MAHA Betrayal: How Trump’s ‘Frightening’ Pesticide Approvals Threaten Your Family’s Health

Are the foods on your dinner table tonight contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals? Despite promises to “Make America Healthy Again,” shocking new evidence reveals the Trump administration is doing the exact opposite.

Despite Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) promises to reduce chemical exposures in America’s food supply, public health experts across the United States are warning that the Trump administration is simultaneously approving what they describe as a wave of “frightening” pesticides that directly contradict the movement’s core mission. Could your family be at risk?

The Shocking Truth Behind MAHA’s Broken Promises

What’s really happening in Washington will surprise you. The contradiction between campaign rhetoric and reality has become starkly apparent from California to Florida, from Texas farmlands to New York grocery stores. The Trump administration’s strategy to “Make America Healthy Again” will bypass aggressive action on farm-used pesticides or regulatory crackdowns on ultraprocessed foods, according to a draft document obtained by CNN, revealing a fundamental disconnect between campaign promises and actual policy implementation.

But here’s what’s even more alarming: The Trump EPA has this year accelerated the approval of new pesticides. This includes at least four active ingredients that are “forever chemicals” known as PFAS – well-studied toxic compounds known to persist in the environment and accumulate in the body. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has called this “the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history”.

Ask yourself: Is this the “healthy America” we were promised?

The ‘Frightening’ Pesticides Flooding American Farms

Here’s what experts don’t want you to ignore:

The most controversial approval involves dicamba, a volatile herbicide that has caused unprecedented agricultural damage from Arkansas to Indiana, from Illinois to North Carolina. “Trump’s EPA is hitting new heights of absurdity by planning to greenlight a pesticide that’s caused the most extensive drift damage in U.S. agricultural history and twice been thrown out by federal courts,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The numbers are staggering. Dicamba’s destructive track record is well-documented across America’s heartland. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that up to 15 million acres of soybeans were damaged by dicamba drift in 2018 alone. The chemical is so volatile that dicamba’s damage to flowering plants was so severe that it forced Arkansas’ largest beekeeper to move his operation out of state.

Beyond dicamba, the administration has approved pesticides containing PFAS “forever chemicals,” despite overwhelming scientific evidence linking these substances to serious health problems including cancer, liver damage, and immune system dysfunction. These chemicals are now in foods from coast to coast.

It’s crucial to understand the difference: Not all synthetic pesticides pose equal risks. While many conventional pesticides undergo rigorous safety testing and are used safely when applied according to label directions, the pesticides being fast-tracked by this administration have documented histories of environmental damage and health concerns that set them apart from standard agricultural chemicals.

Why Big Agriculture Is Winning Over Your Health

Ever wonder who’s really making these decisions? The pesticide approvals reflect powerful corporate influence within regulatory agencies from Washington D.C. to state capitals. The decision to seek reapproval comes less than a month after Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, was installed as the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides in the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

“The appointment of Kyle Kunkler sends a loud, clear message: Industry influence is back in charge at the EPA,” said EWG president Ken Cook. “It’s a stunning reversal of the campaign promises Trump and RFK Jr. made to their MAHA followers—that they’d stand up to chemical giants and protect children from dangerous pesticides”.

But here’s their justification: The administration justifies these approvals by citing farmers’ economic needs and food production goals. These new products would give farmers an additional tool to help manage crops and increase yields in order to provide a healthy and affordable food supply for our country, according to EPA statements. But at what cost to your family’s health?

The Devastating Truth About Health Impacts in Your Community

The scientific evidence is undeniable—and shocking. The health consequences of increased use of these specific problem pesticides are severe and scientifically documented across American communities from rural farming towns to suburban neighborhoods. A 2024 study, published in the journal Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society, found the amount of pesticides used on farms was strongly associated with the incidence of many cancers for farmers and their families, and also for entire communities. The study showed that “agricultural pesticides can increase your risk for some cancers just as much as smoking” and found that “living in places with high pesticide use increased the risk of colon and pancreatic cancers by more than 80%”.

