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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Debate rages over RFK Jr.'s MAHA report on root causes of disease
(NewsNation) — Leaders in American agriculture have voiced their opposition after a report from the 'Make America Healthy Again' commission implied a connection between pesticides and chronic health issues in children. Some have said the commission, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is causing unnecessary concern with a report full of unsubstantiated claims, while others question big agriculture companies funding many of the critics. The American Farm Bureau Federation, the Modern Ag Alliance, and national corn and soybean associations are among those siding with critics. 22% of sunscreen brands are effective: Study The National Corn Growers Association said in a statement: 'The Make America Healthy Again Report is filled with fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides. We are deeply troubled that claims of this magnitude are being made without any scientific basis or regard for a long history of EPA expert evaluations of these products' … We call on the administration to respect the existing body of science on pesticides and, moving forward, to include America's farmers in discussion as this process evolves.' If they were to lose the ability to use some controversial pesticides mentioned in the commission's report—including atrazine and glyphosate — advocacy groups say American farmers would face economic repercussions and that grocery prices would skyrocket. These groups have strong financial ties to the pesticide makers being questioned. Will it be harder to get a COVID vaccine this year? Public records show Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, has funded local Farm Bureau chapters and helped launch the Modern Ag Alliance. Industry groups like CropLife have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to corn, soybean and wheat lobbyists, whose goals often include swaying legislation to benefit their members. Bayer-Monsanto has faced more than 100,000 lawsuits related to its pesticides allegedly causing cancer or other serious health concerns. The company has paid out $11 billion in settlements. Bayer maintains its products are EPA-approved and safe. The commission's report admitted there was no final proof that approved uses of pesticides cause harm. Its authors, however, pointed to potential bias in the 'industry-sponsored' research and sought additional independent study. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Key Trump voting bloc has concerns with MAHA report, as Trump officials give assurances
Despite assurances from Trump administration officials that farmers will not be impacted by its attempts to reduce environmental chemical exposure from foods, agricultural leaders have been expressing concern that the move will explode costs for farmers and more than double the cost of food. The administration's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, made up of many of President Donald Trump's political appointees and closest policy advisors, released an assessment strategizing how they will tackle childhood chronic diseases, such as obesity and mental health challenges. Part of the report's focus is on children's chemical exposure from our foods, which the report says is linked to developmental issues and chronic diseases. Amid the report's release, farm groups have expressed concern over the MAHA agenda's focus on pesticides. They have said that if the administration starts clamping down on widely used pesticides, crop yields would decline, input costs would surge and food costs would more than double. Doctor Takes Aim At 'Cancer-causing' Pesticides In Response To Maha Report "Farmers are already facing a host of challenges—uncertainty about their access to critical crop protection products shouldn't be added to the list," said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Executive Director of the Modern Ag Alliance. "Crop protection tools are not only safe, they are essential to food security, affordability, and the survival of family farms all across this country. Losing access to these critical inputs would be a devastating setback to American agriculture." Officials from the MAHA Commission sought to reassure farmers at an event releasing their assessment on childhood chronic diseases on Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that "at the center" of the MAHA agenda is "making American agriculture great again." Read On The Fox News App "We love our farmers, and we want to pay respect to our farmers. And we always will," President Trump added at the Thursday event from the White House. "We won the farmers by a lot in the election, and every election, all three elections – and we won by a lot. I will never forget that. And they are foremost in our thought." But some farmers are still expressing concern. Maha Report Lays Out 'Chronic Disease Crisis' Facing America "The Make America Healthy Again Report is filled with fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides. We are deeply troubled that claims of this magnitude are being made without any scientific basis or regard for a long history of EPA expert evaluations of these products," the National Corn Grower's Alliance (NCGA) said. "We call on the administration to respect the existing body of science on pesticides and, moving forward, to include America's farmers in discussion as this process