{"id":138410,"date":"2026-07-10T10:37:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/epa-promised-a-make-america-healthy-again-agenda-it-has-yet-to-materialize-frustrating-activists\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T10:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:40:19","slug":"epa-promised-a-make-america-healthy-again-agenda-it-has-yet-to-materialize-frustrating-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/epa-promised-a-make-america-healthy-again-agenda-it-has-yet-to-materialize-frustrating-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA promised a Make America Healthy Again agenda. It has yet to materialize, frustrating activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., arrives on stage at the inaugural Make America Healthy Again summit, Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Last December, after Make America Healthy Again<\/a> activists drew up a petition<\/a> to get him fired, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin pledged to release a formal agenda of MAHA priorities that his agency would pursue, including protections against harmful chemicals and other health concerns.<\/p>\n

But eight months after its first mention and after repeated promises it was being drafted, the so-called MAHA agenda is nowhere to be found. When asked for a status update this week, an EPA spokesperson said MAHA is an ongoing effort, not a single report.<\/p>\n

The apparent reversal on the release of a formal environmental health agenda is the latest in a cascade of disappointments<\/a> for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement, who say they’ve lost faith that the Trump administration will take any significant action on pesticides, chemicals or other issues they view as key to address America’s chronic disease epidemic. It also reflects the EPA’s relentless rollback of environmental regulations even in the face of pressure from an important voting bloc that has supported President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had really hoped that there would be specific steps that were taken through a MAHA agenda,\u201d said activist Kelly Ryerson, whose social media account \u201cGlyphosate Girl\u201d focuses on nontoxic food systems. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had any of the wins that we were requesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many in the diverse coalition of MAHA activists that Trump credits for helping him win back the White House say they plan to vote on issues over party in November’s congressional elections, raising the political stakes of their increasingly public tensions with the Republican administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are done with the profits of corporations being prioritized over public health,\u201d said Alexandra Mu\u00f1oz, a molecular toxicologist who collaborates with activists on certain issues. \u201cAnd I think that will have an important role in the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n

MAHA is frustrated with EPA’s actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s EPA,\u201d as Zeldin frequently calls the agency, has vigorously pursued a deregulatory agenda. Earlier this year, Zeldin proposed overturning the landmark finding<\/a> that climate change is a threat to human health. He moved to roll back dozens of environmental regulations<\/a> in what he called \u201cthe greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen,\u201d froze billions of dollars for clean energy and upended agency research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Zeldin has touted multiple \u201cMAHA wins,” some of which activists say are anything but. For example, he said the agency intends to regulate some chemicals called phthalates for environmental and workplace risks, but didn\u2019t address the thousands of consumer products that contain the ingredients.<\/p>\n

This week, the EPA diverted from past assurances that the MAHA report was in its \u201cfinal stages,\u201d telling The Associated Press in an email that the EPA\u2019s actions should speak for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notion that MAHA is a single document waiting to be unveiled fundamentally misrepresents how we operate,\u201d an agency spokesperson said, adding that work on MAHA priorities is \u201cactive and expanding every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryerson and other MAHA activists said they’ve engaged with agency officials about changes they’d like to see, and occasionally succeeded. Her network of farmers worked with the administration on a recent executive order to advance regenerative agriculture. But she said EPA then used the order to justify new proposed uses for various herbicides, a move she called a \u201cslap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same week, the Supreme Court dealt another blow to the MAHA cause in siding with pesticide maker Bayer<\/a> in a ruling related to its legal liability for alleged harm caused by its Roundup weedkiller. The Trump administration had backed the company in the case.<\/p>\n

Environmental activists say the rise of Kennedy and his MAHA mission has rippled across the administration, raising the public’s awareness of pesticides \u2014 and expectations that Trump’s administration would act.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf RFK and the MAHA movement hadn\u2019t put that issue in the center of the public spotlight, no one would be scrutinizing this nearly as closely,” said Sarah Starman, a senior food and agriculture campaigner at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth.<\/p>\n

