Chapter 1: What executive order did Trump issue regarding glyphosate?
In one year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made dramatic changes to the country's public health system. He has cut vaccine funding, reduced the number of federally recommended childhood vaccines, and laid off thousands of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services. It's all part of his Make America Healthy Again mission.
I'm proud that President Trump has appointed me to the position of trust. to carry out his agenda to make America healthy again. This is the mission that President Trump and I hold in common, and that has inspired a tectonic outpouring of enthusiasm and support from the American people.
That is Kennedy speaking in February of last year after his confirmation. Along with President Trump, he's made promises to their base as well. Here is Kennedy in September 2024.
Chapter 2: Why is MAHA upset with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
With a mass movement behind us, President Trump and I are going to transform our food system. We're going to get the chemicals out of the water, out of our air, out of the food and out of the soils.
Kennedy spent much of his career as an environmental lawyer fighting against glyphosate. That's the pesticide used in Roundup. In 2018, he won a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the maker of Roundup, arguing that the weed killer likely caused his clients cancer. Then last week, Trump issued an executive order. clearing a path for the U.S. to produce more of it domestically.
And in a lengthy response on social media, Kennedy defended the order, saying, quote, President Trump did not build our current system. He inherited it.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of glyphosate in the MAHA agenda?
I was outraged. I was actually sick to my stomach when I saw this executive order. It was basically a love letter to glyphosate.
That's Zen Honeycutt, the founder and executive director of Moms Across America on CNN.
I had hoped because Kennedy was brought on into the administration and fought glyphosate and won, that perhaps glyphosate would be banned, as it should be. Consider this.
A herbicide is putting Kennedy and his MAHA supporters at odds. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's Consider This from NPR. Make America Healthy Again supporters are angry, and it's putting Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Chapter 4: How does the scientific community view glyphosate's health risks?
in a tough spot between his boss and his fans. Here's why. Last week, President Trump issued an executive order to increase domestic production of glyphosate, which is commonly used as a weed killer. You might know it by the brand name Roundup. And it immediately ignited an uproar in the
Kennedy and his base have long believed glyphosate is a health risk, but now Kennedy says he supports Trump's order. So is this the beginning of a fallout between Trump and some members of his base? Joining me now to talk about all of this is Helena Bada-Miller-Evich. She's founder and editor-in-chief of the Food Fix newsletter. Welcome to the program.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of Trump's order for MAHA supporters?
Thanks for having me. Okay, so just for starters, is this a fallout, a strain in the relationship, or how would you describe what is happening right now between Maha and Trump?
So I don't yet see this as a full-blown divorce, but we are definitely seeing a marital spat and it's all happening in the public. So key Maha advocates and activists are really upset about this order and they're being very vocal about it. It is all happening in full view on social media, but they are still holding out hope that this administration will
you know, kind of bend to the Maha agenda and keep moving forward. So not, it's not a full fallout, but it is a very messy moment.
Okay. So glyphosate, which is an active ingredient in Roundup, as we mentioned, is at the center of this very sort of public messy spat. Why is it such a cornerstone to the Maha agenda?
Chapter 6: How does Kennedy justify supporting the executive order?
So, I think Maha at its core is really a concern about chronic disease. And there's a lot of different ways that people plug into this. Some of the Maha moms that you'll hear about are concerned about vaccines. Some of them are concerned about environmental toxins. They're concerned about microplastics. Pesticides is one of those kind of core concerns.
And that's where glyphosate falls into this. It's the most commonly used herbicide in the US. It is really a pillar of the current agricultural system.
Chapter 7: What conflicts arise between the Trump administration and MAHA?
And a lot of Maha moms want to see it dramatically reduced or even banned. And that has set up this conflict. We have an administration that is decidedly more deregulatory. They want to be more industry friendly. They certainly want to, you know, stay friends with the agriculture industry. And this is really a big point of conflict.
And as I understand it, the science on glyphosate is pretty complicated. There's strong evidence for an association between the chemical and diseases like lymphoma and Parkinson's, but the level of exposure matters a lot, is that right?
So there is a really active debate in this space.
Chapter 8: What might be the future of the relationship between MAHA and Trump?
The EPA has long maintained that glyphosate doesn't present a public health risk. EPA has ruled that glyphosate is not likely to be a carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is more commonly known as IARC, that's part of the World Health Organization, They ruled that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic. That was mainly looking at animal studies.
One of the key studies that everyone has long pointed to to sort of back up the safety of glyphosate, however, was recently retracted. And that has thrown up this red flag and I think really... fueled even more Maha concern that there are reasons to think that glyphosate might be contributing to cancer. Juries in the U.S.
have awarded billions of dollars to individuals who believe their cancer cases were caused by glyphosate, and Bayer, which makes glyphosate, is now under tremendous pressure in the courts.
Back in 2018, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the maker of Roundup, arguing that the weed killer likely caused his clients cancer. So why do you think it is that he is now moving to fall in line with President Trump's plan to produce more of it in the United States?
So what Kennedy has said publicly is that he personally believes that glyphosate does cause cancer. That is not the Trump administration's official position, to be very clear. He has backed the president's executive order here, basically saying, look, we are currently dependent on glyphosate. The US agricultural system currently relies on this and we can't just walk away from it.
It would be disastrous. He backs up the idea that we need to produce more domestically for national security reasons. This, however, has made, I mean, the Maha moms, the Maha advocates are absolutely furious over his defense of this executive order.
If you dive a little bit more into what he said publicly recently, he said that he believes the US needs to transition away from using glyphosate, but we have to do so slowly. I think one of the key questions here for me as a policy reporter is is like whether or not the Trump administration is actually going to come up with a plan to do that. That would still be a very controversial idea.
And I've seen no evidence that we are actually moving in that direction. So it remains a really key point of tension within the Maha movement and within the Trump administration.
To your mind, Helena, is glyphosate the most contentious point or is it just the loudest when it comes to President Trump and the seeming rift with the Maha base?
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