Does MAHA Get Some Things Right?

Why I could literally care less.

Disclaimer: this article is poorly edited because done is better than perfect, this is free, and my lunch break is limited.

Photo by Daniel Born on Unsplash

“But they’re right about some things” is a common phrase when discussing MAHA, the Make America Healthy Again Movement, so I wanted to explore this idea with a parallel scenario. Please use your imagination with me:

You are sitting on your couch with you best friend with a glass of sauvignon blanc, telling her about the date you went on last night.

“So, how was it?” Your friend asks, always eager to see you happy.

“It was fine… I think.” You smile, considering the nice restaurant he took you to. The filet mignon was adequate and the waitress was lovely. It can be so difficult do find a good service.

“You ‘think’?” She questions, sipping her wine with a quizzical look.

“Yeah, I mean, he was gorgeous and has a steady job. He doesn’t want kids, but we saw eye-to-eye on a lot of the things we talked about.”

Your friend is looking at you like you just announced you bought last night’s salmon from the pet store.

“He doesn’t want kids? You’ve wanted kids your entire life. I thought you were looking for something serious?”

You shrug, unsure why your friend is so bothered. She does have a proclivity toward theatrics. “He’s looking for something serious too. Just no kids.”

“You would have a serious relationship with someone who doesn’t want kids - the one thing you’ve unequivocally said you wanted since the moment I met you?”

“Well, some of the things about him are good. No one’s perfect. I’ll have to make some compromises if I ever want to find someone.”

You’re friend is speechless.

She understands that there is no such thing as a perfect man. She just thought you’d make concessions about things a smidge less foundational to a happy relationship.

“Look, there are some things you can compromise on and things you just can’t. For instance, maybe it would be okay if he was leaning toward two kids and you were leaning toward three, but no kids at all? What could be so great about him that you’d sacrifice such an important thing?”

“He complimented my outfit.”

“What?” Your friend’s face is slightly pink. You imagine it must be from the wine, because what would she have to be upset about?

“Yes, he said leopard is his favorite neutral. He also has a great accent.”

“An accent… where is he from?” You know your friend is hoping it’s something exciting like London or Paris. You watch her face fall when you say Novosibirsk.

“Where the hell is that?!” She cries, her wine sloshing slightly.

“It’s the largest city in Siberia. He lives there in a studio with his mother and wife. If things go well, he wants me to move there with them.”

Your friend’s face is no longer pink but completely ashen. You certainly don’t like cold weather, but not everyone is lucky enough to meet their soulmate in high school. Your friend just doesn’t understand what the dating pool is like.

When she says nothing, you decide to tell her she’s only upset because she’s been indoctrinated by unrealistic romance novels.

-end scene-

As much as I’d love to continue this scenario, I think I’ve written enough to make my metaphor apparent.

Perhaps you want to find a husband just like most Americans want to make America healthy, but is this guy the best choice? Is the MAHA movement the best way to seek better health outcomes?

Just like your friend can give you a resolute ‘no,’ public health scientists, epidemiologists, dietitians, physicians, PhDs of all kinds, etc. can all tell you: absofuckinglutely not.

It doesn’t matter that MAHA gets a few things right. They aren’t the important things.

Just like the desire for children, the country you hope to live in, and your willingness to have a sister wife are all foundational enough to be deal breakers; basing decisions on strong evidence is the core of science, and ignoring expert consensus and gold standard evidence is a deal breaker.

Yes, the waitress at the restaurant was charming, but does that mean you should marry the man who took you there?

Making a verbal agreement with the food industry to phase out dyes is akin to someone complimenting your outfit. It’s nice, but at some point we need to look past the pleasantries.

Just like this man is outwardly attractive, MAHA sounds reasonable at a superficial level. No one wants people to have chronic diseases or chemical-laden food. The problem is that when you dig a little deeper, you will find that the core values of MAHA are are not aligned with better air, food, or water quality. It doesn’t protect children from pesticides or provide access to better nutrition. It literally does the opposite.

Under the Trump administration, MAHA will increase morbidity and mortality by:

• Decreasing federal regulation on industrial chemical waste, PFAS, pesticide use, and food safety standards

• Implementing ambiguous reproductive health laws that can leave pregnant women vulnerable to defensive medicine

• Spreading vaccine hesitancy and antivax dogma

• Increasing mental health and medications stigma

• Cutting funding for initiatives to provide healthy food, mental healthcare, preventative care, and research on cancer, autoimmune disorders, women’s health, health disparities, allergies, nutrition, etc.

• Increasing medical mistrust and encouraging gimmicky wellness products and unlicensed professionals instead of improving our healthcare infrastructure.

Tragically, this list is hardly all-inclusive.

Now, reflecting on our dating scenario, the main difference between this metaphorical madness and real life, is that your questionable dating decisions won’t directly impact your friend. Your support of MAHA, though? That will affect everyone for decades. It will shorten the lives of our children. It will increase chronic disease. It will set back cutting-edge research for decades.

If you want to move to Siberia to be with a mediocre man and his wife and mother, that’s (fine? maybe?), but remember that it’s not just you forced to go.