WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., called Friday on state authorities to ban people from using assistance known as food stamps to buy sugary drinks.

The declaration sent soda makers' stocks reeling.

Speaking at an event in West Virginia alongside Republican Governor Patrick Morrisey, Kennedy said the state — one of the poorest in the United States — had submitted a waiver request to prevent food stamp recipients from using the aid to purchase sodas like Coca Cola and Pepsi.

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"The message that I want to give the country today, and all the other governors, is get in line behind Governor Morrisey and apply for a waiver to my agency, and we are going to give it to you," he said.

Publicly funded, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides low-income households with a payment card that allows them to purchase fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy products.

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The SNAP program also allows for the purchase of "snack foods and non-alcoholic beverages," including sodas, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees it.

More than 42 million Americans benefited each month from the program in 2023, at an annual cost of more than $112 billion, the USDA said in a recent statement.

Shares of soda giants Coca-Cola and Pepsico fell on the news, closing down 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

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Known for his vaccine-skeptic stance and distrust of institutions, Kennedy has come up with the slogan "Make America Healthy Again," a play on Trump's signature "Make America Great Again."

© Agence France-Presse

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