Members of the Make America Health Again movement are in open revolt after founder Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly backed President Trump’s executive order Wednesday that would increase domestic production of glyphosate—a pesticide the MAHA movement and Kennedy have railed against.
Vani Hari, an ally of Kennedy who goes by “Food Babe,” told The Washington Post she was left “speechless” by the move.
“We truly were hoping that this administration would put people over corporate power,” she said, “but this action moves us away from that commitment.”
Trump’s executive order invoked the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup products. Currently, the US imports large quantities of glyphosate from China, according to Reuters.
The MAHA movement has been vehemently opposed to the use of glyphosate, claiming it contributes to childhood health problems. In 2024, Kennedy—an anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer who was then running for president—wrote on social media: “The herbicide Glyphosate is one of the likely culprits in America’s chronic disease epidemic. … Shockingly, much of our exposure comes from its use as a desiccant on wheat, not as an herbicide. From there it goes straight into our bodies. My USDA will ban that practice.”
But now, after becoming US health secretary under Trump, Kennedy is supporting domestic glyphosate production. In a statement to CNBC, Kennedy said that Trump’s executive order “puts America first where it matters most—our defense readiness and our food supply.”