Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s war on pesticides is alarming White House and federal agency officials, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Top aides are reportedly on edge ahead of an expected May 22 report to “Make America Healthy Again” from Kennedy, who was confirmed in January as President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services.
People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the report will spotlight what Kennedy believes is the “deleterious impact of pesticides” on health. Targets include glyphosate—the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most widely used weedkiller—and atrazine, a herbicide commonly sprayed on corn and grasses.
Government officials worry Kennedy’s push to link pesticides to U.S. health issues could disrupt the nation’s food supply chain, according to the Journal.
Kennedy has long been a vocal critic of pesticide use, arguing that chemicals like glyphosate and atrazine contribute to chronic health issues in the U.S. He made headlines when he suggested that endocrine disruptors—chemicals found in pesticides and plastic—may be influencing children’s sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Environmental Working Group said in 2024 that potentially harmful pesticides were found on more than 75 percent of non-organic fresh produce sold in the United States.
Trump launched the “Make America Healthy Again” Commission in February, with a sweeping mission to “address the growing health crisis in America“ by focusing on “understanding and drastically lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood chronic disease.”
On the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed to probe pesticides and the causes of chronic health diseases.
“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,” he said at a rally with Kennedy in Arizona in August.
Behind the scenes, farm and food groups have also been scrambling to meet with White House officials to express their concerns about the report, according to the Journal. They are worried it could torpedo trust in decades of pesticide research.
Illinois farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Kenneth Hartman Jr. told the newspaper that he fears the report will cast out “the extensive research and testing on pesticides and cast doubt on the safe use of these technologies.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the HHS for comment.
“HHS, EPA, USDA and other federal partners are working closely to ensure the final report reflects gold standard science and practical considerations that will Make America Healthy Again,” an HHS spokesman told the Journal.
“The MAHA Commission’s first report for President Trump will be a landmark assessment of what we know about the causes of America’s chronic disease crisis and what we need further research on,” a White House spokesman told the publication.
Sources told the Journal that the forthcoming “Make America Healthy Again” report has been largely shaped by Kennedy adviser Calley Means, who co-wrote a book on the dangers of pesticides with his sister, new Trump surgeon general nominee Dr. Casey Means. The siblings say their book, Good Energy, is “a unifying framework for understanding what is causing symptoms and diseases, and how to feel amazing now and in the future.”
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