alarming
05:10rate, and nobody seems to know why. We have to turn our attention to underlying causes such as chemicals
05:20and toxins that children are exposed to, not just more insulin and chemotherapy.
05:25And let's not forget that the best way to lower drug prices is to stop taking drugs we don't need.
05:36Thirty states concerned about this very issue have introduced bills or laws with a patchwork of
05:44standards for food companies. So the food industry, which has many good people, has asked for clarity.
05:51So today the FDA is taking the following steps. Number one, establishing a national standard and
05:58timeline for the food industry to transition from petroleum-based food dyes to natural alternatives.
06:06Number two, initiating a process to revoke authorization of synthetic food colorings,
06:11including those not in production, namely citrus, red, number two, and orange bee within the coming weeks.
06:17Number three, taking steps to eliminate the remaining six synthetic dyes on the market from the U.S. food supply.
06:27Specifically, red dye number 40, yellow dye number five, yellow dye number six, blue dye number one,
06:32blue dye number two, and green dye number three, by the end of next year.
06:37We are also requesting food companies to remove red dye number three sooner than the 2027-2028 deadline previously announced.
06:57These steps that we are taking means that the FDA is effectively removing all petroleum-based
07:06food dyes from the U.S. food supply.
07:17For companies that are currently using petroleum-based red dye,
07:22try watermelon juice or beet juice.
07:35For companies currently combining petroleum-based yellow chemical and red dyes together,
07:41try carrot juice.
07:43The FDA is also announcing plans today to authorize four additional natural color additives using natural
07:55ingredients in the coming weeks, while also accelerating the review and approval of other natural ingredient colors.
08:03I want to take a moment to thank America's food manufacturers.
08:08Many have been extremely cooperative.
08:10There are many good people in food manufacturing delivering on the needs of the American public,
08:16and they have done exactly what we have asked them to do.
08:21A hundred years ago, we asked them to focus on mass food production to solve food insecurity.
08:29Now, given our child chronic disease epidemic, an enormous suffering and cost that has ensued,
08:36we have to come together to address the new problem.
08:40That's right, we have to come together.
08:44If we can get beyond the tribalism in our society, rampant in our culture,
08:50we will realize that we all want the same things.
08:56Republican, Democrat, and independent moms showed up in high numbers to vote for President Trump on this
09:04very issue that Secretary Kennedy has championed.
09:08Moms across America have spoken, and they want more honesty and humility from our nation's healthcare leaders.
09:19And if we're being honest, ADHD is not a genetic problem.
09:24And our obesity epidemic is not a willpower problem.
09:30It's something that adults have done to children.
09:34I was reading a New England Journal of Medicine article recently, came out in January,
09:40referring to the chronic disease epidemic in children, specifically infertility, diabetes,
09:48obesity, attention deficit disorder, and many other health problems.
09:53And it referred to that group of problems with an interesting term.
09:58It called them non-communicable diseases of child, of children.
10:03Non-communicable diseases.
10:06Well, actually, they are communicable.
10:09But they're not getting, kids are not getting these diseases from viruses or bacteria.
10:14They're getting them from using their phones and ultra-processed foods and chemicals and toxins
10:20that we have introduced into their world.
10:24Gandhi once said, Gandhi once said, the true mark of a society
10:30can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members, including children.
10:37Secretary Kennedy has said that he would instruct the FDA to examine concerning ingredients in the
10:46nation's food supply.
10:47And today, we are delivering on that promise.
11:00To be clear, the transition from petroleum-based food dyes
11:03to natural ingredient food dyes will not increase food prices.
11:11We know that from other countries that have already made the transition.
11:15It's not an opinion.
11:17Today's announcement fulfills the administration's promise to use both gold standard science and common sense.
11:25For the last 50 years, we have been running one of the largest uncontrolled scientific experiments
11:43in the world on our nation's children without their consent.
11:48And today, we are removing these petroleum-based chemicals from their food supply.
11:55In summary, we are simply asking American food companies to replace petroleum-based food dyes
12:09with natural ingredients for American children, just as they already do for children in other countries.
12:19American children deserve good health.
12:23For over a decade, I have said,
12:49the FDA is asleep at the wheel.
12:53And now, I can stop saying that.
