The report and comments by administration officials make it clear that the business wing of the Republican party has great influence. The MAHA report describes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) existing pesticide review procedures as “robust” and says it will work to ensure that “the public has awareness and confidence” in them.
Such comments have already drawn ire from MAHA-aligned activists.
The report also calls for working to “reform the approval process” for chemicals and pesticides, but does not specify what those reforms will be other than to say the goal is to protect against pests and “increase the timely availability of more innovative growing solutions for farmers.”
During Tuesday’s press conference, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin indicated that the administration would work to move pesticides forward but said the EPA would focus on enforcement against those that the agency has already banned.
“At the Trump EPA, we are accelerating innovative and vetted crop protection products to enhance an American system of agriculture that is already the best in the world,” he said. “At the same time, EPA is aggressively confronting and addressing the threat of banned pesticides imported or smuggled into the United States.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly promised to “make America healthy again” but has also pledged to take a deregulatory stance on energy and the environment. The EPA has said it plans to weaken rules on toxic chemicals and other types of pollution and has moved to exempt dozens of polluters from complying with environmental rules.
Read more here, from Rachel and The Hill’s Joseph Choi.
