A handful of Republican lawmakers on Wednesday brought up concerns about how the Trump administration’s recent actions stand to affect their constituents at a budget hearing with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
While welcoming to Kennedy, several GOP members of the House Appropriations Committee questioned the secretary on how recent moves by his department and President Trump’s White House, such as efforts to discontinue the use of artificial food dye as well as plans to ban fluoride, would directly impact their districts.
Tennessee Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R) spoke on behalf of the snack food manufacturers in his district. The candy company Mars Inc. has a manufacturing plant in Fleischmann’s district.
“Candidly, I represent many snack manufacturers,” Fleischmann said. “We want to make sure that FDA has done due diligence to ensure the safety of these replacement colors.”
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans for food makers to voluntarily phase out several petroleum-based food dyes, citing concerns they’re linked to conditions like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obesity, diabetes and cancer. The agency has proposed vegetable-based dyes as replacements.
“I think these dyes are safe. They’ve been approved, but really trying to find substitutes — the costs we’ve seen estimate five to 10 times to try to fix that,” Fleischmann added.
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) sought assurances from Kennedy that the administration would continue to reverse its firing of more than 100 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) employees, with many employees having been at a Morgantown facility in Moore’s district.
“This facility and the programs that administers are absolutely critical to West Virginia and to our nation’s coal industry,” Moore said. He also sought a guarantee from Kennedy that the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program and the Respirator Approval Program at NIOSH will be fully reinstated to which Kennedy responded in the affirmative.
Other lawmakers spoke on behalf of those in their profession and how recent actions at HHS could influence their field.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a longtime practicing dentist, expressed concerns over Kennedy’s aims to eliminate fluoride from drinking water. He noted that on Tuesday, the FDA had announced plans to ban ingestible fluoride for children and pushed back on the characterization FDA Commissioner Marty Makary made of the products. Makary said in a statement that fluoride could kill beneficial bacteria in the gut in the same way that it kills bacteria on teeth.
“You don’t prevent cavities by fluoride killing the bacteria in the mouth. What it does is make the enamel more resistant to decay. So I want to see the studies on this and where we’re headed with this,” Simpson said, warning that if Kennedy succeeds in his aims of banning fluoride, the country will need “a whole lot more dentists.”
