Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky – and for Americans’ health, it may be just that.
That’s because it marks the anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s swearing-in as health secretary. It also marks a year of inaction and missteps on food chemicals and actively downplaying safety and effectiveness of vaccines – while the U.S. sees outbreaks of infectious diseases like measles.
Here’s another grim milestone: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on January 30 reached the first-year mark on his work dismantling the agency and effectively removing “protection” from its title.
Recent actions by this Laurel and Hardy of public health and environmental policy underscore just how disastrous their tenure has become. Despite the administration’s stated “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, agenda, their actions will likely make people sicker for years to come.
Agencies' actions aren't MAHA
The EPA is clearing the path to approve or reapprove toxic pesticides. It’s doing this while dragging its feet on reviewing the safety of agricultural chemicals like paraquat, which is linked to a greater risk of Parkinson’s disease.
At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration is slow-walking efforts to tackle harmful food chemicals. It’s letting the food industry voluntarily make unenforceable promises to switch to less harmful ingredients. The FDA is slow-walking plans to tighten safety reviews of ingredients in the American food supply. And the administration’s MAHA report, coordinated by RFK Jr., retreated from earlier promises to ban toxic agricultural chemicals.
Both agencies are also hollowing out the oversight roles they were created to fill. The FDA now says it will take food and drink manufacturers at their word when they claim not to use artificial colors in their products.
Meanwhile, the EPA’s enforcement against polluters has dramatically slumped, and the agency has gutted its research office.
Add it all up and the picture is clear: President Donald Trump and his team aren’t MAHA. Their policy decisions will almost certainly harm the public’s health and damage the environment.
EPA weakens protections
At the EPA, the fox doesn’t just guard the hen house. Under Trump, the fox has taken up residence in a swanky office in the hen house – one the first Trump EPA chief fitted with a $43,000 private phone booth.
Under Zeldin, the agency makes it a priority to give the chemical industry exactly what it wants, when it wants it. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent fast-tracking of pesticide renewals and approvals – even when abundant scientific research raises concerns about health harms from exposure to these substances.
Earlier this month, the EPA reapproved the toxic weedkiller dicamba. Some studies show exposure to the chemical could increase the risk of cancer in pesticide applicators and cause nervous system damage after accidental ingestion. But the agency justified its decision by saying its analysis shows dicamba does not pose an unreasonable risk to health and the environment when it’s used as instructed.
Paraquat is another agricultural chemical about which the EPA is ignoring the science. Banned in more than 70 countries, the weedkiller has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, childhood leukemia and more. In the absence of federal action, at least nine states are weighing bills to ban use of paraquat either near schools or statewide.
In December, the agency approved new pesticides made with the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, and concerns exist about their persistence. Very low doses of PFAS in drinking water have been linked to suppression of the immune system and an elevated risk of cancer, increased cholesterol, and reproductive and developmental harms, among other major health concerns.
EWG revealed in a recent report that California agricultural fields are sprayed with an average of 2.5 million pounds of PFAS pesticides per year. This widespread use could be contaminating soil, water and produce sold throughout the U.S., exposing millions to potential health harms.
Most recently, Zeldin repealed the EPA’s landmark finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare – the bedrock document underpinning earlier administrations’ ambitious rules to tackle the climate crisis.
Zeldin has claimed he’s working on a MAHA plan for EPA – an effort that appears to have stalled. And some in the MAHA movement have offered support for Zeldin. MAGA Action President Tony Lyons told E&E News, “We have a MAHA head of the EPA now.”
But none of the existing EPA actions will make America healthy again.
Even some officials within the agency agree Zeldin’s agenda isn’t concerned with the MAHA movement. “MAHA should never feel optimistic when it comes to EPA. That’s not a secret,” one anonymous senior agency official recently told E&E News.
If there’s any doubt about the official’s remark, look to the Trump Department of Justice siding with agricultural chemical manufacturer Bayer in a key Supreme Court case. The justices will hear arguments April 27 in the case, where Bayer – which purchased glyphosate maker Monsanto – is seeking a ruling that would effectively quash lawsuits from people claiming the chemicals caused them to develop cancer.
As EWG President and co-Founder Ken Cook noted in a LinkedIn post, “Hard to imagine a more intentional MAGA knife in MAHA's back than DOJ siding with Bayer/Monsanto, the company Kennedy sued, in order to stop all such future litigation.”
FDA is failing on food safety
The news coming out of the FDA is just as bad.
Without safeguards on how our food is grown, public health is already at risk. The FDA worsens the problem through inadequate oversight of how food is processed and sold.
Most recently, the FDA said this week it is launching a review of the safety of the food and cosmetics chemical butylated hydroxyanisole, or BHA. This substance stabilizes flavors, extends shelf life and enhances color in a wide range of products, from Quaker Oats and Cap’n Crunch cereals to Estée Lauder moisturizing serums.
Since 1958, the FDA has categorized BHA as “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS, for use in food. But BHA is associated with potential health risks, especially when consumed or applied in high doses. Prolonged exposure has been linked to health harms like reproductive toxicity, hormone disruption and cancer.
In 1990, a doctor filed a petition asking the FDA to ban the use of the additive BHA in food – and they’re still waiting for a response.
In the meantime, West Virginia has banned BHA. The FDA’s review could mean a long wait before it decides whether the chemical is safe. Until then, many Americans will continue to be exposed to BHA’s harms through food and drink.
The FDA is also working to update its GRAS policy. For decades, the FDA has allowed chemical companies to decide whether most food chemicals are safe. EWG recently found nearly 99% of food chemicals developed since 2000 were reviewed for safety by industry scientists, not the FDA.
In the rare instances when the FDA reviews chemicals for safety before they enter the market, the agency often does not review prior decisions, in some cases even decades old, even in light of new research.
A Department of Health and Human Services announcement last year about review of the GRAS system falls short of what’s needed. It simply pledges to “take steps to explore” changing a system that has been broken for more than 60 years. But that’s not the change consumers rightly expect. And the rule is stuck in White House review limbo.
The FDA should take real action to put itself in charge of food chemical safety. Until then, its announcement is best seen as a “plan to plan,” not real progress toward greater food safety.
Less oversight
During the second Trump administration, both the EPA and the FDA have been gutted by workforce cuts, leaving even fewer officials to give industries the oversight they so clearly need.
If Kennedy and Zeldin truly believe in MAHA, they’ll reverse course and aggressively pursue regulations that get the most harmful chemicals out of our food system.
Will they? Just like Friday the 13th, a bet on it could be unlucky.
