RFK Jr.-Led MAHA Report Urges Research on Screen ‘Addiction,’ Tighter Vape Enforcement and Baby Formula Overhaul

A report led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and delivered Tuesday to President Trump recommended a broad set of federal actions to address what the commission called drivers of childhood chronic disease, including researching screen time as an "addiction," cracking down on illegal vaping products and overhauling policies on infant formula and donor breast milk.

The Make America Healthy Again Commission, created in February by presidential executive order, identified four main possible contributors to rising childhood chronic disease: poor diet, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity and chronic stress, and over-medicalization. The report said excessive screen use contributes to lack of physical activity and chronic stress and called on the National Institutes of Health and HHS to lead research into whether screen time constitutes an addiction similar to drug and alcohol dependence. It also recommended that the Surgeon General launch an education and awareness program about the effects of children's screen use.

The document urged stepped-up enforcement against illegal vaping, assigning monitoring roles to the Food and Drug Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and proposing a public campaign emphasizing that the administration will not allow children to access vaping products. The report highlighted industry concerns that unregulated, flavored vapes imported from Chinese suppliers have saturated the market and that many such products are not approved by the FDA.

On infant nutrition, the commission proposed several measures aimed at improving the safety and availability of baby formula and donor human milk. Recommendations included tighter FDA nutrient requirements for formula, increased testing for heavy metals and other contaminants, and actions by USDA and HHS to secure a more reliable supply of donor breast milk for needy mothers. The report also urged federal work to raise breastfeeding rates, including through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and other policies, and encouraged companies to develop new infant formulas.

Kennedy ordered in March the first comprehensive review in nearly three decades of baby formula ingredients and nutrients, a review the commission said underpins the report's infant-nutrition recommendations. The report noted that about three-quarters of infants in the United States consume formula during their first six months of life, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, and referenced the 2022 Abbott factory shutdown after bacterial contamination that contributed to months-long shortages.

The commission's proposals also touched on fertility policy and broader environmental and medical-practice changes meant to reduce early-life exposures and overuse of medical interventions. The report is intended to inform future executive orders that would reshape how the federal government researches and addresses factors linked to childhood chronic disease.

Administration officials will decide which recommendations to translate into policy and which, if any, will be implemented through executive action. The report does not itself create binding regulations but lays out a series of options for federal agencies to consider in pursuing the administration's stated goal of improving children's health outcomes.