What makes these pesticides particularly dangerous: Unlike many conventional agricultural chemicals that break down relatively quickly in the environment, the pesticides being approved—especially PFAS-containing chemicals and volatile compounds like dicamba—either persist indefinitely in the environment or cause widespread unintended damage through drift and volatilization.

Your children are especially vulnerable. A first-of-its-kind 2025 study, published in the journal GeoHealth, finds exposure to multiple pesticides significantly increases the risk of childhood cancers compared with exposures to just one pesticide, raising new fears that children are more at risk to the substances’ harmful effects than previously thought.

Even the EPA’s own data is alarming. Scientific evidence also documents dicamba’s environmental destruction across American agricultural regions. EPA’s own data shows dicamba has harmed thousands of farmers to date. The EPA’s December 2021 report states that these numbers are likely an undercount by 25 times, indicating the true scope of damage far exceeds official reports.

Environmental damage extends beyond human health from Maine to California. Dozens of imperiled species, including pollinators like monarch butterflies and rusty patched bumblebees, are also threatened by the pesticide, while PFAS chemicals contaminate groundwater and drinking water supplies indefinitely across the United States.

The Corporate Conspiracy Behind MAHA’s Failure

Here’s what they don’t want you to understand: This stark contradiction reveals how corporate interests can override public health commitments when profits are at stake. “This is what happens when pesticide oversight is controlled by industry lobbyists. Corporate fat cats get their payday and everyone else suffers the consequences”, noted environmental health expert Nathan Donley.

The situation demonstrates that while MAHA rhetoric focuses on health, actual policy implementation prioritizes agricultural industry profits over protecting American families from toxic exposures from sea to shining sea. “We’re not seeing any meaningful action,” says Katherine O’Brien, a senior attorney at the nonprofit advocacy group Earthjustice.

What This Crisis Means for Your Family’s Future

The reality is frightening: The approval of these dangerous pesticides means continued exposure to carcinogenic chemicals in your food, air, and water whether you live in urban centers like Chicago and Atlanta or rural communities across Iowa and Nebraska. Children, pregnant women, farmworkers, and rural communities face the greatest risks, with long-term health consequences including increased cancer rates, developmental disorders, and immune system damage that will burden families and healthcare systems for generations across America.

Your Power to Fight Back: 5 Ways to Protect Your Family Today

You’re not powerless—here’s how to take action immediately:

Submit Public Comments: The EPA must accept public input on pesticide approvals. Visit regulations.gov during comment periods to voice opposition to dangerous pesticides like dicamba. Your voice matters—use it!

Contact Your Representatives: Pressure elected officials from your state—whether you’re in Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, or anywhere in between—to support legislation restricting harmful pesticides and enforcing stricter health standards that prioritize public health over industry profits.

Support Legal Warriors: Organizations like the Center for Food Safety, Environmental Working Group, and Earthjustice are fighting these approvals through lawsuits across federal courts and need your support. Join the fight!

Vote with Your Wallet: Purchase certified organic foods to support farming practices that prohibit synthetic pesticides, or choose produce from farms using integrated pest management (IPM) that relies on safer, targeted approaches rather than problematic chemicals like dicamba and PFAS-containing pesticides. Start demanding transparency about which specific pesticides are used!

Local Action Wins: Work with schools, parks, and local governments in your community to restrict pesticide use in spaces where citizens have direct influence. Start in your own backyard!

As one advocate urgently pleaded, “I would like everyone to contact the EPA… If we can get enough people to rise up and say ‘enough is enough, we don’t want to poison our food’, maybe we can get something changed”.

The power to demand genuine health protection lies in collective citizen action that refuses to accept this betrayal of MAHA’s promises. Will you join the fight for your family’s health, or will you let corporate interests continue poisoning America’s food supply?

The choice is yours. The time is now. Your family’s health depends on it.

Written by Justine Reichman