Kennedy defends Trump glyphosate order; MAHA erupts

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Donald Trump’s executive order encouraging domestic production of the weed killer glyphosate; because his Make America Healthy Again movement has been shaken by the president’s embrace of the chemical they hate.

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday night that invokes the Defense Production Act to mandate domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides. Glyphosate is the chemical in it. Bayer-Monsanto Roundup is the most widely used herbicide for a number of U.S. crops. Trump in turn said that a shortage of both phosphorus and glyphosate would pose a risk to national security.

Kennedy backed the president in a statement to CNBC Thursday morning.

“Donald Trump’s Executive Order puts America first where it matters most: our defense preparedness and our food supply,” he said. “We must protect America’s national security first, because all our priorities depend on it. When hostile actors control critical inputs, they weaken our security. By expanding domestic production, we close this gap and protect American families.”

But Kennedy’s MAHA coalition, which is backing Trump in the 2024 presidential election, hates glyphosate, which has been alleged in numerous lawsuits to cause cancer. Now, the executive order threatens to unravel that coalition ahead of 2026 midterm elections that could loosen the president’s grip on Washington.

“As the major MAHA base began to consider what to do in the midterms, the President issued an EO to expand domestic glyphosate production,” said Kelly Ryerson, a prominent MAHA activist known as the Glyphosate Girl. he said. Publish on X. “It is the carcinogenic pesticide that MAHA cares about most.”

Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, a watchdog that has been pushing back against chemicals in food for years, said in a statement that he “couldn’t imagine a bigger middle finger to every MAHA mom.”

“Elevating glyphosate to a national security priority is the exact opposite of what MAHA voters were promised,” Cook said. “If Secretary Kennedy remains at HHS going forward, it will be impossible to argue that his past warnings about glyphosate were anything other than campaign rhetoric designed to gain trust and votes.”

Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, especially once Won lawsuit against Monsanto for nearly $290 million For a man who claimed his cancer was caused by Roundup. The decree came a day later Bayer offered to pay $7.25 billion Resolving a series of lawsuits claiming Roundup causes cancer.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized Trump for signing “an EO that protects the cancer-causing Glyphosate in our food.”

Glyphosate is a critical chemical for American agriculture. It applies to many major cash crops, such as corn and soybeans, and is advocated by agricultural trade organizations. Phosphorus is a key input in the production of glyphosate, which the White House argues is necessary to protect food safety. Elemental phosphorus is also used in the manufacture of some military materials.

“Thank you, President Trump, for recognizing the importance of glyphosate-based herbicides in American agriculture,” House Agriculture Committee Republicans said at a hearing Wednesday night. x post. “This is a vital step forward in ensuring domestic supplies of this critical crop input remain available for our producers.”

Rep. GT Thompson, R-Pa., the House Agriculture Chairman, is trying to get Congress this year to pass a farm bill, a legislative package that includes federal farm support and nutrition subsidies. It also recently came under fire from MAHA for a provision in the bill that prevents state and local pesticide regulations from diverging from federal guidelines.