ATRA Warns of Potential Litigation Onslaught Under Trial Lawyer RFK, Jr.’s Leadership
Today, President Donald J. Trump’s Make America Healthy Again Commission released its highly anticipated “MAHA Report,” or the Making Our Children Healthy Again Assessment.
The report evaluates various possible contributors to what the administration believes to be the poor health of American children, per President Trump’s establishment of the Commission in February.
The report, broken into four sections, focuses on “ultra-processed foods,” “chemicals in our environment,” “the crisis of childhood behavior in the digital age,” and “overmedicalization of our kids.” Specifically, the report calls out pesticides like glyphosate, which is widely accepted as safe, including the EPA, which found “that there are no risks of concern to human health.” The agricultural industry has expressed concerns about potential food supply shortages in light of the report calling glyphosate’s safety into question. The report further highlights the safety of vaccines that unequivocally have helped to reduce life-threatening childhood diseases.
Vaguely and broadly defined “ultra-processed foods” also are in the line of fire for the MAHA Commission, chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Sec. Kennedy previously was on the payroll of Morgan & Morgan, the nation’s largest personal injury firm, from 2016 to 2022 and remains co-counsel on contingency fee cases. Late last year, Morgan & Morgan filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit alleging companies designed and marketed “ultra-processed foods” in a way that is addictive to children, leading to the rise in chronic diseases in children.
“While the health and safety of Americans, particularly our children, should of course be a top priority, we worry about how Sec. Kennedy might go about acting on his new findings,” Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association said.
Sec. Kennedy, a former trial lawyer, has criticized laws that protect companies from lawsuits related to vaccine safety.
“Given Sec. Kennedy’s deep ties to the trial bar, we are concerned that this new report will simply be used by the Secretary’s trial lawyer allies as a catalyst for litigation,” Joyce said. “Even more concerning is that Sec. Kennedy and his family may even have a direct financial interest in such litigation. We strongly urge the Secretary to be fully forthright and transparent in both his and his family’s ongoing financial interests related to litigation against companies and industries that may be targeted with litigation in the aftermath of this report.”
Sec. Kennedy himself has been involved in litigation specifically related to the glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup® as well as vaccine litigation. In an effort to pacify concerns about his financial interest in litigation, Sec. Kennedy opted to “divest his interests in cases involving vaccine manufacturers.” Sec. Kennedy handed over his stake to one of his sons, who is a lawyer at the prominent personal injury law firm, Wisner Baum. The law firm is involved in litigation related both to Roundup® and talc.
While talc wasn’t targeted in today’s report, the FDA held a last-minute panel this week scrutinizing talc, during which Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, seemingly teed up talc as another MAHA target.
“The health and safety of all Americans must be the top priority in any forthcoming policy decisions — not the profit motives of the trial bar,” Joyce said.
