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President Donald Trump has issued an executive order calling for an increase in production of phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides — chemicals that research has linked to an increase in multiple types of cancers among individual users.
The executive order stated that “glyphosate-based herbicides … play a critical role in maintaining America’s agricultural advantage by enabling farmers to efficiently and cost-effectively produce food and livestock feed.” It further claimed that lessening access to herbicides that include glyphosate “would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity.”
Left unmentioned was any discussion of scientific studies demonstrating the dangers of the chemical. The word “health” appears twice in the order, but only in the context of keeping the country healthy by having a strong food supply.
Activists within Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) coalition responded to the EO with feelings of betrayal.
“This executive order reads like it was drafted in a chemical company boardroom,” food activist and Robert F. Kennedy-supporter Vani Hari said. “Calling it ‘national defense’ while expanding protections for toxic products is a dangerous misdirection. Real national security is protecting American families, farmers, and children.”
“The President is making a mockery of the very voters who put his administration into office,” said Kelly Ryerson, another MAHA activist who calls herself the “Glyphosate Girl.”
(While there is a body of scientific evidence to back concerns over these chemicals, the MAHA movement has largely been credited with damaging public health initiatives due to its rampant spread of misinformation. A large portion of the movement, for example, wrongly purports that certain vaccinations are ineffective and unsafe, despite decades of research and observable positive outcomes in communities with higher vaccination rates.)
Glyphosate is commonly used in weed-killing products like Roundup. The makers of Roundup have faced several lawsuits in recent years after many users of the product developed several different kinds of cancer.
Trump’s order invokes the Defense Production Act, tasking the Department of Agriculture (USAG) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to “determine the proper nationwide priorities” relating to increasing production of glyphosate “to ensure a continued and adequate supply” of the chemical.
The order could potentially be used to help companies like Roundup shield themselves from future lawsuits. Following its publication, Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, said in a statement:
President Trump’s executive order reinforces the critical need for U.S. farmers to have access to essential, domestically produced crop protection tools such as glyphosate. We will comply with this order to produce glyphosate and elemental phosphorus.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been critical of the use of glyphosate in the past, is highly regarded by the MAHA movement. However, on Thursday, Kennedy expressed support for Trump’s call to increase production of the chemical.
“Donald Trump’s Executive Order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” Kennedy asserted. “We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it.”
Organizations not aligned with the MAHA movement spoke out against the Trump administration’s new directives on glyphosate production.
“If Secretary Kennedy remains at HHS after this, it will be impossible to argue that his past warnings about glyphosate were anything more than campaign rhetoric,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.
Multiple studies have demonstrated the dangers associated with glyphosate. In one international study that was published last summer, it was determined that the chemical, even at current doses “considered safe by regulatory agencies” in the U.S. and Europe, led to “increased incidences of benign and malignant tumors” in animal test subjects.
“We observed early onset and early mortality for a number of rare malignant cancers, including leukemia, liver, ovary and nervous system tumors,” said Daniele Mandrioli, director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center of the Ramazzini Institute and the principal investigator of the study.
While Kennedy has pushed for more regulation of pesticides in the past, his support for massive federal spending cuts and deregulation undercuts his supposed concern for public health, as the policy changes could result in increased cancer rates, as well as chronic diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
“Cutbacks in critical programs” by Kennedy and the Trump administration “sharply limit researchers’ ability to identify etiological agents of chronic disease,” wrote Jonathan Alan King, emeritus professor of Molecular Biology at MIT, in an op-ed for Truthout in September. “As a consequence, it will be extremely difficult to produce the kind of research that enables us to determine which chemicals are public health hazards, and to regulate them.”
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