As the Make America Healthy Again agenda gains popular support, more states are floating laws, written by the chemical industry, that if passed, will lead to more chemicals in the food supply and liability protection for chemical makers whose products harm human health and the environment.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n As the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda continues to gain popular support, proposed changes in agricultural policy may pave the way for more pesticides to enter the U.S. food system.<\/p>\n The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA<\/a>) is advancing a proposal that would block states from requiring warning labels on pesticides, herbicides and other commonly used agricultural products,\u00a0The Lever<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, at the state level, at least 11 and as many as 21 states are proposing industry-drafted bills to grant agrochemical companies immunity from liability for harms from their products if those products are licensed by the EPA, according to\u00a0Moms Across America<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both proposals stem, in part, from the ongoing battles over\u00a0glyphosate<\/a>, the most commonly used herbicide in the country and the key ingredient in Bayer\u2019s Roundup weedkiller. Extensive\u00a0scientific research<\/a>\u00a0has identified\u00a0glyphosate as a carcinogen<\/a>\u00a0and linked it to many additional\u00a0health concerns<\/a>, including\u00a0autism<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0decreased birth weight for babies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Monsanto, which\u00a0Bayer acquired<\/a>\u00a0in 2018, faces thousands of lawsuits by people who claim they\u00a0developed cancer<\/a>\u00a0after being exposed to\u00a0Roundup<\/a>.\u00a0Bayer<\/a>\u00a0set aside more than $10 billion to settle roughly 100,000 of the claims, although some of the settlements have become mired in difficulties. In 2021, Bayer said it would set aside another\u00a0$4.5 billion to cover cancer claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under President Donald Trump\u2019s first administration, the EPA determined that \u201cglyphosate is\u00a0not likely to be carcinogenic<\/a>\u00a0to humans,\u201d but a\u00a0federal appeals court rejected<\/a>\u00a0that determination in June 2022. In September 2022, the\u00a0EPA withdrew its decision<\/a>\u00a0but still maintains that no cancer risk to humans is present. That decision is still under review.<\/p>\n The proposed rule changes come as former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin takes the helm at EPA. Zeldin, who has a history of\u00a0voting against environmental protection<\/a>\u00a0measures, has taken\u00a0hundreds of thousands of dollars<\/a>\u00a0from the agribusiness sector.\u00a0Trump promised that Zeldin<\/a>\u00a0would \u201censure fair and swift deregulatory decisions\u201d to \u201cunleash the power of American businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n The rule changes also coincide with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s confirmation to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, who is also leading the administration\u2019s\u00a0MAHA initiative<\/a>, has been a staunch critic of pesticides for decades. He was one of the\u00a0attorneys for Dewayne Johnson<\/a>, who won the landmark case against Monsanto, arguing that Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that Monsanto failed to warn consumers of the known risk.<\/p>\n Kennedy has often said many of the most commonly used pesticides in the U.S. are \u201cextraordinarily toxic<\/a>\u201d and contribute significantly to chronic health problems.<\/p>\n Mark A. Kastel, executive director of\u00a0OrganicEye<\/a>, a farm policy research group and organic industry watchdog, said there is a direct conflict between Big Ag companies profiting at the expense of people\u2019s health and the stated goals of MAHA.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will potentially be one of the first public clashes between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agribusiness and Big Food lobbyists, who have held longtime power and influence at both the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] and USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., MIT scientist and author of \u201cToxic Legacy<\/a>: How the Weedkiller Glyphosate is Destroying Our Health and the Environment,\u201d told\u00a0The Defender<\/a>, \u201cIt will be beyond disappointing if one of the first actions that gets implemented under Trump\u2019s new \u2018Make America Healthy Again\u2019 initiative is to block the states from warning consumers about the dangers of\u00a0toxic pesticides<\/a>\u00a0like glyphosate used extensively on the food crops.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking away individual, local and state rights not within EPA\u2019s jurisdiction<\/strong><\/p>\n The proposed EPA rule change would classify any warning labels on agricultural chemicals beyond those mandated by the federal government as \u201cmisbranding<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Republican attorneys general from 11 states are leading the initiative, which would override existing laws and\u00a0threaten to limit public awareness<\/a>\u00a0about the health risks of many chemical agricultural products, according to The Lever.<\/p>\n They submitted a\u00a0letter to the EPA<\/a>\u00a0stating that warning labels about glyphosate are central to their concerns.<\/p>\n They underscored how important glyphosate is for farmers in their states, saying it allows them to \u201ceffectively manage weeds using fewer chemicals and other inputs. Better weed management also increases crop yields by allowing the growing crops to reach yield potential.\u201d<\/p>\n They also argued that states such as California are trying to brand herbicides like glyphosate with \u201cfalse or misleading claims\u201d because of its\u00a0proposition<\/a>\u00a0that requires\u00a0warning labels<\/a>\u00a0on chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.<\/p>\n Kastel said that similar \u201cpreemption\u201d initiatives have been pushed at the state level across the country for years by organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the American Farm Bureau Federation.<\/p>\n He added:<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the rhetoric of some politicians, suggesting that the best governance operates \u2018closest to the people,\u2019 lobbyists know darn well that it\u2019s easier, through their efforts, and campaign contributions, to influence politicians and legislation higher up the pecking order.