13:02Hi, I'm Bonnie Hari.
13:04I'm a food activist and author, a fellow Maha mom, and I'm not affiliated with the HHS, just for the record.
13:14Thank you, Commissioner Dr. Marty McCary.
13:16Thank you, Secretary Kennedy.
13:18And everyone here at HHS, and everyone here at HHS that has made this swift action possible.
13:24Today marks the beginning of restoring the trust at the FDA and our regulatory institutions.
13:32Last September, I testified at the U.S. Senate about the blatant hypocrisy of American food companies selling safer products in other countries while selling inferior versions of the same exact products here in the United States with artificial food dyes made with petroleum, made from petroleum.
13:56The outrage of American companies doing this spawned a massive grassroots movement to hold these companies accountable.
14:05A thousand concerned citizens, moms, children, elected officials, health leaders from across the nation gathered in Battle Creek, Michigan last fall, asking Kellogg's to remove the dyes they don't use in other countries.
14:22We had over 400,000 petition signatures to deliver to their headquarters, but they gave us the cold shoulder.
14:31They told us to get off their lawn.
14:35Secretary Kennedy took our unheard voices to the campaign trail and elevated them all the way up to President Trump.
14:45From the moment my kids were born, I have taught them the truth about artificial food dyes, because our government was doing nothing to protect them from these harmful ingredients.
14:57Now we are entering a new era, an era where we don't need to worry about artificial food dyes on the frosting of a birthday cake.
15:07The breakfast cereals served at school, our children's Halloween bucket or Easter basket, the chips and the sports drinks being served after a game.
15:20This was the effort of so many incredible people, many of whom are in this room.
15:28Today, thank you.
15:31Thank you for being loud.
15:33Thank you for coming together with me on this issue.
15:36Because you made your voices heard, we now have made history together.
15:42And now we have intellectual honesty coming out of the FDA, focused on looking at updated science on food additives that American food companies are not using in other countries.
15:57This is a win for every American who doesn't know the truth about the food industry.
16:03For all the mothers, the fathers, the doctors, and the teachers out there struggling for answers on our children's health problems, when they can be solved with food.
16:15Because you know what?
16:17Food is medicine.
16:18Thank you very much.
16:19Hello, everyone.
16:35Thank you, Mr. Secretary, Commissioner McCary, Governor Morrissey, and the rest of the crew here to fight the good fight.
16:43And I was reflecting on a friend of mine who was a pediatrician who once said that if a foreign nation was doing to our children what we are doing in America, we'd go to war to protect them.
16:55And I think we don't need to do that anymore because we have a champion in Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner McCary to really make the change that we need in America.
17:06I'm Dr. Mark Hyman.
17:07I'm a practicing physician.
17:09I'm speaking on behalf of myself and not HHS.
17:12I'm a lifelong advocate for addressing chronic disease through food.
17:15And I'm here today because our food system, specifically our regulatory system for food additives and dyes, is failing to protect the health of the American people, especially our children.
17:26Every day, Americans consume thousands of chemicals in our food, many of which have never been independently tested for long-term safety.
17:35Artificial dyes like red 40 and yellow 5, emulsifiers, preservatives, and so-called natural flavors have been linked in studies, many studies, to behavioral issues, to metabolic dysfunction, to inflammation in the body.
17:50And these aren't just theoretical risks.
17:52We're seeing rising rates of chronic diseases linked to food dyes and other additives like ADHD, obesity, autoimmune diseases, allergies, endocrine disruption, and even cancer.
18:03The highest levels of scientific evidence shows that these food dyes cause increased hyperactivity, reduced attention span, irritability, sleep disturbances in both children with and without pre-existing behavioral disorders.
18:21Now, these effects can occur at doses within the range of typical consumption for many kids, which is often in the many milligram doses.
18:30Is it any wonder that there's been 1,000% increase in ADHD since 1970?
18:371,000%.
18:38No parent should have to guess whether the food they're giving their child contains substances banned in Europe without here.
18:45No doctor should watch their patients struggle with chronic illness tied to ultra-processed food and be powerless to change it because our food policies lag decades behind the science.
18:55It's time, and it is time, it's happening, that the FDA and HHS is demanding full transparency, independent review, and science-based safety standards for every substance added to our food.
