U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Gov. Greg Abbott and roughly 70 state lawmakers at a ceremony in Austin on Wednesday celebrating a bill package they passed to implement health and food safety reforms.
“I’ve been to many, many states,” Kennedy said, “but there are no states, with the exception of Louisiana,” that have passed legislation like Texas has, he said. “I am so happy that the leadership in this state stepped up to end the problem of chronic disease.”
Kennedy said since the “Make America Healthy Again” movement began, “40% of food manufacturers in this country have now agreed to remove nine synthetic petroleum-based dyes from their food.”
“Why did they do that? They didn’t do that because they’re scared of me,” he said. “They did it because they’re scared of what’s happening in Texas today.”
He also highlighted other bills the legislature passed that he said would help Americans nationwide, including banning lab-based meat. Texas was the seventh state to implement a ban this year, The Center Square reported.
Abbott said Kennedy “catalyzed a movement to make America healthy again, and now Texas is doing his part to make Texas healthy” through a bipartisan bill package.