<\/p>\n \u201cCorporate agribusiness interests might not be able to successfully counter popular prohibitions, based on sensitive geology, or other factors, on a local basis. But when you pool their money at the state or federal levels, they can crush the initiatives of local communities that will be directly impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n On Jan. 21, the EPA announced a\u00a0public comment period<\/a>\u00a0for the rule, open until March 24, which is the first step toward implementation. More than 1,000 comments have been submitted, largely from private citizens and consumer and environmental organizations urging the EPA to reject the proposal.<\/p>\n Pediatrician Dr. Michelle Perro from\u00a0GMO Science<\/a>\u00a0wrote that she has seen \u201csignificant harm in children from pesticides\u201d in her four decades of practicing medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cBy restricting states from implementing labeling requirements that go beyond the EPA\u2019s human\u00a0health risk<\/a>\u00a0assessments, this rule would strip states of their ability to safeguard public health based on local environmental conditions and scientific findings,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Perro, Zen Honeycutt and other members of Moms Across America commissioned a study in 2022 that found 93% of\u00a0school lunches sampled<\/a>\u00a0contained glyphosate. They have since advocated for federal action to change school lunches to\u00a0organic, regenerative food<\/a>.<\/p>\n Honeycutt told the EPA the rule change would intervene in the ability of local governments to share information they deem important with their constituents.<\/p>\n \u201cThis unimaginably harmful decision would expose our children, pets, wildlife, farms and marine life to chemicals where local officials have decided that would not be prudent,\u201d Honeycutt said. \u201cTaking away individual, local and state rights is not within the jurisdiction of the EPA.\u201d<\/p>\n Big Ag wants the same immunity from liability as Big Pharma has for vaccines<\/strong><\/p>\n Many of the same states whose attorneys general are pushing to change the EPA rule are also proposing new\u00a0state laws<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0written and pushed by Big Ag<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 that would provide companies like Bayer with immunity from liability for harms resulting from exposure to their products if those products are licensed for use by the EPA.<\/p>\n The laws also give chemical makers immunity even if they violate federal labeling laws, according to Moms Across America.<\/p>\n Daniel Hinkle, from the\u00a0American Association for Justice<\/a>, explained in an email shared with The Defender that \u201cforeign pesticide companies are seeking complete immunity so they can get away with covering up the risks and dangers of their products. This bill hurts farmers seeking to hold Bayer and ChemChina accountable for the harms they knowingly covered up.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2017, ChemChina acquired Syngenta, maker of the highly poisonous\u00a0paraquat weedkiller<\/a>, which is\u00a0linked to Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hinkle also said the immunity sought by chemical makers would apply to over 16,000 chemicals the EPA regulates under the\u00a0Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act\u00a0<\/a>(FIFRA) and also to any future chemicals covered by the act.<\/p>\n \u201cIt covers not only human health claims like those pending against Bayer for causing cancer, or ChemChina for causing Parkinson\u2019s disease but also property damage claims like those against Bayer for covering up the risk of drift from dicamba over-the-top,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cBy making the EPA label \u2018sufficient warning\u2019 under state law, all potential claims against any pesticide manufacturer are wiped out, even when they actively conceal the risks to human health and the environment,\u201d Hinkle wrote.<\/p>\n Moms Across America<\/a>\u00a0said that the deal Big Ag is seeking is even better than the protections afforded to Big Pharma by the 1986\u00a0National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act<\/a>. That law protects vaccine makers from lawsuits for vaccines routinely recommended for pregnant women and children. But it also requires manufacturers to pay into an injury fund used to compensate vaccine-injured people.<\/p>\n Big Ag\u2019s proposed laws don\u2019t even offer to support that minimal \u2014 and\u00a0notoriously difficult to access<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 compensation.<\/p>\n Moms Across America is calling the proposed legislation the \u201cMake America Sick Again\u201d bills, Honeycutt told The Defender, \u201cbecause they provide pesticide companies immunity from accountability, allow them to make us sick, and profit from that sickness.\u201d<\/p>\n Honeycutt said one of their farmer advisers,\u00a0Mark Doudlah<\/a>, told her organization that as his father died from cancer caused by agrochemicals, he was treated with chemo drugs. \u201cThe name that was on the agrochemicals that they used, which gave him cancer, was the same name that was on the box of chemo drugs \u2026 Bayer.\u201d<\/p>\n She added:<\/p>\n \u201cBayer and ChemChina must not be able to manipulate our state elected officials to eliminate our rights to sue them for harm. Medical debt is the number one reason for bankruptcy and homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Bayer\u2019s products cause cancer, the company should be accountable. We suggest that rather than spending millions on lawyers and lobbyists, Bayer spend that money on reformulating its products for safety. Nontoxic weedkillers do exist.\u201d<\/p>\n Regenerative farmer Howard Vlieger said when he testified against the proposed bill at a Senate subcommittee hearing in Des Moines, Iowa, last year, the legislators had a lobbyist from Bayer introduce the bill.<\/p>\n He said the legislation is \u201cunconstitutional as the day is long\u201d because it would take away people\u2019s\u00a0Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bayer\u2019s\u00a0Modern Ag Alliance<\/a>\u00a0is providing tools for states to pass these bills. Moms Across America is\u00a0tracking the progress of the various bills<\/a>\u00a0across the country and providing resources for people organizing to stop them.<\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/naturalblaze.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/laws-chemicals-food-maha-feature-1024x534-1.jpg\")
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