Executive Order 14212 “Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission” was published in the February 19, 2025, FR Vol. 90, No. 32. EO 14212 brings together the people mostly responsible for health policy in the U.S.

The commission is chaired by HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. During Trump’s campaign for President, he stated he wanted JFR, Jr. to “go wild on health.” Going wild just a little may be huge. HHS spent $1.7 trillion, or 25.4% of all federal spending, in FY 2024.

Other members of the MAHA commission include the lead official, or top designee, from the EPA, CDC, NIH, FDA, OMB, HUD, VA, USDA, Secretary of Education, Director of the National Economic Council, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, among others. Additional members may be added, as necessary.

Mission

The mission of the MAHA commission is to advise and assist the President on how best to exercise his authority to address the health needs of Americans. EO 14212 finds that Americans are far sicker than people in peer nations.

More urgently, however, the EO finds that 40.7% of America’s children have at least one adverse health condition. Seventy-seven percent of young adults do not qualify for the military based in large part on their health scores. These and other poor health statistics “pose a dire threat to the American people and our way of life.”

The commission is initially tasked to study the scope of childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes such as “absorption of toxic material,” “environmental factors,” “electromagnetic radiation,” and “corporate influence or cronyism.”  

MOCHA

The initial study, to be concluded 100 days from the publication of the EO, will lead to a “Make our Children Healthy Again” (MOCHA) strategy. The strategy has ten major elements to address (see EO for details).

The MOCHA strategy, to be finalized 180 days from the publication of the EO, “shall address appropriately restructuring the Federal Government’s response to the childhood chronic disease crisis … and by adding powerful new solutions that will end childhood chronic disease.”

Basics of chronic disease

My position on chronic disease, addressed broadly and in detail many times in ISHN publications, includes the following four key points:

1. Nearly all human disease results from adverse impacts of genetics and environmental factors. Solving the chronic disease crisis in the U.S. requires a focus on prevention rather than medical diagnoses and treatment. Born healthy, stay healthy is the most logical path to good health and a lengthy life for all Americans.
2. More children in the U.S. are born from a mom who worked while pregnant than any other population group. Enhanced protections should favor this group. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), enacted by bipartisan support in 2023, is ready to help achieve the objective of children being born healthy.
3. From preconception to conception and being born healthy requires that workplace hazards to reproduction be recognized, evaluated, and controlled. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an agency under the HHS umbrella, has recently untaken the task to recognize, evaluate and update major reproductive hazards (see last month’s best practices article). NIOSH should receive increased staffing and funding to support reproductive health initiatives.
4. The PWFA final rules includes an “Industrial Hygienist” as a healthcare provider (HCP), equal to all other HCPs under the final rules. An adequately trained IH is the most qualified among all HCPs to recognize, evaluate, and control workplace reproductive hazards. Misguided IHs are a major threat to PWFA success.

Protecting Children. Exposing Harms. Seeking Justice.

The above heading didn’t come from me. The bolded and italicized words form the beginning of the Mission Statement for the “Children’s Health Defense” an organization founded by RFK, Jr. The mission statement continues: 

• “Vision: A world free of childhood chronic health conditions caused by environmental exposures.”
• “Mission: Our mission is to end childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure. We will restore and protect the health of children by eliminating environmental exposures, holding responsible parties accountable, and establishing safeguards to prevent future harm of children’s health.” 

Although RFK, Jr. resigned from the Children’s Health Defense upon appointment to his current HHS secretary position, his aggressive management style, underlying beliefs, and tendency to use litigation to solve disputes are likely to follow him in his role of leading the HHS and achieving President Trump’s MAHA and MOCHA goals. 

What will OHS leaders do?

The leaders of our nation’s major OHS organizations that include AIHA, ACGIH, ASSP, NSC, and others, have repeatedly shown an indifference to their role to support children’s health from a workplace perspective. For example, among the more than 100,000 public comments to the PWFA final rule, every OHS organization was silent on the EEOC’s request for public input. I was the lone voice that supported OHS involvement.

I am not vain enough to believe that I was the only person in the OHS community to anticipate what was coming with the PWFA. The federal PWFA was ten years in the making. The direction that the federal PWFA was heading to become new occupational health law, should have been clear and undeniable for any OHS person with a brain.

Do I believe that “corporate influence or cronyism” as the MAHA commission will investigate, had a role in persuading OHS leaders not to support the PWFA?  If cronyism includes groupthink, then I believe it is 100% possible. If proven true, all Federal funds feeding these organizations, including membership dues and DEI efforts, should come to an immediate halt.

Another test

This article is not just a wandering of my thoughts. As I did with public comments to the PWFA final rules, I offered these thoughts first to readers of ISHN. 

Here’s the test: At 100 days upon publication of this article in ISHN, if I do not observe any meaningful and positive movement among our leading OHS organizations to support MOCHA, then I will do it on my own.

Here’s the best practices lesson for ISHN readers: If you strongly believe something is right to do, but nobody is doing the right thing, then do the right thing. An individual has power over groups if they know how to harness their actions to persuade public opinion. Public opinion sways political action.