MAHA Movement Stunned by Trump Order Shielding Pesticide Makers From Lawsuits

Many “MAHA moms” are expressing fury at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for supporting President Trump’s executive order Wednesday shielding manufacturers of weedkiller glyphosate and fertilizer phosphorus from litigation. Mr. Trump relied on the Defense Production Act, which allows the administration to compel companies to manufacture supplies deemed critical for national defense, for Wednesday’s order. He called the two herbicides “essential to military readiness and America’s agricultural strength, respectively.” “Cause nothing says national security like cancer causing, brain damaging, leaky gut producing, celiac causing poisons like glyphosate,” a board member of the National Republican Liberty Caucus, Dr. Irene Mavrakakis, said in an X post responding to the president’s order.“This is not only the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of ‘MAHA’ and yet another VICIOUS BETRAYAL, but it is egregiously DANGEROUS, RECKLESS, AND INSANE,” an X account called The Patriot Voice said.The order was issued just one day after a proposed nationwide class-action settlement over the cancer-causing effects of Roundup, the common weedkiller made with glyphosate. Bayer announced Tuesday that it had agreed to a $7.25 billion proposed settlement to resolve tens of thousands of claims by Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and other cancer patients who say they were harmed by Roundup manufacturer Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer. The company said the proposed settlement, combined with a Supreme Court challenge of the legal basis for many Roundup-related claims, is necessary to contain the breadth of damages the company faces from ongoing lawsuits.“The proposed class settlement agreement, together with the Supreme Court case, provides an essential path out of the litigation uncertainty and enables us to devote our full attention to furthering the innovations that lie at the core of our mission: Health for all, Hunger for none,” the chief executive officer of Bayer, Bill Anderson, said in a statement. “This litigation and the resulting cost underscore the need for guidance from the Supreme Court on clear regulation in American agriculture.”Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee cheered the president’s order, which accompanies the annual farm bill now under consideration. “FOOD SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY: Thank you, President Trump, for acknowledging the importance of glyphosate-based herbicides in American agriculture,” Republican committee members wrote in an X post.Mr. Kennedy surprised members of his Make America Healthy Again coalition when he too endorsed the president’s decision. In a statement to The New York Times, he said the order will safeguard America’s food security. Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly warned that glyphosate exposure has been linked to all kinds of diseases, including Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, though he has also attempted to draw a distinction between glyphosate and Roundup. “95% of our corn, and much of our wheat, is routinely sprayed with Roundup. This is something every American should be concerned about,” he said on the Joe Rogan podcast in 2023.“We shouldn’t be talking about glyphosate, we should be talking about Roundup,” he said again in 2024. “Nobody’s ever tested this and we know that the formulation is much, much more toxic than the glyphosate.” Backlash among supporters of Mr. Kennedy was swift. “MAHA IS DEAD!” said an X account called Red Pill USA.“If anyone still wondered whether ‘Make America Healthy Again’ was a genuine commitment to protecting public health or a scam concocted by President Trump and RFK Jr. to rally health-conscious voters in 2024, today’s decision answers that question,” said the founder of the Environmental Working Group, Ken Cook. “I can’t envision a bigger middle finger to every MAHA mom than this.”MAHA influencer Vani Hari, who is known as the Food Babe, was more nuanced in her response.“@Bayer threw a grenade at MAHA & is loving this. They want the movement to implode because it makes them more powerful,” Ms. Hari said in an X post. “EVERY PRESIDENT since glyphosate was invented has increased the amount of glyphosate being sprayed on our farm land. The Chemical Lobby is controlling Washington, no matter who is in charge & this is why I hate politics.”Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican adversary of the president, said on Thursday that he plans to introduce the “No Immunity for Glyphosate Act” to undo the executive order.

MAHA Movement Stunned by Trump Order Shielding Pesticide Makers From Lawsuits

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