Draft of U.S. Report Suggests Kennedy Won’t Push Strict Pesticide or Food Rules

A highly anticipated White House report on the health of American children would stop short of proposing direct restrictions on ultraprocessed foods and pesticides that the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has called major threats, according to a draft of the document that was reviewed by The New York Times.

The report, if adopted, would be good news for the food and agriculture industries, which feared far more restrictive proposals than the ones outlined in the draft. Through his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, Mr. Kennedy has sought to overhaul the nation’s diet by pushing those industries to make major changes.

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Ultraprocessed foods, which make up about 62 percent of the calories consumed by U.S. children, are explicitly mentioned in the draft of the second report only once, in a line about the administration’s effort to define them. The near-omission of ultraprocessed foods from the draft report raises questions about the administration’s appetite for regulation, which the food industry is likely to vehemently oppose.

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There are signs that the report, as drafted, could land with a thud among Mr. Kennedy’s followers. In July, 500 people, including leaders of advocacy groups aligned with Mr. Kennedy’s movement, sent a letter to Mr. Kennedy and other members of the White House commission urging them to ban pesticides like glyphosate.

Hundreds of people tied to the MAHA movement, including Vani Hari, a prominent food activist and MAHA influencer, also sent a letter addressed to Mr. Trump on Monday urging him to take action against protections for pesticide manufacturers.

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