Many Americans support key parts of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s desire to “make America healthy again,” according to new Axios/Ipsos survey results.
Many said the government should do more to make food safe and that foods containing chemicals or unsafe additives are health risks, the Axios/Ipsos American Health Index results found.
Nearly nine in 10 said it should be easier for the average American to understand food safety guidelines.
A similar number said the government should do more to make sure food is safe, such as updating nutritional guidelines, adding labels to foods with artificial dyes or reducing exposure to pesticides.
The survey found that 56% of respondents said chemicals or unsafe additives in foods are a large or moderate risk to their health, but only 41% said they feel the same about eating or drinking things with food dye.
As for foods containing pesticides or artificial food dyes, 67% said they do not think the foods are safe to eat, even if they’ve been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
That belief is shared by a majority of Republicans (71%), Democrats (66%) and independents (65%).
A plurality (38%) of Americans said the U.S. government should remove all artificial dyes from foods, even if it makes food cost more by using natural dyes.
One in 5 (22%) support requiring the removal of some artificial dyes from foods if the cost and look of foods can stay mostly the same, while 20% say the government should allow artificial dyes in foods but require added labels for people to make their own choices.
Only 2% said the government should allow artificial dyes in foods and not change anything about the packaging.
Last month, a commission led by RFK Jr. issued a report that said processed food, chemicals, stress, and overprescription of medications and vaccines may be factors behind chronic illness in American children.
Kennedy said the commission’s report was a “clarion call to do something with utmost urgency to end this crisis” of increasing rates of childhood obesity, diabetes, cancer, mental health disorders, allergies, and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.
This Axios/Ipsos Poll was conducted June 13-16 by Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel® and has a margin of sampling error of ±3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,104 general population adults 18 or older.
Reuters contributed to this story.
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