19:08Americans deserve a food system that protects their health and not corporate interests.
19:14My name is Cali Means.
19:26I'm a special government employee at the White House.
19:28And if you look around the building here, this building is the home to the largest department in the U.S. government, the largest budget for any department of any government in the history of human civilization is this building.
19:46And 90% of that spending is because we are poisoning our population with chronic disease.
19:5490% of the spending from this building, and the spending from this building is five times what it is in Spain per capita, four times what it is in Italy.
20:04It is because we are poisoning our children.
20:07And two words are ringing out around the world from this building today, and those two words are common sense.
20:14I have had countless meetings with the food industry.
20:18They've talked to the media about this.
20:19They lecture us about not being scientifically rigorous on these policies that food does.
20:26Well, let's think about what that study would actually entail.
20:29A peer-reviewed, placebo-controlled study would involve giving these children shots of crude oil every single day for years and seeing what happens.
20:38When a study itself that the industry is telling us to do is on its face, unethical, we clearly have a problem.
20:46Now, this is also a day where the cries and the shouts and the applause from maha moms during the campaign are ringing out across the country.
20:59Look at what we have here today.
21:00We have people like Dr. Mark Hyman who have been fighting this and talking about the real science for decades.
21:07We have Vani Hari who has been advocating, shouting into the darkness for years on this issue.
21:12We have maha moms.
21:13We have children.
21:15They gave President Trump and Secretary Kennedy a sword during this campaign.
21:21Secretary Kennedy and President Trump are walking with the maha moms behind them.
21:26And what's happening today, and I have a plea for the media, let's not cover this cynically.
21:31This is a major win.
21:33This is a major win among grassroots forces against special interests.
21:39These are things, as you know, the industry has been fighting for years and years and years.
21:43These are things that a year or two years ago would have been absolutely out of the question to ever have happened.
21:48This is a major, major win.
21:51And I have a plea also quite candidly for Democrats.
21:54I have met with Cory Booker.
21:56I have met with a lot of people that care about this issue.
22:00Where are you?
22:01Come to HHS.
22:02Come to the FDA and work with this administration on these unimpeachable issues.
22:06This is our children's lives at stake.
22:08We are poisoning our children.
22:10This is a monumental day of turning the tides in this country.
22:13And I just want to introduce the Speaker of the Utah House and recognize the incredible state leadership, 25 states around the country, inspired by Secretary Kennedy, inspired by President Trump, who have passed maha bills and given the leverage for the federal government to be here today.
22:29So I want to introduce Speaker Mike Schultz.
22:41Good afternoon.
22:42I'd like to start by giving a shout-out to my colleagues in the Utah House of Representatives and the Utah Senate, 10 of which came to be here with us today.
22:54Because, you see, real change doesn't happen easy.
22:58It happens because people are willing to do the hard things, to make the tough calls, and to put our kids first and Americans first.
23:07Whether it's banning soda from SNAP purchases, or getting ultra-processed foods out of our school lunches, or removing fluoride from our drinking water, Utah leads, and Utah has taken action.
23:23This year, we passed a ban on dangerous chemicals and synthetic dyes in school lunches.
23:36In fact, one of our largest school districts has been doing this for three years already, showing that we can provide a healthy environment for our kids without overburdening our schools and our school systems.
23:50These decisions aren't easy, and they're not always popular, but the mark of leadership is doing the right thing, even when it's hard.
24:02Secretary Kennedy can attest to that.
24:05While we're proud of the work we've done, we know that this fight isn't over.
24:10And it's not won in a single session, or in a single bill, or by a single state.
24:18It takes collaborative, sweeping approach to bring people together, local, state, and federal governments, all pulling in the same direction.
24:29That's why we're grateful for the growing partnership between the Utah legislature and the Department of Health and Human Services.
24:38It's the kind of collaboration that gets things done and moves the ball forward.
24:44We appreciate the support, and we really respect the leadership in this room, especially Secretary Kennedy.
24:52And we're excited to keep the ball moving and to keep things going.
24:56Let's make America healthy again, because our kids deserve better.
25:01Thank you for allowing me to be here with you today.
25:25Well, good afternoon.