evolves." According to a statement put out by the Modern Ag Alliance, pesticides are "rigorously tested" by the federal government, noting that in the case of glyphosate – mentioned multiple times in the MAHA report – it is one of the most thoroughly studied pesticides of its kind. They said that if the MAHA report drives future policy decisions it would hurt farmers and more than double the cost of food. Ex-yankees Coach Runs Farm That Vows To 'Make Meat Great Again' "Without glyphosate—the most widely used weed-fighting tool by U.S. farmers—crop yields would decline, input costs would surge by 150%, and food inflation would more than double," the group said. "When Sri Lanka prohibited the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in 2021, crop yields fell by over 50%, forcing the government to import massive amounts of food just to meet basic needs. We should be focused on moving American agriculture—and the country—forward." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been a vocal opponent against the dangerous health impacts of under-regulated pesticides even before he was the MAHA Commission's leader, said last week in a Senate hearing that "we cannot take any step that will put a single farmer in this country out of business." "There's a million farmers who rely on glyphosate," he said. "100% of corn in this country relies on glyphosate. We are not going to do anything to jeopardize that business model." Farmers Come First As Initiative Aims To Lower Their Costs, Get Fresh Food To Americans More Efficiently The MAHA report reiterates the economic importance of protecting farmers, but it also lists glyphosate in an infographic of "Chemical Classes and Common Exposure Pathways" and says research studies have shown it can cause a range of health effects. It also lists atrazine and other chemicals as dangerous to childhood health. MAHA Commission officials have said that part of the administration's focus will be a return to the gold standard of science, but the NCGA said the focus on certain widely-used pesticides, such as atrazine and glyphosate, goes against "decades of extensive research and testing." "If the administration's goal is to bring more efficiency to government, then why is the secretary of Health and Human Services duplicating efforts by raising questions about pesticides that have been answered repeatedly through research and reviews by federal regulatory bodies?" the group questioned. Jennifer Galardi, a senior policy analyst focused on health and wellness issues at the Heritage Foundation, took a more balanced view of the MAHA commission's strategy towards pesticides like glyphosate, noting that it appeared to thread the needle between supporting farmers and trying to ensure America's food supply is safe and free of chemicals that could impact child health. "The MAHA Commission Report seems to carefully examine competing issues in a very complex agricultural debate: the potential that crop protection tools as they're referred to in the report may cause adverse health outcomes and the desire to protect the economic interests of farmers and the country," Galardi said. "However, everyone should agree that the companies that manufacture products such as glyphosate and GMO's shouldn't have undue influence over the research upon which sound policy is based. The American public should demand transparency around these decisions." Galardi posited that, due to the tension around the issue of pesticides, the MAHA Commission may decide to go after "low-hanging fruit," such as improving children's diets and lack of physical activity, which, she said, are big drivers of obesity and metabolic dysfunction. In response to this article, a USDA spokesperson sent the following statement from Secretary Rollins: "We must do more to improve the health outcomes of our kids and families, and President Trump knows agriculture is at the heart of the solution. America's farmers and ranchers dedicate their lives to the noble cause of feeding their country and the world, and in doing so have created the safest and most abundant and affordable food supply in the world. We are working to make sure our kids and families are consuming the healthiest food we produce. I look forward to continuing to work with Secretary Kennedy and other members of the MAHA Commission to improve our nation's health." White House spokesman Kush Desai, in a separate statement, echoed Rollins' sentiment about the importance of agriculture and farmers when it comes to executing the MAHA mission. He also reiterated that the MAHA movement is grounded in "Gold Standard of Science." "The guiding principle of President Trump's movement to Make America Healthy Again is the Gold Standard of Science, and everyone from America's farmers to everyday parents are critical for the success of this movement," Desai said. "The MAHA Commission's report is a historic step by our government to, for the first time, comprehensively review the latest evidence and research of what we know – and what we don't know – is driving the health crisis afflicting America's children."Original article source: Key Trump voting bloc has concerns with MAHA report, as Trump officials give assurances
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Farmers fear ‘Make America Healthy Again' impact on glyphosate
