Kennedy Doubles Down on Trump’s Legal Protection of Weedkiller Glyphosate Amid MAHA Outrage

Facing massive pushback from the health-conscious supporters that have propelled him to cult-leader status, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reiterating his strong support of President Trump’s executive order shielding manufacturers weedkiller glyphosate and the fertilizer phosphorus from lawsuits.In a lengthy post explicating on America’s agricultural output, Mr. Kennedy wrote Sunday evening that outlawing the weedkiller glyphosate, which is classified as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization, would expose America to a food crisis.“Unfortunately, our agricultural system depends heavily on these chemicals,” Mr. Kennedy wrote. “The U.S. represents 4% of the world’s population, yet we use roughly 25% of its pesticides.“If these inputs disappeared overnight, crop yields would fall, food prices would surge, and America would experience a massive loss of farms even beyond what we are witnessing today. The consequences would be disastrous,” he added.America is a net importer of fertilizer, largely due to limited domestic supplies, according to government statistics compiled by Business Valuation Resources. Most fertilizer imports come from Canada, followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia, the Observatory of Economic Complexity reports.Mr. Kennedy said that the president’s order will bring agricultural chemical production back to America and end what he calls a “near-total reliance on adversarial nations.”“When hostile actors control critical inputs, they directly threaten the security of the American people,” Mr. Kennedy said. “The Trump administration will secure these supply chains to eliminate that vulnerability.”Members of Mr. Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement are highly critical of justifying the use of glyphosate in the name of national security. “Whether glyphosate comes from China or the USA it’s still sterilizing and killing us and our soil,” wrote the founder of Moms Across America, Zen Honeycutt. “I understand supply chains. I don’t understand why the administration is batting for Bayer, pushing a SCOTUS ruling that will give blanket immunity for 57000 pesticides so we cannot sue when we get sick from exposure,” MAHA influencer Kelly Ryerson who is known as “Glyphosate Girl,” replied to Mr. Kennedy’s post. “The Farm Bill includes similar liability protection. Profits over human health big time,” she added.Bayer is now the owner of Monsanto, the manufacturer of the glyphosate-based weedkiller, Roundup. Mr. Kennedy has long targeted Roundup and he was part of a legal team that won a $289 million verdict in 2018 against Monsanto in a case that argued the company knew the weedkiller caused cancer.Mr. Kennedy has claimed the formula used in Roundup is different from the one used in farming. Glyphosate is widely used in America to kill and dry down — or desiccate — crops like wheat, barley, oats, and corn just before they are harvested.Hundreds of epidemiological and toxicological studies conclude glyphosate is likely carcinogenic. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a probable carcinogen alongside 97 other chemicals used in everyday solvents, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides. The agency relies on peer-reviewed studies to conclude that if something can cause cancer under certain circumstances, it is probably carcinogenic. Mr. Trump Environmental Protection Agency, on the other hand, relies on industry‑commissioned, unpublished studies that are 99 percent negative in concluding glyphosate is cancer-causing. The EPA emphasizes pure glyphosate as opposed to formulated herbicides that humans actually use.The European Commission has banned desiccation with glyphosate but renewed its use as weed control earlier in the growing process. Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, have complete bans on glyphosate. All the Gulf countries and most European Union member nations are net importers of American crops. Representative Thomas Massie, who is critical of glyphosate use as a desiccate, says he plans to introduce the “No Immunity for Glyphosate Act” to undo last week’s executive order.“The EU banned this use,” Mr. Massie said in an X post on Monday. “We should end this practice.”In his defense of Mr. Trump’s executive order, Mr. Kennedy said the glyphosate problem is not the president’s fault and the administration is working to fix it.“President Trump did not build our current system — he inherited it,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Policymakers wrote farm policy, directed research dollars, structured subsidies and crop insurance, and shaped commodity markets to reward monocultures and maximum yield. Those deliberate choices locked farmers into chemical dependence and prioritized short-term output over long-term soil vitality and human health.”He added that the administration is accelerating the transition to so-called “regenerative agriculture” that enables farmers to “rebuild soil, increase biodiversity, improve water retention, and reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals.” He also repeated his longstanding push for chemical-free solutions, including laser-guided weed control, a system that uses artificial intelligence and lasers to kill weeds without using chemicals. A Rutgers biology researcher has conducted field testing on the technology and claims that it can work. “It’s pure physics,” scientist Thierry Besancon said. “There’s no herbicide involved. It’s just light energy targeting the weeds.”

Kennedy Doubles Down on Trump’s Legal Protection of Weedkiller Glyphosate Amid MAHA Outrage

More from the New York Sun

New York City Council Speaker Eyes Override of Mamdani’s Buffer School Zone Veto

Republicans, Are You Listening? We Need a Big, Ambitious, Pro-Growth Budget Bill

Justice Department Approves Use of Firing Squads as Trump Administration Seeks To Revive Federal Executions

More from the New York Sun

New York City Council Speaker Eyes Override of Mamdani’s Buffer School Zone Veto

Republicans, Are You Listening? We Need a Big, Ambitious, Pro-Growth Budget Bill

Justice Department Approves Use of Firing Squads as Trump Administration Seeks To Revive Federal Executions

Which First Amendment Is It Going To Be?

Hegseth’s Noble Nobel

Without Reforms, U.S. Aid Still Reaches Terror Groups, Watchdogs Warn

Iranian Oil Wells Are Under Pressure, Intensifying an Economic Crisis

Britain Pushes Back on American Threat To Reconsider Who Owns the Falkland Islands