The Trump administration’s plan for ending childhood chronic disease across the nation does not include specific policy reforms for EPA, a lapse that environmental health advocates are calling a betrayal from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promises.
The White House’s “Make America Healthy Again” Commission on Tuesday released its highly anticipated strategy laying out federal agencies’ next steps for tackling the factors driving long-term illnesses in children, including cumulative chemical exposures in the environment.
The report is largely similar to a draft version leaked to the press last month, which many MAHA supporters criticized as too industry-friendly despite Kennedy’s pledge to tackle “corporate capture” within the government.
The report touts EPA’s research on the health effects of fluoride in drinking water, “air quality impacts on children’s health,” and “microplastics and synthetics, including in common products such as textiles.”
Despite the initial MAHA assessment calling for increased research on pesticides such as glyphosate and atrazine, the final strategy says, “EPA, partnering with food and agricultural stakeholders, will work to ensure that the public has awareness and confidence in EPA’s pesticide robust review procedures.”
“The reality is that our pesticide regulatory process is as full of holes as Swiss cheese, and a slick PR campaign can’t change that,” said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
In response to a question about the report going easy on pesticides regulations, despite Kennedy’s past remarks criticizing specific farm chemicals, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said, “EPA is committed to using the best available science. We are concerned from an enforcement standpoint, the use of illegal pesticides, the importing of pesticides from other countries.”
The report calls for “more transparency, as well as additional guardrails needed to protect public health from corporate influence,” including enhanced scrutiny at the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. EPA was not included in that list despite multiple former industry representatives now leading key program offices.
“We have the most business-friendly president probably in history, but there has never been a president in my lifetime that is more willing to challenge businesses when they overreach, who is more fearless in challenging entrenched interests in our society,” Kennedy said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Zeldin echoed a similar sentiment.
“America will continue to be the energy, industrial and agricultural power of the world, and we can continue this while ensuring we have the healthiest children,” Zeldin said during the news conference.
Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, was one among multiple environmental health advocates who was cautiously optimistic of Kennedy’s platform to ban certain dangerous environmental chemicals.
“It looks like pesticide industry lobbyists steamrolled the MAHA Commission’s agenda,” Cook said in a statement. “Secretary Kennedy and President Trump cynically convinced millions they’d protect children from harmful farm chemicals — promises now exposed as hollow.”
Reach the reporter on Signal at eborst.64.