EPA says getting microplastics out of drinking water is complicated<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a well-publicized gesture aimed in part at the MAHA movement, Zeldin in April included microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants that could be regulated<\/a> under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Activists had pressured Zeldin for months to crack down on microplastics and other environmental contaminants.<\/p>\n

But in a reversal in late June, the EPA did not include microplastics or pharmaceuticals on a list of chemicals it plans to test for under a mandatory program used to collect information about concerning chemicals in drinking water that could be harming human health.<\/p>\n

The move rendered the EPA’s earlier public health promises “functionally toothless,” said Betsy Southerland, a former senior official in EPA\u2019s water office.<\/p>\n

Zeldin said on social media that \u201cthe technology to test and treat for microplastics in drinking water is still in development.\u201d The EPA said in a Federal Register notice that it was \u201cnot feasible to develop a drinking water analytical method within the statutory timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n

After making \u201ca big splash in the press\u201d on microplastics, “EPA has quietly stalled that momentum,” said Southerland.<\/p>\n

A White House Make America Healthy Again Report,<\/a> released a few months into Trump\u2019s second term, identified long-term exposure to environmental chemicals \u2014 including those widely found in plastics \u2014 as a leading cause of chronic disease in children.<\/p>\n

Former industry lobbyists now have leading roles at EPA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeremy Symons, a senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA employees and political appointees who are critical of the Trump administration, said Zeldin \u201cpays lip service to MAHA, but sadly he is actually making Americans less safe from toxic chemicals.”<\/p>\n

Alongside MAHA’s influence on the Trump administration, industry lobbyists have made inroads at the EPA.<\/p>\n

Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the soybean industry, leads pesticide policy at the EPA. The agency recently allowed continued use of dicamba<\/a>, a weedkiller that has been linked to increased risk for some cancers.<\/p>\n

Zen Honeycutt, a MAHA activist and founding executive director of Moms Across America, said the move is \u201cwhat happens when the EPA allows itself to be pressured by corporations and by business.\u201d<\/p>\n

EPA also employs other former industry insiders. Nancy Beck, a former executive at the chemical lobbying group the American Chemistry Council, is a top official in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Lynn Dekleva, another former chemistry council executive, serves as a Beck deputy.<\/p>\n

The EPA said Kunkler and other political appointees have consulted with agency ethics officials to resolve any potential conflicts of interest. The MAHA movement has \u201cdriven this agency’s work since President Trump’s first day in office,” a spokesperson said in an email, citing various initiatives including $945 million in grants to help states and communities cut \u201cforever chemicals\u201d known as PFAS in drinking water and identifying 30 drinking water contaminants proposed for nationwide monitoring.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the agency announced it was teaming up with Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect consumers from heavy metals and other contaminants in food.<\/p>\n

But for Ryerson and others, the lack of a promised MAHA agenda reads as a tactic to escape accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt absolves them of any failures, especially when it comes to midterms,\u201d Ryerson said. \u201cThey won\u2019t have to point to some list that they haven\u2019t been able to achieve really anything on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE – A blue rectangular piece of microplastic sits on the finger of a researcher with the University of Washington-Tacoma environmental science program, after it was found in debris collected from the Thea Foss Waterway, in Tacoma, Wash., May 19, 2010. (AP Photo\/Ted S. Warren, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ted S. Warren, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Containers of Roundup are displayed on a store shelf in San Francisco, Feb. 24, 2019. (AP Photo\/Haven Daley, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Haven Daley, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Kelly Ryerson, known by her supporters as "Glyphosate Girl," poses for a portrait, Jan. 22, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo\/Marta Lavandier, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Marta Lavandier, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, listens during an event about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FILE – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., arrives on stage at the inaugural Make America Healthy Again summit, Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)(AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Last December, after Make America Healthy Again activists drew up a petition to get him fired, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138456,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138410\/revisions\/138456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138410"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}