Since January 20th, we’ve been battered by a steady drumbeat of threats to the public’s health.

From cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants to mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we could soon be at greater risk of dying not only from cancer, infections, and other illnesses, but from hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. 

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (Nutrition Action’s publisher) has a new strategic plan for the next five years that makes us well equipped to face these challenges. Among its priorities: 

Preventing food from making people sick

In March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to cut 10,000 employees, including 3,500 at the FDA, the agency that quashes food poisoning outbreaks, reviews the safety of chemicals in food, ensures that infant formula doesn’t sicken babies, and more.

Those sweeping cuts could be devastating to the public’s health. We’ll keep fighting them. 

Improving the safety of drugs and medical devices

In March, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., suggested that parents can treat measles with cod liver oil, which is high in vitamin A. Doctors later had to treat a handful of children for liver damage due to excess vitamin A.

RFK, Jr., has since grudgingly conceded that vaccines are the best way to prevent measles. But by April, the disease was already spreading in 24 states.

Also in March, HHS hired a vaccine skeptic as a data analyst to conduct a study of vaccines and autism, the Washington Post reported. The skeptic, discredited researcher David Geier, was once disciplined by the state of Maryland for practicing medicine without a license. 

Improving access to healthy foods

Congress is considering cuts to free school meals for 12 million children, and is adding red tape that would make it difficult for millions more to receive free meals. And its proposed cuts to SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) would harm 42 million people. The proposals would take money from families struggling to make ends meet in order to pay for massive tax cuts for billionaires.

These and other actions make a mockery of the administration’s promise to “Make America Healthy Again.” We’re mobilizing our networks to fight them.

Our vision for a healthier America pushes for health equity to address the root causes of health disparities and would make it easier for people to eat foods that protect our planet as well as our health.

We won’t back down.

More about our vision for a healthier America 

• CSPI and your health: Our strategic plan for 2025-2030
• Our mission, vision, and strategic priorities 

More about recent threats to public health 

• FDA floats chaotic reorganization as staff purges continue
• RFJ Jr.’s cuts to FDA are a threat to public health and safety
• RFK Jr.’s gutting of the FDA will undermine food, medical product safety, innovation
• Trump’s tariffs and trade wars threaten our food security