Continuing clash between MAGA & MAHA over environmental health issues
EPA promised a formal MAHA priorities agenda. But today it's "nowhere to be found"
A split between Make America Great Again (MAGA) followers and Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) advocates has been brewing for at least a year.
Back in August 2025, the Why Should I Trust You podcast interviewed Zen Honeycutt - the founder of Moms Across America, an organization whose mission is “to educate and empower mothers and others with actions and solutions to create healthy communities.” Issues such as pesticides, environmental toxins, and safe foods are key concerns. Even a year ago, she was concerned about such Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions as:
bringing back a banned pesticide;
moving to end climate regulation under Clean Water Act;
moving to cancel key climate regulations that limit pollution;,
moves to weaken drinking water limits on toxic forever chemicals.
On that podcast, Honeycutt said:
I’m horrified. As a mother who is working constantly to try to reduce the toxin exposure, toxic exposure to my children and to the children all across the country, I don’t understand the logic behind going backwards, right? I do understand that Trump is very committed to supporting businesses to thrive in America, and there are some, you know, regulations which can be very cumbersome to these corporations and being able to make products and to make a profit.
However, I don’t think we should be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and get rid of all regulations for corporations that are necessary to have a foundational…structure for safety and protecting American citizens.
Fast forward a year, and the Associated Press reports:
(Excerpt:) Last December, after Make America Healthy Again activists drew up a petition to get him fired, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin pledged to release a formal agenda of MAHA priorities that his agency would pursue, including protections against harmful chemicals and other health concerns.
But eight months after its first mention and after repeated promises it was being drafted, the so-called MAHA agenda is nowhere to be found. When asked for a status update this week, an EPA spokesperson said MAHA is an ongoing effort, not a single report.
The apparent reversal on the release of a formal environmental health agenda is the latest in a cascade of disappointments for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement, who say they’ve lost faith that the Trump administration will take any significant action on pesticides, chemicals or other issues they view as key to address America’s chronic disease epidemic. It also reflects the EPA’s relentless rollback of environmental regulations even in the face of pressure from an important voting bloc that has supported President Donald Trump.
The AP reminded readers that several former industry lobbyists now have leading roles at EPA.
Last weekend, The New York Times summarized three recent troubling EPA moves:
The E.P.A. fired an official who wrote a memo requiring a fish farm to track microplastics (“the tiny particles that have become a rising environmental and health concern”), accusing him of trying to embarrass the agency.
The Trump administration picked a climate science critic with no training in climate science to lead an official report on how climate change affects the U.S.
The Trump administration moved to allow farming, drilling and mining in the habitats of endangered animals. Environmentalists called it the most severe cut to wildlife protections in 50 years.
Environmental issues are fundamental health issues. The World Health Organization states:
Good health depends on clean air, a stable climate, a preserved natural environment, as well as access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene. It also requires protection from harmful radiation, unsafe chemical management and unhealthy working conditions. A healthy environment could prevent nearly a quarter of the global disease burden.
The ongoing environmental crisis is profoundly affecting health as climate change intensifies, biodiversity declines and pollution becomes ubiquitous. The health impacts of poor environmental conditions occur not only directly but also indirectly, through effects on food production, migration, economic instability and social inequalities.