By Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday praised Texas leadership for aligning the state with his Make America Healthy Again agenda by removing dangerous additives from food and other measures.

“I’ve been to many states, but there is no state, with maybe the possible exception of Louisiana, that has passed this far-reaching legislation,” he said during an event focused on Gov. Greg Abbott’s signing of three nutrition bills — Senate bills 25, 314 and 379.

Kennedy also commended Texas’ effort to make ivermectin an over-the-counter drug. Ivermectin, which has become a symbol for the medical choice movement, is typically used to address parasites in livestock but has been used off-label to treat COVID-19.

“I think it's a really good bill. I think Americans should have the choice,” Kennedy said. “After Trump left office, there was this movement to put everybody into this funnel without choice in doing that. The state got between this sacred relationship between doctors and their patients.”

SB 379 prohibits Texans who receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program from purchasing soda and candy with their Lone Star card.

Under SB 314 , school districts and open-enrollment charter schools are prohibited from providing free or reduced-price meals that contain a specific list of food additives and substances deemed harmful.

SB 25 requires food manufacturers to label foods that contain any one of 44 additives or colorings not permitted in food sold in the United Kingdom, Australia, the European Union, or Canada.

“This is one of the most prolific bipartisan pieces of legislation that was passed this session,” Abbott said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican, whatever the case may be, every legislator in Texas wants to see Texas be put on a pathway to be healthier, and these laws that I’m signing today chart that pathway.”

The state labeling requirements would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 25 also requires elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions to re-prioritize health and exercise. It also requires health professionals to complete continuing education courses on nutrition and metabolic health. And it will require recess or physical activity for kids in charter schools – physical activity is already needed in public schools.

“Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to fund chronic health problems in our state. These are bipartisan laws that I am proud to sign into effect,” Abbott said, surrounded by Republican lawmakers.

This package of bills aligns with Kennedy’s national efforts to promote transparency in food labeling and combat chronic diseases, such as diabetes.

Kennedy said multiple times throughout the bill signing that children are in a more unhealthy state than when he was growing up, and the only thing that can be blamed on is the food.

“I know that is not how our children are supposed to look,” he said, mentioning diabetes and autism statistics rising amongst young people since he was a child.

Kennedy said Americans should have choice in their medical treatment and compared states trying to step in between the patient and doctor to “medical tyranny that is brutal and savage and merciless and lethal."

“We need to return our medical profession to an obligation not to serve state interests or state agendas, but to treat their patients,” he said.

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