Overview

• The initiative, called Make Our Children Healthy Again, also targets youth nutrition, physical activity and health communications.
• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the NIH will study psychopharmaceutical prescribing in minors and review potential influences such as video games and social media.
• The announcement revives a decades-old policy cycle dating to 1990s Senate hearings that led to the ESRB ratings system.
• Major reviews, including by the American Psychological Association and studies from Oxford and York, report no causal connection between violent games and lethal violence.
• Critics, citing a 2024 Johns Hopkins report, argue the emphasis risks diverting attention from firearm access as a key driver of U.S. mass-shooting rates.