RFK Jr. Makes Glyphosate News by Supporting Trump’s Latest Executive Order
RFK Jr.’s recent statement on X represents a disappointing reversal of his previous anti-glyphosate stance.
Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voiced his support for President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at boosting the production of glyphosate. This is disappointing for a number of reasons — chiefly that the herbicide marketed as Roundup has been deemed a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The Details of Trump’s Executive Order
Trump’s order, passed February 18, is intended to protect domestic production of elemental phosphorus — one of the key ingredients used to make glyphosate-based herbicides, as well as certain military devices1. It would also protect the production of the herbicides themselves, granting limited legal immunity to manufacturers if they’re following federal directives. And it gets even more shocking: the order was passed by invoking the Defense Production Act, a power typically reserved for wartime emergencies.
On Sunday, Kennedy posted a statement on social media platform X acknowledging the toxicity of pesticides while also supporting Trump’s move by arguing it was necessary for nationwide security and stability2.
“Unfortunately, our agricultural system depends heavily on these chemicals,” he wrote. “I support President Trump’s Executive Order to bring agricultural chemical production back to the United States and end our near-total reliance on adversarial nations.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s Reversal on Glyphosate
The move is surprising given Kennedy’s past as an environmental lawyer, particularly in view of his landmark 2018 win against Monsanto, which produced Roundup before its 2018 acquisition by Bayer. Kennedy secured a $289 million jury verdict against Monsanto by arguing that the company knew about the increased cancer risk caused by glyphosate exposure, which contributed to his client’s cancer.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. built his political brand by holding chemical companies accountable for poisoning communities. Now he is defending a federal order designed to accelerate production of the very pesticide he once called dangerous,” says EWG President and co-founder Ken Cook. “He has officially traded the health of America’s children for a seat at the table of power.”
MAHA vs. MAGA
For some experts, this move deepens the schism between supporters of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again platform and the current administration.
“It’s been a year. Not a single thing has been done by the EPA to reduce our children’s and families exposure to pesticides,” Moms Across America founder Zen Honeycutt, a prominent MAHA activist, replied to Kennedy’s post on X. “We love you Bobby but this administration needs to keep their word.”
In 2014 alone, over 276 million pounds of glyphosate were sprayed on crops in the U.S., up from 1.4 million in 1974, according to government data3. “In the U.S., no pesticide has come remotely close to such intensive and widespread use,” wrote the authors of a 2016 study in Environmental Sciences Europe4.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s official stance on glyphosate is that it is unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed, though numerous academic studies have linked exposure to the chemical to an increased risk of lymphoma specifically5.
Sources:
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/promoting-the-national-defense-by-ensuring-an-adequate-supply-of-elemental-phosphorus-and-glyphosate-based-herbicides/
- https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/2025760500793909389
- https://www.consumershield.com/articles/glyphosate-usage-trends
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27752438/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31342895/