25:26What a wonderful time to be here at HHS today.
25:30I just want to start out and thank the Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, for his vision,
25:37and for all the amazing work that he and his team have done in just a very short period of time.
25:43I'm grateful to be here with the Secretary and with the FDA Commissioner, Dr. McCary.
25:56And also, I'm personally appreciative that President Trump had the good sense to pick these wonderful people.
26:04They're doing an amazing job making America healthy again.
26:08I also look around this room, and I see a lot of leaders of the Maha movement and their mission of making their states and their country healthy again.
26:22And I know there are some people here from West Virginia, some of our leaders, who really led the way for the recent legislation,
26:29which maybe had something small to do with why we're here today.
26:33So, Senator Barrett and Senator Chapman and there are a couple other folks here, I'm just grateful for your leadership on the ground.
26:41Because when we win on all these issues, we win as a team, and we have a great team here today.
26:47Now, when we think about the Maha movement, we think about how we can make Americans happier, healthier, and living more purposeful lives.
26:58At the end of the day, this is an opportunity for everyone to live a little bit longer, spend more time with purpose, and with friends and loved ones.
27:07In West Virginia, just last month, we launched what I called the Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia.
27:14That's to reverse some of the negative health care outcomes that have plagued our state for far too long.
27:22Pillar one, big part of why we're here today, it's cleaning up our food.
27:26I want to get the crap out of our food and improve the quality of school meals.
27:32We passed the law in West Virginia because we thought our kids and our citizens deserve better.
27:38They deserve real food, not chemical shortcuts designed to fool the eye but harm the body.
27:45That's what making America healthy again means to us.
27:49It's not just a slogan, it's a mission.
27:51And it starts with protecting the most vulnerable among us, our children.
27:56Now, in West Virginia, we've launched a statewide walking challenge.
28:01We've called it the Mountaineer Mile.
28:03We're reforming our SNAP system to reward healthy choices.
28:07And we're holding a line on harmful food additives.
28:10Because when taxpayer dollars are involved, they should fuel health, not disease.
28:17And as part of this process, thank you.
28:23That's a pretty basic concept, I think.
28:26As part of this process, I think all of us know that a national discussion is needed.
28:31So we've been fortunate to help lead the way in West Virginia, but I'm so thankful for the leadership on the national level.
28:38That's the best way we do it, because we need consistent policies across the nation that clean up our food.
28:44So we're appreciative to Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration for the bold steps to begin removing harmful dyes and food products across the country.
28:55I think it's going to protect kids who often fall victim to these processed foods.
28:59West Virginia, we're committed to helping lead the nation toward a healthier future.
29:06Let's go clean up our food.
29:08Let's lift up our families.
29:10And let's move our country forward.
29:12Thank you, and let's get to work.
29:14And now it is my pleasure, my pleasure, my honor to introduce someone who makes a lot of people nervous here in Washington.
29:30That's Secretary Kennedy.
29:32Secretary Kennedy?
29:33Secretary Kennedy?
29:33This is a guy that's willing to speak the hard truths and stand up for everyday Americans.
29:45Even when it's not popular, he stands up.
29:48He makes it happen.
29:50Let's join me in welcoming him, a warrior for America's children, RFK Jr.
29:56Let me see it.
29:59Let me see it.
29:59Let me see it.
30:03Thank you, Governor Morrissey.
30:08Thank you, Speaker Schultz.
30:10Thank you to Dr. Mark Hyman, who's been my friend and partner on these issues for over 20 years.
30:18Thanks, Vani Arie, who's been an extraordinary leader.
30:24And then Marty McCary, I'm so grateful that you agreed to join the administration.
30:31And Jay Bhattacharya, will you guys come up here and stand behind me?
30:39We have an amazing team at HHS.
30:43When my uncle was president in the 1960s, we had the healthiest people in the world.
30:48And one of the basic assumptions of our country was that because we were robust people, because we were vigorous, because we were tough.
30:59We had what my uncle called this beef jerky toughness that was responsible for our country being the land of the brave and the home of the free, the greatest industrial power in the world, the wealthiest country.
31:14We owned half the wealth on earth when my uncle was president.
31:18And part of that was because of the vigor of our society.