A farmer tills a harvested corn field in late October near Boone. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Farmers with Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition that has been pushing for the adoption of pesticide labeling policies that would make it more difficult to build cancer-related lawsuits against pesticides, fear the impact of an upcoming 'Make America Healthy Again' report they believe will target pesticides. The farmers said on a press call Wednesday an attack on pesticide chemicals, specifically mentioning glyphosate in the widely used Roundup herbicide, would be 'a terrible development for American agriculture' and lead to higher food costs for the American consumer. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified Tuesday to U.S. senators and said there is not a 'single word' in his agency's upcoming report that 'should worry the American farmer.' Scott Henry, a farmer from central Iowa, was not persuaded by the secretary's remarks. He noted Kennedy's past as an environmental law attorney who said, several years ago, he believed hog farmers were worse than Osama bin Laden. 'I think it's hard to have been compared to al Qaeda in the past and then be told that I'm a partner now,' Henry said. Henry said if the report, which is anticipated to be released Thursday, contains anti-glyphosate guidance, and policymakers follow suit, it will cause commodity yields to drop, prices to increase and food inflation to 'more than double.' A report on the impact of a farm bill that doesn't allow the use of glyphosate found that consumer food inflation would increase 2.4 times. 'The biggest thing that I want to make clear today is that if the MAHA commission's report drives future policy decisions, food prices will go up, and instead of making America healthy again, we'll be making America hungry again,' Henry said. Modern Ag Alliance reports input prices for farmers could more than double without access to glyphosate. Henry said these costs would be passed up the supply chain and to consumers. 'The American farmer still has the best interest of the consumer in mind,' Henry said. 'We want them to buy food, we want it to be cheap, we want it to be safe, because don't forget, we feed our children these same products. So for somebody to tell us that we don't care about them is a true slap in the face.' An executive order from President Donald Trump in February created the Make America Healthy Again commission and tasked it with developing a 'Make our Children Healthy Again Assessment' to evaluate the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food ingredients and other factors that contribute to childhood chronic disease in the country. Kennedy has spoken publicly in the past about glyphosate and alleged the common weed-killing chemical causes cancer and other health concerns. Roundup's manufacturer, Bayer, holds that the product is safe to use, as does the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which reviews and certifies pesticides in the country. The company, however, has spent billions defending lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege the product gave them cancer. This led the company to partner with ag groups through Modern Ag Alliance and push for state legislation across the country, including in Iowa this year and last, to block lawsuits built on failure to warn claims. The bill did not advance through the House in Iowa, but has been signed into law in both North Dakota and Georgia. Modern Ag Alliance promoted the legislation, largely through ad campaigns. Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, the executive director of the alliance, said the attention to the MAHA report is much like the push for state policy on the issue. 'No different than how we have been trying to work proactively in many of the state legislative chambers on providing clarity and consistency so that farmers have these tools available today, and in the future, we see similar themes here and why we're working towards it at the federal level,' Burns-Thompson said. Henry said the report itself might not have a direct effect, but could lead to 'shifts in policy' that would send farming back to the practices of his grandfather. 'Today, hundreds of people can eat because of one individual farmer's efforts, and it's all due to tools like glyphosate and Roundup that allow us to do more with less and make safe, clean, affordable food available,' Henry said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Representative: Lawmakers have ‘concerns' on pesticide immunity bill
Rep. Megan Srinivas speaks at a press conference April 1 in opposition to a bill that would prevent Iowans from suing pesticide companies for its label. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) At a press conference Tuesday, Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, said her colleagues on both sides of the aisle have concerns with a bill that would protect pesticide companies from certain lawsuits. Senate File 394, advanced from the Senate Floor last week and now awaits action from the House. Srinivas, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee where the bill will likely be assigned, said the potential correlation between glyphosate, the chemical in the popular pesticide Roundup, and cancer is driving much of the unease with the bill. Srinivas said these issues have also been brought up by constituents at a series of bipartisan 'cancer listening posts' held across the state. 'It's time that we say no to this bill,' Srinivas said. 