How leaders of the MAHA movement benefit from anti-science advocacy and promise profits to industry

By MICHELLE R SMITH and LAURA UNGAR Associated Press Two advisers to U S Physical condition and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr sat on a stage in California this spring addressing an audience at a natural products industry business show that drew tens of thousands of people from food brands commitment banks supplement sellers and other companies Their message The goals of the Make America Healthy Again movement will help your bottom lines RELATED Wave of anti-science bills pushed by Robert F Kennedy Jr allies hits statehouses endangering robustness protections It blows my mind that I m going to watch the Republicans carry the supplement industry and the holistic physical condition industry and chiropractors and the acupuncturists into the promised land disclosed Del Bigtree according to video of the remarks obtained by The Associated Press At the time Bigtree was leading MAHA Action one of the groups an AP inquiry ascertained pushing anti-science bills in states Related Articles Wave of anti-science bills pushed by Robert F Kennedy Jr allies hits statehouses endangering healthcare protections Opinion Cuts to Medicaid and insurance subsidies will push ERs past the brink Thousands in Bay Area to see robustness care costs spike as Democrats blast Trump and GOP Strike at Kaiser Permanente robustness care facilities ends with plans for further talks Music could help ease pain from surgery or illness Scientists are listening Powerful anti-vaccine advocates and people selling potentially harmful goods such as raw milk are profiting from the push to write anti-science policies into law across the U S They object to the term anti-science and portray the MAHA movement as grassroots But it s fueled by a web of well-funded national groups led by people who ve profited financially and otherwise from sowing distrust of medicine and science Whether by advancing their careers or selling more products these leaders are finding tactics to benefit One way activists promote those ideas is through state regulation Supporters argued that making money or increasing sales for businesses such as dairy farmers was a reason to pass a few of the bills that would remove consumer protections AP discovered In at least one event that reasoning was spelled out in the text of the bill Helping businesses through MAHA A core criticism Kennedy and his allies repeat about big pharmaceutical companies and the diagnostic establishment is that they are motivated by profits But the trillion global wellness arena is big business too and it s benefiting them Surgeon general nominee Casey Means has made money promoting dozens of vitality and wellness products including a blood testing organization and she cofounded a nutrition sleep and exercise-tracking app Her brother Calley Means a close Kennedy aide continues his involvement in TrueMed a company that promotes wellness alternatives Bigtree spoke at ExpoWest in a session aimed at the supplement industry Sector research presented during the session evidenced the industry reached billion in sales in In Delaware a bill legalizing raw milk sales last year disclosed it may increase profits for Delaware dairy producers Several farmers testified in favor with one calling it a million economic opportunity The bill s synopsis cited the Raw Milk Institute saying raw milk producers can earn a profit nearly times that of regular pasteurized milk Pasteurization destroys dangerous bacteria that can make people sick The Raw Milk Institute was founded by California farmer Mark McAfee who reported his Raw Farm LLC is the world s largest producer of raw milk AP revealed McAfee has testified in more than half a dozen states to increase access to raw milk A bill in Missouri would allow retail sales of raw milk from farms approved to be listed by the Raw Milk Institute RELATED Maverick operator of California raw milk dairy could have role in Trump s FDA But McAfee s own operation demonstrates how challenging it is to protect raw milk from contamination It has had eight recalls related to raw milk products since according to the state though McAfee declared four of those are not related to illness That history didn t come up when McAfee testified in favor of the Delaware bill not even that just a scarce months before the hearing his farm was identified as the source of a salmonella outbreak that state records last year proved sickened at least people McAfee disputed that number and defended the omission He had only seconds to testify and explained he did so on behalf of the institute and not his farm Still video shows he identified himself as being from both the Raw Milk Institute and Raw Farm As raw milk gains broader acceptance McAfee s operation has grown from million in annual sales in to an expected million this year We re doing great he described AP During the Delaware hearing one lawmaker pointed to federal recommendations against drinking raw milk because of concerns around bird flu In response microbiologist Peg Coleman testified there was no scientific basis for the recommendations She has disclosed in the past that her work had been financially supported by the Raw Milk Institute and the Weston A Price Foundation which is among the groups AP exposed pushing anti-science bills Coleman notified AP raw milk isn t inherently dangerous and that the funding didn t affect her findings Delaware s bill became law last fall Two months later a California man disclosed his pet cats died after drinking raw milk from McAfee s farm that had been recalled for the hazard of bird flu McAfee declared he doesn t know if milk from his farm caused cats to die Gaining from activism Numerous of the people involved in groups pushing anti-science bills have built lucrative careers on their stance and benefited from the millions of dollars that flow through the movement One of Bigtree s companies was paid working on Kennedy s presidential campaign in and A second was paid from another Kennedy-affiliated group the MAHA Alliance from October to December of last year In another anti-vaccine group he leads the Informed Consent Action Grid or ICAN paid him After Kennedy was picked as vitality secretary Kennedy gave the MAHA trademark to a company managed by Bigtree Kennedy s ethics disclosure reported he transferred ownership for no compensation after making in licensing fees from it in the minimal months he had the trademark In an ICAN video on Facebook in August Bigtree celebrated the group s prosperous lawsuit to compel Mississippi to allow religious exemptions from vaccines Then he explained they would double down on efforts to change the law in other states where religious exemptions aren t allowed Bigtree required supporters to help by buying a brick for as much as to pave a terrace at ICAN s offices where he works Bigtree did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent to him at ICAN Kennedy s spokesman did not answer questions Tony Lyons who runs MAHA Action and other MAHA-related groups supporting Kennedy and his agenda leads Kennedy s longtime publisher Skyhorse The company has published numerous anti-vaccine books by Kennedy and others and has a publishing deal with Kennedy s former nonprofit Lyons communicated AP his books present a responsible argument based on rigorous research and called the term anti-vaccine a pharmaceutical company talking point Lyons who ran a pro-Kennedy super PAC during his presidential campaign has in recent days been running Zoom calls with activists across the country where administration executives including Calley Means encourage them During his ExpoWest appearance with Bigtree Means declared the supplement industry should be going on offense He noted the movement s goals would benefit businesses in the room by incentivizing nutritious food or supplements people take to stay healthy rather than pharmaceuticals The entire discussion was around a moment to put healthy food at the top of the national agenda he notified AP via text when petitioned to comment for this story At the expo he disclosed There is a true moment here Marshaling your companies speaking out educating members of Congress local lawmakers as Del s group is doing so well there s a real opportunity here The Associated Press Physical condition and Science Department receives encouragement from the Howard Hughes Biological Institute s Department of Science Guidance and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content