MAHA report's errors are just start of its problems

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attributed the inclusion of phony publications to "formatting issues" that would be corrected. An updated report that omits those studies and cleans up bizarre errors in several others has since been uploaded to the White House website

- Lisa Jarvis and Michael Hiltzik, Tribune News Service

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new Make America Healthy Again report offers a road to wellness for the nation's children paved not with the gold-standard science he promised, but with pyrite. The report, created by a MAHA commission that includes all of President Donald Trump's cabinet members, mixes nuggets of truth - like the idea that it's important to focus on kids' health - with gross misrepresentations of scientific research.

Some of the studies are even made up. The nonprofit news organisation Notus first reported that some of the commission's findings relied on research that doesn't exist. The document, released last week, includes seven fabricated studies related to kids’ mental health and the overprescribing of medications for ADHD, depression and asthma.

The New York Times later identified several other fake citations.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attributed the inclusion of phony publications to “formatting issues” that would be corrected. An updated report that omits those studies and cleans up bizarre errors in several others has since been uploaded to the White House website. That version contained fresh errors, Notus reported. Many suspect that the fake citations are the product of Al. That alone should be disqualifying.