'That we say Iowans are far more important than anything else in the state. Cancer — it's not a Republican issue, it's not a Democrat issue, it's an Iowan issue.' The press conference was organized by Iowa Food & Water Watch and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, who have previously organized a rally in opposition to the bill. Ava Auen-Ryan, a community organizer with Iowa CCI said 'hundreds' of Iowans have engaged in this issue this year because of the widespread impacts of cancer in the state and because 'people don't want Bayer writing the rules in our state.' Michaelyn Mankel with Iowa Food & Water Watch said the bill is 'decisively unpopular' among Iowans. Proponents of the bill argue it will stop expensive lawsuits from targeting pesticide companies that are following the labeling requirements outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. According to the lobbying group Modern Ag Alliance, which has sponsored advertisements across the state about the bill, Iowa farmers save an estimated $612 million in production costs by using glyphosate. Modern Ag Alliance alleges that without the bill, farmers would not have access to the popular pesticide. Central to the bill is Bayer, the manufacturer and distributor of Roundup, who has already spent more than $10 billion settling lawsuits where plaintiffs allege the chemical gave them cancer. The company stands to benefit from the bill because it would stop plaintiffs from suing under 'failure to warn claims,' but Bayer is not the only pesticide manufacturer that would benefit. Jess Christiansen, the head of crop science and sustainability communications at Bayer, said the bill is 'really about upholding the label and the process.' Bayer holds that Roundup, and glyphosate, are safe products subject to 'rigorous' testing, and that testing bodies have found 'no link' to cancer. Christiansen called the progress of the bill in Iowa 'fabulous' and said Bayer applauds the Iowa Senate for its 'support of the farmers and the state of Iowa.' 'We're really hopeful that the House will keep it moving,' Christiansen said. The bill must be eligible for debate on the House floor by Thursday, or meet an exception, to survive the legislature's self-imposed, second 'funnel' deadline. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawyer demands records of Bayer's Roundup ‘propaganda' campaign in Missouri
Roundup weed killing products are offered for sale at a home improvement store on May 14, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois (). German chemical giant Bayer is improperly using a court order to hide details of a propaganda campaign targeting Missouri lawmakers and potential jurors, an emergency motion to lift the confidentiality cloak claims. At a hearing on Thursday in Cole County Circuit Court, attorney Matt Clement will argue that 46 'public relations' documents designated as confidential by Bayer's attorneys contain no proprietary information. Instead, Clement wrote in the motion filed last week, the records — included among 20,000 delivered under discovery — detail the methods Bayer has used to influence opinion, including radio, television and print ads. Bayer acquired Roundup — and the liability that may accrue in lawsuits over its health effects — when it took over St. Louis-based Monsanto in 2018. There are approximately 25,000 lawsuits pending in Cole County alleging that Roundup causes cancer and the label failed to warn consumers of the risk. 'Cole County has been especially inundated with Monsanto's propaganda,' Clement wrote in the motion seeking to unseal the records. 'Legion are its billboards, radio and television ads, social media pop ups and other communications seeking to convince both the jury pool and the legislature that the lawsuits involving Roundup are somehow illegitimate and that Bayer/Monsanto needs legislative protection.' Clement represents Ronald Jackelen of Somerset, Wisconsin, in a case filed in Cole County in 2022. Jackelen has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma he blames on Roundup and its main ingredient, glyphosate. Clement declined to comment on the filing. Legislation that passed the Missouri House last month to protect Bayer would make the label mandated by the EPA for all chemicals classified as pesticides — weed killers, bug killers and fertilizers — 'sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer.' The bill is awaiting assignment to a state Senate committee. Several lawsuits are scheduled for trial this year. Bayer has already been through a 2023 trial where a Cole County jury awarded three plaintiffs $1.56 billion, including $1.5 billion in punitive damages. The verdict was reduced to $622 million and is under appeal, with arguments scheduled for April 10 in Kirksville. Two organizations are making direct public appeals seeking support for legislation protecting glyphosate. One set of messages, running on Jefferson City-area radio stations, is from an organization called the Modern Ag Alliance. The ads present glyphosate as a benign, beneficial chemical essential to modern agriculture. The other, from the Protect America Initiative, includes television ads in central Missouri and a direct mail campaign accusing nine Republican state senators of betraying President Donald Trump's agenda by allowing 'Chinese Communist Party chemicals' to take over the market. The Modern Ag Alliance has spent almost $100,000 on its ad campaign since mid-November, Federal Communications Commission records show. The ads are designed to educate the public, not influence potential jurors, said Jess Christiansen, spokeswoman for Bayer Crop Science at its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis County. 