[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 19, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 9833-9836]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02871]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 32 / Wednesday, February 19, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
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Executive Order 14212 of February 13, 2025
Establishing the President's Make America Healthy
Again Commission
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. American life expectancy
significantly lags behind other developed countries,
with pre-COVID-19 United States life expectancy
averaging 78.8 years and comparable countries averaging
82.6 years. This equates to 1.25 billion fewer life
years for the United States population. Six in 10
Americans have at least one chronic disease, and four
in 10 have two or more chronic diseases. An estimated
one in five United States adults lives with a mental
illness.
These realities become even more painful when
contrasted with nations around the globe. Across 204
countries and territories, the United States had the
highest age-standardized incidence rate of cancer in
2021, nearly double the next-highest rate. Further,
from 1990-2021, the United States experienced an 88
percent increase in cancer, the largest percentage
increase of any country evaluated. In 2021, asthma was
more than twice as common in the United States than
most of Europe, Asia, or Africa. Autism spectrum
disorders had the highest prevalence in high-income
countries, including the United States, in 2021.
Similarly, autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory
bowel disease, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis are
more commonly diagnosed in high-income areas such as
Europe and North America. Overall, the global
comparison data demonstrates that the health of
Americans is on an alarming trajectory that requires
immediate action.
This concern applies urgently to America's children. In
2022, an estimated 30 million children (40.7 percent)
had at least one health condition, such as allergies,
asthma, or an autoimmune disease. Autism spectrum
disorder now affects 1 in 36 children in the United
States--a staggering increase from rates of 1 to 4 out
of 10,000 children identified with the condition during
the 1980s. Eighteen percent of late adolescents and
young adults have fatty liver disease, close to 30
percent of adolescents are prediabetic, and more than
40 percent of adolescents are overweight or obese.
These health burdens have continued to increase
alongside the increased prescription of medication. For
example, in the case of Attention Deficit Disorder/
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, over 3.4
million children are now on medication for the
disorder--up from 3.2 million children in 2019-2020--
and the number of children being diagnosed with the
condition continues to rise.
This poses a dire threat to the American people and our
way of life. Seventy-seven percent of young adults do
not qualify for the military based in large part on
their health scores. Ninety percent of the Nation's
$4.5 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures is for
people with chronic and mental health conditions. In
short, Americans of all ages are becoming sicker, beset
by illnesses that our medical system is not addressing
effectively. These trends harm us, our economy, and our
security.
To fully address the growing health crisis in America,
we must re-direct our national focus, in the public and
private sectors, toward understanding and drastically
lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood
chronic disease. This includes fresh thinking on
nutrition, physical activity, healthy
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lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments,
the effects of new technological habits, environmental
impacts, and food and drug quality and safety. We must
restore the integrity of the scientific process by
protecting expert recommendations from inappropriate
influence and increasing transparency regarding
existing data. We must ensure our healthcare system
promotes health rather than just managing disease.
Sec. 2. Policy. It shall be the policy of the Federal
Government to aggressively combat the critical health
challenges facing our citizens, including the rising
rates of mental health disorders, obesity, diabetes,
and other chronic diseases. To do so, executive
departments and agencies (agencies) that address health
or healthcare must focus on reversing chronic disease.
Under this policy:
(a) all federally funded health research should
empower Americans through transparency and open-source
data, and should avoid or eliminate conflicts of
interest that skew outcomes and perpetuate distrust;
(b) the National Institutes of Health and other
health-related research funded by the Federal
Government should prioritize gold-standard research on
the root causes of why Americans are getting sick;
(c) agencies shall work with farmers to ensure that
United States food is the healthiest, most abundant,
and most affordable in the world; and
(d) agencies shall ensure the availability of
expanded treatment options and the flexibility for
health insurance coverage to provide benefits that
support beneficial lifestyle changes and disease
prevention.
Sec. 3. Establishment and Composition of the
President's Make America Healthy Again Commission. (a)
There is hereby established the President's Make
America Healthy Again Commission (Commission), chaired
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Chair),
with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
serving as Executive Director (Executive Director).
