Overmedicalized? Absolutely
The first MAHA Commission report appeared last week and astounded nearly everyone with its boldness. It was about diet, exercise, and screen time, complete with eye-popping charts, but that’s not all.
BY BROWNSTONE INSTITUTE
The first MAHA Commission report appeared last week, and astounded nearly everyone with its boldness. It was about diet, exercise, and screen time, complete with eye-popping charts, but that’s not all.
The report targets overmedicalization in general with a particular target on the pharmaceutical industry, which Trump at a press conference described as the most well-endowed and fearsome in Washington, D.C.
The report zeroed in not only on the overuse of antibiotics but also on psych meds in all age groups. Nor did the report eschew the elephant in the room: the V word and the childhood schedule, which has heretofore been a taboo subject.
Brownstone is addressing many of these subjects in its September 12-13 retreat at Polyface Farm in Virginia. The response has surpassed our expectations. It’s early for registrations to be this high so we expect it will sell out. Early bird pricing ends May 31.
Quick heads up: the MAHA report and the progress being made, however small for now, have provoked a wave of attacks on Brownstone’s work. We are not backing down. We need your support now to intensify and expand.
Three new books are rocking the literary scene:
1. The Deep State Goes Viral by Debbie Lerman is the fullest and clearest documentation of the strangest part of the Covid experience.
2. The Covid Response at Five Years: A History of the End of Civilization by the editorial team at Brownstone is comprehensive, beautifully written, and provides the most coherent account yet written on what we’ve lived through.
3. The Medical Masquerade: A Physician Exposes the Deceptions of Covid by Clayton Baker has garnered wide praise for its medical focus.
The Greater Boston Supper Club welcomes founder and Executive Director of Health Action, MA Candice Edwards and Attorney Advocate Vanessa Pompeii-Britt on Tuesday, June 3rd. Their talk will cover several high-impact proposals such as eliminating the religious exemption for K–12 school attendance and undermining parental rights in medical decision-making. Get tickets here.
The Midwest Supper Club welcomes Brownstone Institute Fellow Bret Swanson on Monday, June 9th. Bret will talk about how the Internet unleashed expertise and scrambled the brains of the experts, as well as how artificial intelligence will amplify the Internet’s power for good and ill. Get tickets here.
Here is some content since our last email.
The WHO Keeps Failing Upward By Ramesh Thakur. The premise of the accords is an inflated account of pandemic risk that is simply not supported by historical evidence. Its effect will be to distort health priorities away from the real health needs and other goals of many countries.
Japan Rides the Censorship Bandwagon By Bruce Davidson. Japan has been evolving into a place where it is difficult to express ideas. In addition to government and media collusion to keep Covid medical realities from the Japanese public, the government passed a law to squelch nonconforming messaging online.
Trump’s War on Leaks: Is Journalism the Next Casualty? By Maryanne Demasi. I understand the need to protect national security, but safeguarding it must never become an excuse to silence legitimate scrutiny — or intimidate journalists whose role is to hold the powerful to account — or to punish whistleblowers exposing real wrongdoing.
In the Name of Health: First Reactions to the MAHA Report By Jeffrey Tucker. The first report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission is out, with a particular focus on children’s health. The relatively short report includes data on obesity, heart disease, diabetes, life expectancy, substance abuse, mental illness, and many other terribles.
The Deep State Goes Viral: Introduction By Debbie Lerman. I hope the research and analysis presented will wake more people up to the crucial understanding that Covid was not a public health event. Rather, it was a demonstration of the crushing power exerted by an ever-expanding global deep state.
Why I Came around to Online Learning By Rob Jenkins. If you’re an early- or mid-career faculty member and you’ve never tried teaching online—except perhaps for an unpleasant Zoom experience in 2020-21—I would encourage you to give real online teaching a try.
Officials Covered Up Sick Athletes at Wuhan Military Games By Bill Rice. In today’s dispatch, I present evidence that numerous visitors to the Military World Games in Wuhan, China developed Covid-19 symptoms in October 2019 – evidence that has NOT been investigated by public health or military officials anywhere in the world.
The First Step on the Covid Shots By Clayton J. Baker. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) is holding a very important meeting on May 22, 2025. Under consideration at this meeting is the fate of the Covid booster shots.
Clerical Abuse Redefined By Thomas Harrington. When we hear the term “clerical abuse,” I think most of us think of perverse sexual behavior. But it seems worth asking if the parameters of the term might need to be expanded to include other abuses of power.
The Mandates of the Managerial State By Bruce Pardy. We still don’t know who colluded with China. But we can be confident that House of Commons staffers aren’t wanted for murder. Controlling the people and shielding the powerful are mandates of the modern managerial state.
The Mom Executive Order By Christine Black. Your mom was right. The government should not have closed schools; you should have been able to breathe and play freely with your friends; the Covid period fear and hysteria devastated and harmed and never should have happened.
The WHO Cannot Be Saved By David Bell and Ramesh Thakur. The WHO, at nearly 80 years old, comes from a bygone era, and is increasingly estranged from its world. We can do better. Fundamental change in the way we manage international health cooperation will be painful but ultimately healthy.