An expected report Thursday from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assessing the causes of chronic disease in children could test whether Republicans in Congress can get along with a Health secretary keen on regulating farm and food companies.
Republican lawmakers representing agriculture and food manufacturing districts have warned Kennedy to lay off, but they and the industries they represent are still fretting the report. They worry it will point to pesticides and food dyes as potential causes for kids’ diseases and propose regulation that could cut profits and cost jobs. Even if Kennedy steers clear of regulatory proposals, they fear his report could dampen demand for the products their constituents make.
“We have 88,000 farms in Missouri, and so my goal is to make sure that we feed Missouri and we feed the world, and we make sure that our producers have the tools they need to have the most effective crops, the healthiest crops,” said GOP Rep. Mark Alford, who represents a broad swath of soybean and corn farms southeast of Kansas City.
President Donald Trump’s embrace of an environmental activist long on the far left of the Democratic Party worked out great in last year’s election, and most Republicans in Congress endorsed Trump’s decision to let Kennedy “go wild” on health care.