(b) In addition to the Chair and the Executive
Director, the Commission shall include the following
officials, or their designees:
(i) the Secretary of Agriculture;
(ii) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
(iii) the Secretary of Education;
(iv) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs;
(v) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;
(vi) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;
(vii) the Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy;
(viii) the Director of the National Economic Council;
(ix) the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers;
(x) the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;
(xi) the Commissioner of Food and Drugs;
(xii) the Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
(xiii) the Director of the National Institutes of Health; and
(xiv) other members of my Administration invited to participate, at the
discretion of the Chair and the Executive Director.
Sec. 4. Fighting Childhood Chronic Disease. The initial
mission of the Commission shall be to advise and assist
the President on how best to exercise his authority to
address the childhood chronic disease crisis.
Therefore, the Commission shall:
(a) study the scope of the childhood chronic
disease crisis and any potential contributing causes,
including the American diet, absorption of toxic
material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental
factors, Government policies, food production
techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate
influence or cronyism;
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(b) advise and assist the President on informing
the American people regarding the childhood chronic
disease crisis, using transparent and clear facts; and
(c) provide to the President Government-wide
recommendations on policy and strategy related to
addressing the identified contributing causes of and
ending the childhood chronic disease crisis.
Sec. 5. Initial Assessment and Strategy from the Make
America Healthy Again Commission. (a) Make our Children
Healthy Again Assessment. Within 100 days of the date
of this order, the Commission shall submit to the
President, through the Chair and the Executive
Director, the Make Our Children Healthy Again
Assessment, which shall:
(i) identify and describe childhood chronic disease in America compared to
other countries;
(ii) assess the threat that potential over-utilization of medication,
certain food ingredients, certain chemicals, and certain other exposures
pose to children with respect to chronic inflammation or other established
mechanisms of disease, using rigorous and transparent data, including
international comparisons;
(iii) assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers,
stimulants, and weight-loss drugs;
(iv) identify and report on best practices for preventing childhood health
issues, including through proper nutrition and the promotion of healthy
lifestyles;
(v) evaluate the effectiveness of existing educational programs with regard
to nutrition, physical activity, and mental health for children;
(vi) identify and evaluate existing Federal programs and funding intended
to prevent and treat childhood health issues for their scope and
effectiveness;
(vii) ensure transparency of all current data and unpublished analyses
related to the childhood chronic disease crisis, consistent with applicable
law;
(viii) evaluate the effectiveness of current Federal Government childhood
health data and metrics, including those from the Federal Interagency Forum
on Child and Family Statistics and the National Survey of Children's
Health;
(ix) restore the integrity of science, including by eliminating undue
industry influence, releasing findings and underlying data to the maximum
extent permitted under applicable law, and increasing methodological rigor;
and
(x) establish a framework for transparency and ethics review in industry-
funded projects.
(b) Make our Children Healthy Again Strategy.
Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Commission shall submit to the President, through the
Chair and the Executive Director, a Make Our Children
Healthy Again Strategy (Strategy), based on the
findings from the Make Our Children Healthy Again
Assessment described in subsection (a) of this section.
The Strategy shall address appropriately restructuring
the Federal Government's response to the childhood
chronic disease crisis, including by ending Federal
practices that exacerbate the health crisis or
unsuccessfully attempt to address it, and by adding
powerful new solutions that will end childhood chronic
disease.
(c) The Chair may hold public hearings, meetings,
roundtables, and similar events, as appropriate, and
may receive expert input from leaders in public health
and Government accountability.
Sec. 6. Additional Reports. (a) Following the
submission to the President of the Strategy, and any
final strategy reports thereafter, the Chair and
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the Executive Director shall recommend to the President
updates to the Commission's mission, including desired
reports.
(b) The Commission shall not reconvene, following
submission of the Strategy, until an updated mission is
submitted to the President through the Executive
Director.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 13, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-02871
Filed 2-18-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P