MAHA Realignment? From Food Dyes to the DeSantis Report
The 'Make America Healthy Again' movement suggests new political horizons on reforming American health
If the last week is any indication, a new cross-ideological coalition is taking shape to reform American health.
Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration moved to ban the use of Red No. 3, also known as erythrosine, a petroleum-based color additive, in food, beverages and drugs.
The decision came as a surprise to many. The FDA had banned the coloring agent in 1990 in cosmetics over concerns that the ingredient caused cancer when consumed by rats. Yet it waited a quarter century to apply similar protections to candy and cereal.
Formally, the agency reacted to a petition filed by the Environmental Working Group and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. However, the rising political pressure comes as a new left-right reform movement has demanded the removal of toxic food additives. During the presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made the demand a signature campaign issue.
Vani Hari, the author of the popular Food Babe blog, has waged a campaign to remove food dyes and other additives to children’s cereals. In a post yesterday, she thanked a broad coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, left-leaning food safety groups, and figures in the Trump-aligned “Make American Healthy Again” movement for the victory.
“They are only taking these actions because they know RFK Jr and Marty Makary are going to do these things,” noted Dr. Vinay Prasad, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, on X.
The FDA move comes just days after a startling report from another unusual source. In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., convened a statewide Florida grand jury to investigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The report was released on January 7th and called for sweeping reforms of the pharmaceutical industry — including ideas very much in line with left-leaning public interest groups.
The report called for the FDA to reinstate its 1997 ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of therapeutics. Pfizer and Moderna flooded the country with advertisements, and many skirted agency rules requiring disclosures about drug risks.
The vaccine maker influence, the report noted, extended to a variety of special interest groups, many of which took undisclosed pharmaceutical money while lobbying to support vaccine mandates and other coercive measures.
Another section of the grand jury report called for the federal government to adopt new measures to impede the “revolving door” of private-sector employees and lobbyists “in and out of the FDA, CDC and NIH.”
Here’s an excerpt: