\n<\/p>\n
Supporters of the Make America Healthy Again<\/a> (MAHA) movement gathered in Washington, D.C. yesterday to launch a new organization, the MAHA Institute<\/a>, dedicated to changing and championing federal policies that could impact food ingredients, agricultural inputs, and overall health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere are thousands, tens, hundreds of thousands of people around the country who care deeply about this, who want their children to be healthier, who care about their families, who want to improve the system,\u201d said Mark Gorton, president of the institute. \u201cThe MAHA Institute is serving the function of helping to coordinate and channel the energy of all of these people around the country and connect them with people in the government.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the people in the room were the same individuals and groups that supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s presidential campaign and then helped propel Donald Trump into office after Kennedy aligned himself with Trump.<\/p>\n Gorton and his partner Tony Lyons, now the MAHA Institute\u2019s chairman, previously co-founded a Super PAC<\/a> dedicated to supporting Kennedy. Lyons is the founder of Skyhorse Publishing and a close ally<\/a> of right-wing media personality Steve Bannon. Other speakers included Mary Holland, CEO of Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>, the advocacy organization founded by Kennedy; Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America<\/a>; and Montana rancher<\/a> Bryan Mussard. Attendees included regenerative farmers, student activists, and school lunch reformers.<\/p>\n In addition to concerns about vaccine schedules and ingredients, speakers pointed to a wide range of food-related issues they believe are contributing to America\u2019s chronic disease epidemic<\/a>: genetically modified foods, pesticide exposures, seed oils, sugar, and other ingredients in processed foods. \u201cIt\u2019s not about vaccines or drugs or foods, it\u2019s about the toxins that are in them,\u201d Lyons said. Several also described a situation in which the federal government has hidden information on those toxins at the behest of agriculture, pesticide, and food companies\u2014an assertion that mixes the very real influence those companies have in D.C. with overarching conspiracy theory thinking<\/a>\u2014 and said they trusted the Trump administration to turn that ship around.<\/p>\n In an interview with Civil Eats, Gorton said the MAHA Institute will work to connect people working on the same issues and do more traditional lobbying on legislation. And he said they\u2019ll support the work of agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which Kennedy now runs, in achieving MAHA goals. \u201cThe number of actual, true MAHA supporters at the top of these agencies is maybe 75 people across an HHS that has 60,000 employees, and their job is unbelievably daunting, because these bureaucracies are highly resistant to change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When asked about whether some Trump administration actions, such as the EPA rolling back limits on \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 in drinking water<\/a> and the USDA canceling a program that helped local farms get fresh produce into school meals<\/a>, run counter to the movement\u2019s goals, he dismissed any contradiction and said he was \u201cextremely happy\u201d with the administration so far. \u201cI think there really is a commitment to the larger mission, and changing the government takes time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n