A coalition of over 100 ag groups is expressing concern about a soon-to-be-released federal report on how chemicals and other factors may be contributing to rising levels of childhood diseases. The “Make America Healthy Again” or MAHA report will come from the agency lead by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who said yesterday there’s “not a word” in the draft he’s seen “that should worry the American farmer.”
Scott Henry of Nevada, a fourth generation Iowa farmer, suggests that’s hard to believe because Kennedy has compared farmers to terrorists in the past. “From my perspective, I hope that the people writing the report have actually come to a farm,” Henry said during an online news conference organized by the Modern Ag Coalition.
Last year as a presidential candidate, Kennedy said “toxic chemicals like glyphosate” — the main ingredient in Roundup — “are contaminating the U.S. food supply.” Henry said the impact of “anti-agricultural activists” like Kennedy could be severe if farmers are no longer allowed to use Roundup to control weeds. “We care about keeping our soils, our water and the staple food we create for the American consumer safe and affordable,” Henry said.
Henry told reporters “it’s scary that science” may not drive future decision making about Roundup, which has been approved for use by the EPA for decades. Without Roundup, Henry and other farmers say yields will drop and costs will rise. “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 making America hungry again.”
Modern Ag Alliance executive director Elizabeth Burns-Thompson said while the report hasn’t been issued yet, the ag community wants to get their concerns about Kennedy on the record now. “Frankly what he’s talked about not only through the campaign trail, but during his time as secretary continuing to draw attention and speculation around pesticides broadly and specifically certain chemistries,” Burns-Thompson said.
In 2020, Kennedy said the company that makes Roundup “is the enemy of every admirable American value.” Yesterday, during a U.S. Senate hearing, Kennedy said the Trump Administration will “not do anything that would put farmers out of business.”
The Make America Healthy Again report is due to be released tomorrow. During an event last week, one of Kennedy’s top advisors said the report won’t forbid the use of farm chemicals, but many of the leading herbicides and pesticides used in the U.S. have been phased out or banned in every other country in the world and the report will offer policies to solve the issue of toxins in the environment.
