MAHA Calls for No Pesticides Action
LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The Make America Healthy Again Commission expects to recommend no actions on pesticides in a document sent to President Donald Trump this week and leaked to the media by environmental groups on Friday.
Instead, MAHA said in the 18-page draft document, "Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy," that it recommends allowing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to continue its current way of safeguarding pesticides.
The White House has not yet publicly released the report.
A previous 68-page report released by the commission in May 2025 called out the potential hazards of glyphosate-based Roundup and atrazine while saying a balanced approach was needed between improving pesticide safety in general and the needs of farmers.
The agriculture industry was outraged by the initial report, which was found to have errors in the sources cited on pesticides. In addition, ag industry groups expressed concern that they were uninvolved in the drafting of that report.
In the recommendations document, there are three references to pesticides, but no actions are recommended to the president.
Under a section entitled "cumulative exposure," it reads: "Additional EPA research will focus on using NAMs (non-animal methods) and computational tools to improve methods for evaluating human health and environmental risks of chemical contaminants. Consistent with statutory obligations under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), EPA will focus on pesticides acting through a common mode of action."
The report goes on to say, "EPA, partnering with food and agricultural stakeholders, will work to ensure that the public has awareness and confidence in EPA's robust pesticide review procedures and how that relates to the limiting of risk for users and the general public."
In a third reference to pesticides in the document, MAHA said that USDA and EPA would "launch a partnership" with private-sector innovators to "ensure continued investment in new approaches and technologies" to improve the targeting of pesticide applications.
"This can support increased crop productivity and reduce the total amount of pesticides needed," MAHA says in the document.
"These partnerships should focus on precision application methods, including targeted drone applications, computer-assisted targeted spray technology, robotic monitoring and related innovations."
MAHA also makes a few recommendations about how the administration should improve processes at the EPA.
That includes working to reform the approval process for the "full range of products" to protect against weeds, pests and disease and to "increase the timely availability of more innovative growing solutions for farmers."
In addition, MAHA recommends that EPA "ensure flexibility" for farms to manage manure and process water "without triggering industrial-grade permitting requirements" and to avoid "forced mandates of costly technologies or practices" that don't consider individual operations.
The report also states the USDA and EPA "will promote" incentivizing farming solutions that focus on soil health.
The May 2025 report said several things about the research and evaluation of pesticides, including emphasizing the need for more study of the cumulative effects of pesticides.
Read more on DTN:
"Ag Outraged by MAHA Commission Report," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
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