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MAHA’s Moment of Truth: Will RFK Jr. Stand up for People Harmed by Pesticides?
The Environmental Working Group reported:
“I told a great guy, RFK Jr., Bobby. I said, Bobby, you work on women’s health. You work on health. You work on what we eat. You work on pesticides. You work on everything,” then-candidate Donald Trump told the crowd during a campaign rally in Georgia.
Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who endorsed Trump after dropping out of the race himself, repeatedly stressed the importance of limiting Americans’ exposure to toxic chemicals in the food supply, including dangerous pesticides that can end up on produce.
At another campaign rally in Arizona, Trump promised to safeguard America’s children from pesticides in food. He said, “Millions and millions of Americans who want clean air, clean water and a healthy nation have concerns about toxins in our environment and pesticides in our food. That’s why today I am repeating my pledge to establish a panel of top experts working with Bobby to investigate what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic health problems and childhood diseases.”
Cancer, Alzheimer’s and Infertility ‘Strongly’ Linked to Toxic Chemicals in Food and Water by Major Report
Toxic chemicals present in our air, food and water have been strongly linked with a huge number of environmental problems and serious health issues, including cancer, obesity, dementia, infertility and ADHD.
Describing toxicity as “the most underrated threat facing humanity”, a new report has warned that the “contamination of humans is endemic” and that the risks to planetary and human health are “widely underestimated”, with the impact of pesticide use on cancer rates potentially rivalling that of smoking.
More than 3,600 synthetic chemicals from food contact materials, such as packaging and pesticides, are present within human bodies globally, the report revealed, 80 of which are feared to be especially dangerous.
Plastic Causing ‘Disease and Death From Infancy to Old Age’ That Costs $1.5 Trillion a Year, Report
Plastic pollution is a “grave, growing and under-recognized danger” to health that is costing the world at least $1.5 trillion a year, a report published Monday in the Lancet medical journal said.
The new review of existing evidence, which was carried out by leading health researchers and doctors, was published one day ahead of fresh talks in Geneva aiming at getting the world’s first treaty on plastic pollution. The experts called for the delegates from nearly 180 nations expected to attend the gathering to finally agree on a treaty after previous failed attempts.
Comparing plastic to air and lead pollution, the report said the impact on health of plastic pollution could be mitigated by laws and policies. “Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually,” it said.
Pesticide Manufacturer Spent More Than $200K Lobbying in Iowa
Bayer, the biotech company and manufacturer of Roundup, has substantially increased its spending on lobbying in Iowa since the introduction of a pesticide labeling bill in 2024. In 2025, according to client reports published by the state, Bayer paid lobbyists $123,250. Reports for 2024 show $86,099 spent. on its lobbying efforts. From 2021–2023, years before the pesticide labeling bill was introduced, Bayer spent annually from $20,000–$30,000.
An analysis of lobbying data from Food & Water Watch, an environmental group that organized protests and lobbied against the bill, found Bayer’s spending in the cycles since the law was introduced nearly doubled what the company spent the decade prior, from 2013–2023.
A statement from Bayer said lobbying is a “normal part” of the company’s political engagement, as it is for many other companies.
Car Tires Are Polluting the Environment and Killing Salmon. A Global Plastics Treaty Could Help
In the 1990s, scientists restoring streams around Seattle, Wash., noticed that returning coho salmon were dying after rainstorms. The effects were immediate: the fish swam in circles, gasping at the surface, then died in a few hours.
Over the next several decades, researchers chipped away at the problem until in 2020 they discovered the culprit: a chemical called 6PPD-quinone that forms when its parent compound, a tire additive called 6PPD, reacts with ozone.
6PPD-quinone kills coho salmon at extraordinarily low concentrations, making it one of the most toxic substances to an aquatic species that scientists have ever found. Today, a growing body of evidence shows that tire additives and their transformation products, including 6PPD-quinone, are contaminating ecosystems and showing up in people.