31:22And that's one of the reasons he started the Presidential Council on Fitness, Physical Fitness, because he saw that Americans, he felt that Americans were getting soft.
31:30And it was going to steal from us and erode all of our leadership, our moral authority, and our values, and our role as an exemplary nation.
31:40And since his death, we've had this extraordinary chronic disease epidemic.
31:47When my uncle was president, 3% of American kids had chronic disease.
31:51Today, it's around 60%.
31:53And these are a broad category, the ones that Marty mentioned, like ADHD, the neurological disorders, ADD, ADHD, speech delay, language delay, tics, Tourette's syndrome, narcolepsy, AI.
32:10All of these are injuries that I never heard of when I was a kid.
32:15They were not part of the nomenclature.
32:17They weren't part of the dialogue.
32:19There was zero spend in this country treating chronic disease when my uncle was president.
32:25Today, it's about $1.8 trillion annually.
32:30It's bankrupting our nation.
32:3374% of American kids cannot qualify for military service.
32:37How are we going to maintain our global leadership with such a sick population?
32:44We have all these autoimmune diseases, these exotic diseases.
32:48Again, I never heard of juvenile diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn's disease, and a hundred others.
32:56That were just unknown when I was a kid.
32:59I never knew anybody with a peanut allergy.
33:02I never knew anybody with a food allergy.
33:05I do five of my seven kids have allergies.
33:08I never knew of anybody who had eczema.
33:11I knew of a very small number of children who had asthma, but that has exploded as well today.
33:16Our fertility is dropping dramatically.
33:22Teenagers in this country today have the same testosterone levels as 68-year-old men.
33:28Our girls are reaching puberty six years early, from 10 to 14 years old.
33:34This is existential for our country.
33:38And we have to address it.
33:41And one of the problems, you know, what I met with, and I want to commend the food companies for working with us to achieve this agreement or this settlement.
33:55And when I went in a few months or about a month ago to meet with a few food companies, I was talking with my staff about these petroleum-based dyes.
34:06And I said, if they want to add petroleum, if they want to eat petroleum, they ought to add it themselves at home.
34:13But they shouldn't be feeding it to the rest of us.
34:17And without our knowledge or consent.
34:23And unfortunately, one of the, and we are going to, we're going to get rid of the dyes, and then one by one, we're going to get rid of every ingredient and additive to the school, in food that we can legally address.
34:39One of the problems is, at the industry, which all of these industries cast a dark shadow historically over this agency.
34:48And there's so many conflicts that we are now systematically eliminating.
34:53That has allowed them to suppress the science.
34:57There's shockingly few studies, even on food dyes, and on all these other ingredients as well.
35:05And Jay Bhattacharya, who is here and who is running the director of NIH, is now narrowly targeting these kind of food additives or scientific study.
35:17So that one by one, we can start eliminating them where they can.
35:22Where we can't, there's things that we'll never be able to eliminate, like sugar.
35:26And sugar is poison.
35:28And Americans need to know that.
35:30It is poisoning us.
35:31It's giving us a diabetes crisis.
35:33When I was a kid, I always say this.
35:36A typical pediatrician would see one case of diabetes in his lifetime.
35:41Today is one out of every three kids who walks through his office door.
35:44In our most recent study from NIH, 38% of American teens, half our adult population, this is existential.
35:53We are spending as much on mitochondrial disorders like diabetes as we spend on our military budget.
36:02We can't continue to exist like this.
36:05And the, you know, the problem is industry is making money on keeping us sick.
36:11As Jay pointed out, ADHD is associated with all these behavioral disorders.
36:20But those disorders are treated not by changing our diet, but providing medications to treat our kids.
36:29And they get medicated and medicated, and that's the only solution.
36:32And, you know, I would point out that there is part of the etiology of these diseases is a kind of media malpractice.
36:42Mass psychosis that has our media not talking about this.
36:47And one of the possible reasons for that is the amount of money that's coming from the pharmaceutical companies into our media
36:57and from these food companies, for the advertising.
37:06And the advertising has at least paid place a factor.
37:12That revenue, that extraordinary revenue stream in disabling their capacity or their inclination for skepticism and for critical thinking.
37:24So Americans don't know what they're eating, and they don't know the implications of those things.
