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Last week, the secretary of health and social services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 73 pages report of the presidential commission to make America again in good health which evaluated the deep causes of chronic diseases in children. The report put the blame for the crisis on many factors, including poor diet, chronic stress, environmental chemicals, lack of physical activity and over -mediation.
“We are going to put an end to the child’s chronic disease crisis by attacking his deep causes – not just to manage his symptoms,” said Kennedy statement. “We will follow the truth wherever it leads, support rigorous science and will know the daring policies that first put the health, development and the future of each child.”
But the new relationships are cast a doubt about the very promoted Maha report and the veracity of its cited sources. According to NotusA large part of the supply of the report is full of errors and inconsistencies, including the referencing of seven studies and articles that do not exist. In a case, a footnote lists an article entitled “Changes in mental health and drug addiction with us and adolescents during the Covid-19 pandemic” which would have been published in Jama Pediatrics, a renowned medical journal. However, the link provided to the document does not work.
In addition, Notus contacted Katherine Keyes, an epidemiologist listed as one of the authors of the article, and she confirmed that there was no document of this type. “The newspaper quoted is not a real document with which me or my colleagues were involved,” she said at the exit in an email. “We have certainly done research on this subject, but we have not published a document in Jama Pediatrics on this subject with this group of co-author, or with this title.”
In another example, the report cited an article entitled “Direct advertising to consumers of psychotropic drugs for young people: an increasing concern” which would have been written by Robert L. Findling, psychiatric researcher. But when Notus contacted her employer, Virginia Commonwealth University, a spokesperson confirmed that Findling had not written the referenced article.
Report of USA today found that the report misinterpreted an article cited by Mariana Figueiro, professor at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai. The Maha report cited Figuio’s study as proof of the harmful effects that electronic devices can have on the sleeping of children, but, according to Figueiro itself, the study was focused on students and measured the “suppression of melatonin”.
“The study is ours, but unfortunately, the report’s conclusions are not accurate and the reference of the newspaper is incorrect,” Figueiro told USA Today in an email. “We have other articles on the subject … But again, none of them were made with children.”
During a press briefing Thursday, the press secretary of the White House Karoline Leavitt minimized Notus’ report on the Maha report, expressing his confidence in his conclusions. THE new York Times The reports according to which the original version of the report was deleted and replaced by an update.
“We have total confidence in secretary Kennedy and his team at HHS. I understand that there have been formatting problems with the Maha report which are treated and the report will be updated,” she said. “But that does not deny the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformed health relationships ever published by the federal government.”
The apparently invented quotes of the article have aroused speculation according to which a certain form of generative artificial intelligence could have been used during the preparation of the report. Ivan Oransky, a professor at New York University who runs a website dedicated to monitoring retractions in medical research, said Times Although it cannot be said for certainty that AI has been used in the report, this recalls similar cases where it has been used. “We have already seen this film in particular, and it is unfortunately much more common in scientific literature than people would not wish or that it should really be,” he said Times.
But when asked if the AI had been used to assemble the report, Leavitt went to the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
“I can’t talk about it,” she said.
