The White House will adjust a significant medical report after it was revealed that cited studies either do not exist or have been incorrectly attributed. The controversial report, Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), addresses, among other things, the health of chronically ill children.
MAHA is a medical report outlining plans to improve the health of American children, including a call for increased oversight of vaccinations. The report purportedly relies on over five hundred scientific sources. However, news outlet Notus discovered several issues with the substantiation, including that seven studies do not exist.
Four scientists told news agency AFP that their names are wrongly associated with studies. They either did not co-write them, or the studies do not exist at all.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Thursday that these were “formatting issues.” According to her, the errors do not detract from the report’s content. She declined to provide further details, such as who compiled the report. She expressed confidence in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Experts have told The Washington Post that the controversial source attribution shows characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI). For example, some links in the footnotes refer to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Kennedy Jr. previously pledged to use AI to make American healthcare more efficient.
Kennedy Jr. is a well-known anti-vaxxer. For years, he spread conspiracy theories about vaccinations, such as the claim that they cause autism. Scientists have repeatedly refuted these claims.