37:29And for those products, Mark Hyman says in his book, the 10-Day Sugar Detox Diet, which I'll give a plug to, is a very good book.
37:39He talks about how dangerous sugar is and how it's as addictive as crack.
37:43And our children are addicted to it from when they're little kids.
37:49Our agency recommends, I think, a huge amount of sugar for kids from when they're born.
37:56And it's hurting them, and it's addicting them, and it's changing their taste buds so that they crave it.
38:02And it's disabling our population.
38:05So for those ingredients that we can't ban legally, we're going to start informing Americans about what they're eating.
38:15And we're going to try to work with Congress and the White House to make sure that we have adequate labeling
38:21so mothers who go into the grocery stores know what is good for their children and what is not.
38:28I want to say one other thing about the moms.
38:30When I went and spoke for the first time, when I met with the heads of all the food industry companies,
38:40one of the things that they said to us is that the worst thing for us is if we have a patchwork of legislation
38:47in all these different states because then we're not capable of marketing nationally distributed products
38:56because we're going to have different regulations in every state.
39:00And they didn't want that, and that's one of the reasons they came to the table with us.
39:04I want to thank Speaker Schultz.
39:07I want to thank Governor Morrissey, and I visited many other governors in Virginia and West Virginia,
39:13in Arizona and Utah and other states that are now having these local bans.
39:21But those bans have given us leverage to make demands in the food company,
39:27and the only reason that those states have banned these products is because of these ladies
39:33and millions or more across the country, the warrior moms who have powered the Maha movement.
39:40And I just want to urge all of you, it's not the time to stop, it's the time to redouble your efforts
39:53because we have them on the run now, and we are going to win this battle.
39:58And four years from now, we're going to have most of these products off the market,
40:03or you will know about them when you go to the grocery store.
40:06And finally, and most importantly, I want to thank President Trump.
40:19President Trump often, you know, says that he's going to make America great again.
40:24But he knows that he cannot make our country great again if our country is weak,
40:30if we're not healthy, if we don't have vigor, if we're not a robust people.
40:36He says that he's going to restore the American dream.
40:40And a healthy person has a thousand dreams.
40:43The sick person only has one.
40:45And right now, there's 60% of the people in this country who have only one dream.
40:51If they can make it through a day without pain, without, with energy, without having to take medications.
41:00And we are going to change that for our country.
41:03And I want to thank the moms and thank President Trump for his confidence in my leadership
41:08and for allowing me to surround myself with such an extraordinary team of scientists
41:14who are going to restore transparency to this agency.
41:19We're going to do replicated science.
41:22We're going to restore gold standard science so we know what's in our food and we can eliminate it.
41:27Thank you all very much.
41:38Thank you, Secretary Kennedy.
41:46Thank you to everyone for being here.
41:47And thank you to the press for attending today.
41:50We're going to take some questions from the press.
41:52If you can please say your first, last name and outlet when I call on you, that would be great.
42:00Sarah, CNN.
42:02Here.
42:04I got it.
42:04I got it.
42:05Okay.
42:05Yeah.
42:10Hi.
42:11Sarah Overmall from CNN.
42:12Secretary Kennedy, you talked about how sugar is poison and how it's addictive.
42:14Is that the next step for you, looking at policies to reduce or even eliminate sugar in food products?
42:18I don't think that we're going to eliminate sugar, but I think what we need to do probably is give Americans knowledge about how much sugar is in their products, and also, with the new nutrition guidelines, we'll give them a very clear idea about how much sugar they should be using, which is zero.
42:39Yes.
42:40Yes.
42:41Hi.
42:42Hi.
42:43Helena Bonemiller-Evich with Food Fix.
42:44You mentioned the goal is to work with the food industry to get the most of the major synthetic food dyes out.
42:55What is the plan if the food industry does not voluntarily agree to do that?
42:59And what are the next steps if you can't get agreement within the industry?
43:05Well, here the industry has voluntarily agreed.
43:08And so, you know, I think as we move forward, we are going to work with the industry.
43:17They've shown a lot of leadership on this right now.
43:20And, in fact, we're getting food companies now and fast food companies who are calling us almost every day and asking us, how do we do this?
43:29What do you want us to do?