'That's not the business we're in,' Christiansen said. 'Those campaigns are nothing more than that, just to educate and inform.' Bayer doesn't hide that it is part of the Modern Ag Alliance, which Christiansen said has about 90 other partners. The Protect America Initiative has spent almost $175,000 since late January — including a $75,000 ad during the Super Bowl — in addition to the direct mail effort. If they were intended to boost support for the legislation, the ads and mailers have backfired, with the nine senators holding a joint news conference last week denouncing the attacks. They said they were convinced Bayer was responsible and would ask the Missouri Ethics Commission to investigate. 'It's dark money, through and through,' said state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance. Bayer has no connection with the politically charged ads, Christiansen said. 'There's lots of misinformation swirling around,' she said. 'We are willing to sit with whomever it is. I don't care if it's a Republican, a Democrat, a libertarian, a Freedom Caucus member. We need to work together.' In the motion to be argued Thursday, Clement wrote that the documents that should be unsealed detail how Bayer crafted its messaging, who it has enlisted to deliver it from a seemingly neutral position and how much it has paid for advertising and lobbying. 'Monsanto's motivation for its abuse of the protective order to blanket-designate these documents as 'confidential' is clear — to hide Monsanto's ongoing attempts to improperly influence the public, as well as its legislative efforts concerning the safety of glyphosate, such that it can continue to sell and profit from the product without a warning,' Clement wrote. Bayer is the only U.S. manufacturer of glyphosate, with a production facility in Luling, Louisiana, that is the world's largest single producer. Other production facilities are in Idaho and Iowa. China is the world's other main supplier of glyphosate. China and India are major world suppliers of a variety of farm chemicals. Along with the U.S. corporate headquarters, Bayer has its research and development facilities in St. Louis County. Its total Missouri employment is about 5,000, Christiansen said. Along with Missouri, legislation to designate the EPA label as the only label needed on Roundup and other regulated farm chemicals is being pushed in Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming, Christiansen said. 'The purpose of the legislation is to really protect access to critical crop protection tools that farmers need to safely, effectively and affordably produce the food we all need,' Christiansen said. Winning passage of the legislation in Missouri is especially important because most state-level cases are filed here because it is the national home of Bayer. When a Missouri-based corporation is sued by someone for injuries that occurred outside the state, the case must be filed in the court covering the location of the company's registered agent. Bayer's registered agent was in St. Louis County, and thousands of cases were filed there before the company shifted its agent to Jefferson City in October 2021. Last year, following the massive jury award in Cole County, the registered agent was moved again, back to St. Louis County. Thousands of new cases have been filed in St. Louis County since the shift. There are also a multitude of federal lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. Bayer has set aside about $16 billion to deal with Roundup lawsuits, including more than $10 billion it has already paid out in settlements, Christiansen said. 'This failure to warn claim just is not valid, because, No. 1, glyphosate doesn't cause cancer,' Christiansen said. 'And No. 2, we're labeling according to how we're legally required to label.' Glyphosate is listed as a probable cause of cancer by the International Agency on Research of Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization. 'There is limited evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate,' stated a 2016 report evaluating research worldwide. 'A positive association has been observed for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.' There are four categories of public relations documents Clement is asking Circuit Judge Daniel Green to unseal. They are records showing correspondence with journalists or third parties, with talking points for use in public interviews; plans for advertising and media buys; lobbying strategies; and how it enlists third parties to deliver messages the public would mistrust if it came from Bayer. 'These documents are important to this litigation because they demonstrate Monsanto's efforts to manipulate and mislead the public,' Clement wrote. In the filing, Clement noted that in a pretrial order for a California case, denying Monsanto's motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria focused on the company's efforts to sway the public as it contested the allegations that Roundup causes cancer. 'Although the evidence that Roundup causes cancer is quite equivocal,' Chhabria wrote, 'there is strong evidence from which a jury could conclude that Monsanto does not particularly care whether its product is in fact giving people cancer, focusing instead on manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about the issue.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
