Zeldin calls environmental health plan an ongoing effort, not a single report
Last December, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin pledged to release a formal agenda of “Make America Healthy Again” environmental health priorities. Eight months later, the document has not materialized, and the agency now says the initiative is an ongoing effort, not a single report.
The apparent reversal on 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, whose supporters said they have lost faith that the Trump administration will take any significant action on pesticides, chemicals or other issues they view as key to addressing America’s chronic disease epidemic.
“I had really hoped that there would be specific steps that were taken through a MAHA agenda,” said Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA activist who runs the social media account “Glyphosate Girl” focused on nontoxic food systems. “We haven’t had any of the wins that we were requesting.”
An EPA spokesperson, when asked for a status update this week, said MAHA is “an ongoing effort, not a single report.”
PBS News reported that Ryerson described the lack of a promised MAHA agenda as a tactic to escape accountability. “It absolves them of any failures, especially when it comes to midterms,” Ryerson told PBS News, according to their account.
The missing agenda comes after Zeldin took early steps that aligned with MAHA priorities. On New Year’s Eve, he announced new restrictions on five chemicals. In April, the EPA proposed for the first time to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a federal list of drinking water contaminants, a step Zeldin tied to the MAHA agenda. But supporters said the pace of action has stalled.
Ryerson, who had pressed for action on glyphosate and other agricultural chemicals, said the movement has not secured the concrete regulatory changes it sought.