43:31Will you do a press conference with us?
43:34And so we're really happy with the reception.
43:39I think they're ready to change the industry.
43:41They have children, too.
43:43There's no such thing as Republican children or Democratic children.
43:47Their children are going to the same schools.
43:50They're eating the same foods as the rest of us.
43:53And I think most of them really want to have a healthier America.
43:58They want clear guidelines, and they want to know what they can and can't do.
44:02And we're going to give them that.
44:11Yes.
44:15Hi, Margaret Manto with Notice.
44:17I'm wondering if there's any pharmaceutical additives that you'd like to eliminate?
44:21We're going to start on that next.
44:28I don't have anything for dinner.
44:30I don't have anything for dinner.
44:39Yes, in the white.
44:40Hi, Emily Kopp, Daily Caller.
44:45When will HHS FOIA offices be restored?
44:48This is important for many of your stated priorities, adverse events, food.
44:53When is our FOIA?
45:02When is our FOIA?
45:04A lot of the FOIA offices are in front of us.
45:07We're restoring all the FOIA offices, and we're going to make it much easier for people to get the information.
45:16We're going to try to post as much as we can.
45:18We're going to start a website with all former FOIA requests and the documents that were produced so people don't have to do it again and again.
45:26And we're going to try to get as close as we can to total transparency in this agency.
45:34You know, I spent a lot of years litigating under FOIA, and I experienced the frustration of going year after year and being stonewalled by the agencies.
45:43A lot of the people who are in HHS right now come from that background.
45:49So we all understand how important it is to have, you know, clear communications.
45:55The papers that we produce in this agency do not belong to us.
46:00They belong to the American people, and we need to be honest with them.
46:08And let me just answer the question before you about the drugs and the pharmaceutical products and the additives to the pharmaceutical products.
46:17Right now, Jay Bhattacharya is working, is assembling teams all over the country of sciences and universities and research centers to look at all of those products so that we can have it.
46:30I mean, one of the problems is we don't have good science on everything, and we need to have science before we take policy action.
46:37And that science has been suppressed systematically for decades because of the conflicts in this agency.
46:45We're going to remove those conflicts. We're doing the science, already doing it.
46:49And we'll be announcing a series of grant opportunities this summer on all of these different ingredients.
46:58And we're going to have good information for the American public, and then we will take appropriate action.
47:08Ashley.
47:13Ashley DeMello with Fox News Digital.
47:15Will there be a way for Americans to identify products that are complying with this phase-out?
47:20Such as labeling or?
47:23We're looking at labeling. Labeling, we have to go to Congress for.
47:28But one of the things that we're going to do is we're going to post all the information we have about every additive on an open-source website.
47:39And we're going to encourage companies that develop apps.
47:43There are a number of other apps out there today, like Yucca is one, but there are a number of others.
47:48I use Yucca and my wife use it in our home.
47:52Those apps, then you can, you know, you can use those companies.
47:56We'll develop apps in the private marketplace so that mothers can go in.
48:01They can scan a barcode of every product in their grocery store, and they can know what's in it and what's not.
48:13Jan?
48:15So, Secretary Kennedy, you have a lot of issues on the Maha agenda, obviously.
48:22And I'm very curious if you could share some of the logic of choosing, for example, autism and food dyes
48:29and things as some of the kind of inaugural issues that you're coming forward with.
48:34I would say, you know, we're, I mean, we're in a triage situation now.
48:41So we're, we're choosing our priorities based upon the issues that, I mean, the food diet is just a no brainer.
48:49Nobody wants to eat petroleum.
48:51Everybody knows there's enough science out there that we know it's terrible for you.
48:56That caused health problems, but also behavioral problems.
48:59And so we can act on that now.
49:02Anything that we can act on, we're going to act on immediately.
49:05Some stuff we need science for.
49:07We just need to do more science.
49:09But a lot of times you hear people say, oh, we're going to do more science on that.
49:14And then 10 years go by, that's not going to happen.
49:17President Trump wants dramatic change.
49:22President Trump wants dramatic change in the next two years.
49:25And we're going to deliver that for him.
49:27In terms of autism, autism is a priority.
49:31We've gone from one in 10,000 now to one in 31, one in every 20 boys.
