By: Greg LaRose and Piper Hutchinson - June 27, 2025 Louisiana Illuminator
Gov. Jeff Landry endorsed legislation Friday to “Make American Healthy Again” with the nation’s controversial top health official at his side for the bill signing ceremony.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended a bill signing ceremony at Pennington Biomedical Research Center after helping craft legislation the Louisiana Legislature approved unanimously to regulate what ingredients can be in the food served in public school lunches.
Kennedy said he anticipates other states will follow Louisiana’s lead, resulting in food manufacturers proactively making changes to improve the contents of their products and reduce the amount of ultra-processed food they generate.
“We’re seeing the companies coming to the table … because they don’t want what you’re doing here in Louisiana,” Kennedy told the audience.
The key bill Landry signed was Senate Bill 14 by Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, which bans several dyes, artificial sweeteners and other ingredients from school meals. In its original state, the proposal also sought to restrict what people could purchase with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, but those provisions were stripped out during the legislative process.
“It’s about transparency for restaurants and food manufacturers to disclose the types of foods they’re serving us and the impacts on our bodies,” McMath said during his introduction of Kennedy and the governor.
Landry announced Friday he would seek a waiver from the Trump administration to prohibit the purchase of some unhealthy foods with SNAP benefits and seek permission to let people buy certain prepared foods, such as rotisserie chicken.
McMath’s bill is part of a nationwide backlash against “ultra-processed foods,” food dyes, seed oils and certain chemical additives Kennedy has targeted for elimination. Such products are typically high in calories, sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.
Kennedy, who worked with McMath on the bill, said most of America’s chronic health issues can be linked to the foods they consume.
Also signed was Senate Bill 19 by Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, which allows pharmacists to provide ivermectin without a doctor’s prescription. Its proponents say ivermectin can be successfully used to treat a variety of ailments, including COVID-19, though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only approved its use for intestinal parasites in pill form and to treat head lice and rosacea as a topical cream.
Though Kennedy praised the bills Landry signed into law, he also called for Congress to approve comparable federal measures.
“We need national laws, and we’re going to do it on our own,” Kennedy said.
The bill signing ceremony took place at a conference center on the Pennington campus, where the audience included supporters and their children wearing green “MAHA Louisiana” hats. They took to the stage to provide a backdrop for Landry and Kennedy.
Approximately a dozen conservative legislators were also in attendance. Earlier this month, the state legislature approved $2 million for Pennington in the state budget to fill in the gaps of Kennedy’s cuts.
The LSU Board of Supervisors recessed its bi-monthly meeting so its members could take part in the event.
Kennedy previously came to Baton Rouge in 2021 to testify before state lawmakers against a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for K-12 students. It was Landry, who was then the state’s attorney general, who invited him to appear before the House committee.
Kennedy’s appearance at Pennington Biomedical Research Center comes as the future of some employees at the facility and their work are in question as the Trump administration proposes drastic reductions in health and scientific research.
Most recently, Kennedy has removed the members of a vaccine advisory panel for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and replaced them with vaccine skeptics.
Pennington has so far lost $4.1 million in federal research funding from agencies Kennedy oversees, which does not include the tens of millions more they are slated to lose if Kennedy’s proposed slashing of “indirect cost rates” goes into effect.
When the Illuminator approached Kennedy after the event to ask about these cuts, a staff member quickly whisked him away, saying “he’s not taking questions.”
Dozens of people lined Perkins Road outside the research center to protest Kennedy’s visit.
The people gathered included Jeanne George of Baton Rouge, whose granddaughters accompanied her and held protest signs by the roadside waiting for Kennedy to arrive.
“I grew up in the 1950s, and I had classmates who had braces because of polio,” George said. “So I’ve seen the benefits of vaccinations from the 1950s on, and I just feel so strongly about the importance of not not rolling us back. We need to continue to have the children being vaccinated. We need to have the flu vaccines. We need to have scientists making decisions about vaccinations and about health.”
Gayle Choojitarom, a retired cardiopulmonary health care professional, came to the protest from Watson. She worked the latter stretch of her career in New Orleans and took issue with the governor choosing a research institute for a “Make America Healthy Again” event.
“If legislation is put forth to Make America healthy again, it should be led by science and by facts and not by vibes and opinions,” Choojitarom said.
She recalled treating someone in the late 1980s who contracted polio and relied on an iron lung, a respiratory device that helps someone breathe when they have trouble doing so on their own. The eradication of polio through vaccines in the U.S. in 1979 all but eliminated the need for such equipment, but Choojitarom said she fears Kennedy’s policy on vaccine approval and research will erase such progress.
“We’re going to see more people die,” she said.” We’re going to see children die. We’re going to see babies die.”