This spring, two advisers to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed an audience at a natural products industry trade show in California that drew tens of thousands of people from food brands, investment banks, supplement sellers and other companies.
Their message: The goals of the Make America Healthy Again movement will help your bottom lines.
"It blows my mind that I'm going to watch the Republicans carry the supplement industry and the holistic health industry and chiropractors and the acupuncturists into the promised land," said Del Bigtree, according to video of the remarks. At the time, he led MAHA Action, one of the groups an Associated Press investigation found pushing bills in states.
Powerful anti-vaccine advocates and people selling potentially harmful goods such as raw milk profit from the MAHA legislative push. They object to the term "anti-science" and portray the MAHA movement as grassroots, though it is fueled by well-funded national groups led by people who profited from sowing distrust of medicine and science.
Supporters of such legislation argued that making money or increasing sales for businesses was a reason to pass some of the bills that would remove consumer protections, AP found.
Helping businesses
Kennedy and his allies say big pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishment are motivated by profits, but the $1.5 trillion global wellness market is big business, too.
Surgeon general nominee Casey Means made money promoting health and wellness products, including a blood testing service, and she cofounded a nutrition, sleep and exercise-tracking app. Her brother, close Kennedy aide Calley Means, continues his involvement in TrueMed, a company that promotes wellness alternatives.
Bigtree spoke at ExpoWest in a session aimed at the supplement industry. Market research presented during the session showed the industry reached $69.3 billion in sales last year.
In Delaware, a bill legalizing raw milk sales last year said it "may increase profits for Delaware dairy producers." Several farmers testified in favor, with one calling it "a $15.6 million economic opportunity." The bill's synopsis cited the Raw Milk Institute, saying raw milk producers can earn a profit nearly 10 times that of pasteurized milk.
Pasteurization destroys dangerous bacteria that can make people sick.
The Raw Milk Institute was founded by California farmer Mark McAfee, who said his Raw Farm LLC is the world's largest producer of raw milk. AP found McAfee testified in more than half a dozen states to increase access to raw milk. A bill in Missouri would allow retail sales of raw milk from farms approved to be listed by the Raw Milk Institute.
McAfee's operation grew from $8 million in annual sales in 2012 to an expected $32 million this year. It had eight recalls related to raw milk products since 2015, according to the state, though he said four of those were not related to illness.
Months before the hearing, his farm was identified as the source of a salmonella outbreak that state records last year showed sickened at least 165 people. McAfee disputed that number.
That history didn't come up when McAfee testified in favor of the Delaware bill. He had only 90 seconds to testify and said he did so on behalf of the institute, not his farm. Still, video shows he identified himself as being from both the Raw Milk Institute and Raw Farm.
At the hearing, one lawmaker pointed to federal recommendations against drinking raw milk because of concerns about bird flu.
Microbiologist Peg Coleman testified there was "no scientific basis" for the recommendations. She disclosed in the past that her work was financially supported by the Raw Milk Institute and the Weston A. Price Foundation, which is among the groups AP found pushing legislation. Coleman told AP raw milk isn't inherently dangerous and said the funding didn't affect her findings.
Delaware's bill became law last fall. Two months later, a California man said his pet cats died after drinking raw milk from McAfee's farm that was recalled due to risk of bird flu. McAfee said he doesn't know if milk from his farm caused the cats to die.
Gaining from activism
Many people involved in groups pushing such bills built lucrative careers on their stance and benefited from the movement.
One of Bigtree's companies was paid $350,000 for working on Kennedy's presidential campaign. A second was paid $184,000 from another Kennedy-affiliated group, the MAHA Alliance, late last year. In 2023, another anti-vaccine group he leads, the Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN, paid him $234,000.
After Trump tapped him to be health secretary, Kennedy's ethics disclosure said he transferred ownership of the MAHA trademark to a company managed by Bigtree for "no compensation" after making $100,000 in licensing fees from it.
In an ICAN video on Facebook in August, Bigtree celebrated the group's successful lawsuit to compel Mississippi to allow religious exemptions from vaccines. He said they would "double down" on efforts to change the law in other states where religious exemptions aren't allowed. Bigtree asked supporters to help by buying a brick for as much as $300 to pave a terrace at ICAN's offices, where he works.
Bigtree did not respond to requests for comment. Kennedy's spokesman did not answer questions.
Tony Lyons, who runs MAHA Action and other MAHA-related groups supporting Kennedy and his agenda, leads Kennedy's longtime publisher, Skyhorse. The company published anti-vaccine books by Kennedy and others and has a publishing deal with Kennedy's former nonprofit.
Lyons called the term anti-vaccine a "pharmaceutical company talking point."
At ExpoWest, Calley Means said the movement's goals would benefit businesses by incentivizing nutritious food or supplements people take to stay healthy, rather than pharmaceuticals.
