May 30, 2025 — A recent government report on children’s health, released by a commission formed during the Trump administration, has come under fire for citing scientific studies that do not exist, according to a media investigation and researchers named in the report.
The report, issued by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission — a group linked to current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — claims that processed foods, chemicals, stress, and the overuse of medications and vaccines may contribute to chronic illness in American children. It references around 500 studies to support these claims.
However, digital news outlet NOTUS reported Thursday that at least seven of the cited studies were nonexistent, and several others included broken links or misrepresented findings.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt responded by saying the citation issues were due to “formatting errors.” A corrected version of the report was posted online later the same day.
“The substance of the MAHA report remains the same,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement, calling it a “historic and transformative” look at chronic disease in children.
Yet some scientists listed as study authors said they were falsely credited. Dr. Katherine Keyes, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, was cited as the lead author of a study allegedly published in JAMA Pediatrics. She said she never wrote that paper, nor did the co-authors listed.
“It’s concerning because accurate citation is essential for scientific integrity,” Keyes said.
Another article titled Direct-to-consumer advertising of psychotropic medications for youth: A growing concern was credited to Dr. Robert L. Findling, a psychiatry professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. A university spokesperson confirmed Findling had not written the article.
Kennedy, who has long questioned vaccine safety, has sparked concerns about the direction of U.S. health policy. Since becoming Health Secretary, he has dismissed thousands of federal health employees and slashed billions from biomedical research funding.
As of Thursday evening, the disputed studies no longer appeared in the report published on the White House website.
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