49:36This is, this is a thousand times more impactful to our country from an economic point of view,
49:42from a moral point of view, from just a, on the perspective of just our national wellbeing.
49:52That it has to be, it's caused by 2035.
49:57It's going to cost us autism alone.
50:00Just one of these chronic diseases will cost our country a trillion dollars a year.
50:04We have to end that.
50:06And we have to end that because the children and the families are suffering so, so terribly.
50:11So that was, that has been a priority for me for 20 years.
50:16And it will continue to be a priority.
50:18And we are going to find the answer very, very quickly.
50:21And we're going to eliminate the exposures that are causing it.
50:34Secretary Kennedy.
50:35Issam Ahmed here from Agence France Press.
50:38Just on the political dimensions, do you sort of give credit to the former president,
50:43Joe Biden, for getting the ball rolling with red dye three?
50:45And as far as the labeling goes, you mentioned you have to go to Congress.
50:48Are you in discussions with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle regarding improved labeling
50:53around food?
50:55We have not yet, the time has not yet come for us to put our legislative proposals before
51:04Congress.
51:05Labeling will be a top priority proposal for us.
51:10In terms of the credit, I credit President Biden for getting it done.
51:16I wish I hadn't taken him to one week before I came into office before he did it.
51:23You know, let's give credit where credit's still.
51:28Okay, one more question right there in the pink.
51:31Thank you, Secretary Kennedy.
51:34Cheryl Gay Stolberg from The New York Times.
51:36I just want to make sure we understand the parameters of this agreement with the food companies.
51:43Do you actually have a settlement with the food companies and a formal agreement for them
51:48to adhere to these guidelines?
51:50And if so, why don't we have anyone from the food industry here?
51:55I would say we don't have an agreement.
51:57We have an understanding.
51:58But I'm going to let Marty take this question.
52:01Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
52:02You win more bees with honey than fire.
52:05Good to see you, Cheryl.
52:07And so there are a number of tools at our disposal.
52:11And so I believe in love and let's start in a friendly way and see if we can do this
52:17without any statutory or regulatory changes.
52:21But we are exploring every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done very quickly.
52:27And they want to do it.
52:28They want to do it.
52:29So why go down a complicated road with Congress when they want to do this?
52:34They don't want to deal with a patchwork of 30 different state plans.
52:38We've had wonderful meetings with the food industry.
52:41I've been amazed.
52:42And they are eager to do this.
52:44They are good people.
52:45As Secretary Kennedy has said, they have kids too.
52:47And I think we all want the same thing.
52:57So I just wanted to make a couple of comments about the role of the NIH in all this.
53:02One of the major problems that I think that parents around the country have faced is when
53:08they go to the scientific literature, they come back with a stone wall.
53:12They hear that, well, the science hasn't been done.
53:15It's not rigorous.
53:16And part of the problem is that scientists are afraid to ask questions, basic questions
53:21that parents want answers to.
53:23Secretary Kennedy has asked me to, for instance, to initiate a study on autism, the cause of the
53:30rise in autism.
53:31It's a question that is at the front of the minds of so many parents across the country worried
53:37about their kids.
53:38And yet, scientific progress on this has been slow because scientists are, frankly, scared
53:44to ask the question.
53:46The goal of my leadership at the NIH is going to make it so that those questions are no longer
53:52taboo among scientists.
53:54Scientists need to work on the things that actually are at the top of the minds of the
54:00American people.
54:01The mission of the NIH is to do research that extends the life expectancy and improves the
54:09health of the American people.
54:10And that's exactly what we're going to do.
54:12Since 2012, the United States has seen no increase in life expectancy.
54:18None.
54:19And it collapsed during the pandemic and only recently has it started to come back up to
54:232019 levels.
54:24That is a situation that is a catastrophic failure of the American public health system.
54:29And it, frankly, is also a failure of American scientists to address the key drivers of this
54:36enormous chronic disease crisis we're facing.
54:41And I'm really grateful to Secretary Kennedy for his leadership.
54:44And I'm grateful to President Trump for his leadership in giving us the opportunity to
54:49turn the ingenuity of American scientists to the questions of how to improve American health
54:54and to make America healthy again.
54:59Thank you, everybody.