MAKING AMERICANS HEALTHY
Cindy Maddera
When Food, Inc was released in 2008, Chris and I saw it at the Noble Theater, the little movie theater tucked inside the OKC Art Museum. We had season passes for this theater because it was always playing the small independent things that we couldn’t find at the big theaters. This was also the same time I was on a cleansing diet for yoga teacher training. We saw this documentary and our heads kind of exploded. It completely changed our food habits, shifting from ultra-processed to fresh and locally sourced foods. I went down a rabbit hole of reading every label on every food item I picked up. To this day, my meal plan (and the one I force on Michael) consists mostly of fresh vegetables and is designed to minimize food waste. I have been a proponent of the benefits of eating whole foods for years. I have seen the scientific data that supports the claims of these benefits. I have also read the scientific data on the detrimental environmental impact of factory farming.
So, I have to admit, I kind of agree with Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s beef (punny) with ultra-processed foods.
To be fair, there’s a number of good things in the Make America Healthy Again(MAHA) program. Limiting screen time for children. Encouraging physical activity. Limiting exposure to pollutants. These are all really great ways to make us all a little bit more healthy. In fact there are a number of scientific papers out there that suggests all of those things lead to a healthier life. The problem that arises with MAHA is when those ideas contradict scientific data. Like the persistent idea that vaccinations are the cause of autism. There was ONE paper, years ago that suggested a link between the two. It has since been retracted due to falsified data.
RFK has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and History (1976) and a Masters of Laws degree (1987). This man has zero scientific background or education. If asked, he’d be hard pressed to answer a basic biological question like the anatomy of a cell. Yet, this man has been put in charge of our nation’s health which includes the management of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Health. So basically…the equivalent to the TikToc influencer who claims coffee enemas and drinking apple cider vinegar will cure your cancer, is in charge of the C.D.C and the N.I.H. and he’s fired all of the scientists who disagrees with his belief system.
Science is not a religion or faith based.
Let’s talk about community. Many of us have children who attend public schools. Many of us visit public institutions like libraries. We share space with each other in all walks of life from grocery shopping to bus rides. This makes us all part of a community. Herd immunity refers to a point in time where it is hard for a disease to spread through a group of people (a community). Herd immunity rates vary but for most viruses, including measles, herd immunity requires 95% of the population in a community. If 95% of a group has immunity to measles, that virus is going to have a real hard time spreading itself around. This is important because five percent of our group are people who couldn’t get vaccinated, but now they’re less likely to contract measles which can be deadly. During the COVID pandemic, children missed getting their measles vaccinations. This lead to an increase in deaths due to measles. Perfect and cruel example of herd immunity. A population (children) go with out vaccinations while in isolation. That population comes out of isolation and are grouped all together in the same space. We’ve gone from 95% immunity rates to maybe 10%, putting the measles virus back in play. Now, some viruses (like COVID and the flu) mutate too quickly for us to develop herd immunity. That is why we have yearly flu shots and why we should be getting yearly COVID vaccinations. This gives us a better chance of herd immunity and helps reduce the spread of the virus. This is beneficial for people who are physically unable to get the vaccine.
Getting vaccinated makes a good member of the community.
But it’s not splashy or sensational or dramatic. It’s not a conspiracy theory which for some reason, people are more inclined to believe than actual science. Lyme disease was not produced in a lab and then released into the world. Apple cider vinegar is not going to cure you of whatever you think is ailing you. If you stand in front of your bathroom mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times with the lights off, you will not summon the ghost of Bloody Mary. I am one hundred percent behind MAHA if it includes funding for good nutrition for under privileged kids and more funding for cleaning up our environment. But I cannot condone or support anyone who wants to create policies based on whatever wack-a-doodle conspiracy they just heard about from your mom’s second cousin, Earl.
What if we created something called MASHA: Make Americans Smarter and Healthier Again?
Extra reading: The myth of vaccination and autism spectrum