AUSTIN, Texas — Texas recently became the latest to implement public health initiatives aligned with the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, introducing laws targeting additives and sugary foods.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. commended the Legislature on Wednesday at a bill-signing event with Gov. Greg Abbott for a group of MAHA-inspired laws.
“Few states, perhaps only Louisiana, have enacted more extensive legislation, and none fought harder,” Kennedy stated, noting Texas is “leading the nation” in the MAHA movement.
Abbott said, “Texas is doing its part to make Texas healthy again by the laws I’m signing today.”
The laws will introduce comprehensive fitness and nutrition education in public schools and mandate a warning on food products containing any of 44 harmful additives identified by the state.
This warning affects manufacturers using additives like bleached flour, partially hydrogenated oil, and various food dyes. By 2027, such products must display a label that says: “WARNING: This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom.”
The state Senate unanimously passed the labeling bill, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House.
An additional law restricts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, from purchasing sweetened beverages and candy. While this plan faced opposition from state food banks, it was passed with bipartisan backing.
“Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund chronic health problems in our state,” Abbott said.
The third bill requires school districts to eliminate certain additives from free and reduced price school lunches.
MAHA in the states
Kennedy’s proposals have had more success at the state level than in Washington, where legislation would require support from Senate Democrats. He has argued that states can help accomplish MAHA’s goals by pressuring food manufacturers to change their nationwide practices.
“I told President Trump that we are going to end the chronic disease epidemic. We can’t do it from Washington,” Kennedy said Wednesday.
“The food companies are coming to us — 40% of food manufacturers have agreed to remove the nine synthetic petroleum-based dyes from their food. Why did they do that? They didn’t do it because they are scared of me. They did it because they are scared of what’s happening here in Texas today,” he said.
But Texas is still notably behind in many critical public health metrics, particularly health insurance: It has the highest uninsured rate in the country.
Kennedy is hoping Texas can do more to advance his policy goals, specifically on ivermectin. Its most common use is in livestock, but Kennedy has promoted it for potential alternative uses to treat the coronavirus, and he wants to clear the way for ivermectin to be purchased over the counter.
A bill to do just that passed the Texas House on a mostly party-line vote Wednesday.
“I think it’s a really good bill,” Kennedy said. “I think Americans should have the choice.”
