WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� On New Year’s Eve, did something out of character for an leader who has been hacking away at regulations intended to protect Americans’ air and water.
He announced new restrictions on five chemicals commonly used in building materials, plastic products and adhesives, and he cheered it as a 鈥淢AHA win.鈥�
It was one of many signs of a fragile collaboration that has been building between a Republican administration traditionally supportive of big business and the Make America Healthy Again movement, which argues that corporate environmental harms are putting people’s health in danger.
The unlikely pairing grew out of the coalition’s success with the help of its biggest champion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As health secretary, he has pared back vaccine recommendations and shifted the government’s position on topics like , and .
Building on that momentum, the movement now sees a glimmer of hope in the EPA’s promise to release a 鈥淢AHA agenda鈥� in the coming months.
At stake is the strength of President 鈥檚 coalition as November’s midterm elections threaten his party鈥檚 control of Congress. After a politically diverse group of MAHA devotees came together to help Trump return to the White House a little more than one year ago, disappointing them could mean losing the support of a vocal voting bloc.
Activists like Courtney Swan, who focuses on nutritional issues and has spoken with EPA officials in recent months, are watching closely.
鈥淭his is becoming an issue that if the EPA does not start getting their stuff together, then they could lose the midterms over this,鈥� she said.
Christopher Bosso, a professor at Northeastern University who researches environmental policy, said Zeldin didn鈥檛 seem to take MAHA seriously at first, 鈥渂ut now he has to, because they鈥檝e been really calling for his scalp.鈥�
MAHA wins a seat at the table
Last year, prominent activist Kelly Ryerson was so frustrated with the EPA over its weakening of protections against harmful chemicals that she and other MAHA supporters drew up a to get Zeldin fired.
The final straw, Ryerson said, was the EPA鈥檚 approval of two new pesticides for use on food. Ryerson, whose social media account 鈥淕lyphosate Girl鈥� focuses on nontoxic food systems, said the pesticides contained 鈥渇orever chemicals,鈥� which resist breakdown, making them hazardous to people. The EPA has disputed that characterization.
But Ryerson鈥檚 relationship with the EPA changed at a MAHA Christmas party in Washington in December. She talked to Zeldin there and felt that he listened to her perspective. Then he invited her and a handful of other activists to sit down with him at the EPA headquarters. That meeting lasted an hour, and it led to more conversations with Zeldin鈥檚 deputies.
鈥淭he level of engagement with people concerned with their health is absolutely revolutionary,鈥� Ryerson said in an interview. She said the agency’s upcoming plan 鈥渨ill say whether or not they take it seriously,鈥� but she praised MAHA’s access as 鈥渦nprecedented.鈥�
Rashmi Joglekar, associate director of science, policy and engagement at the University of California, San Francisco鈥檚 Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, said it鈥檚 not typical for an activist group to meet with the EPA administrator. She said MAHA’s ability to make inroads so quickly shows how 鈥減owerful鈥� the coalition has become.
The movement鈥檚 influence is not just at the EPA. MAHA has steered federal and state lawmakers away from enacting liability shields that protect pesticide manufacturers from expensive lawsuits. In Congress, after MAHA activists lobbied against such protections in a funding bill, they were removed. A similar measure stalled in Tennessee鈥檚 legislature.
Zeldin joined a call in December with the advocacy group MAHA Action, where he invited activists to participate in developing the EPA鈥檚 MAHA agenda. Since then, EPA staffers have regularly appeared on the weekly calls and promoted what they say are open-door policies.
Last month, Ryerson鈥檚 petition to get Zeldin fired was updated to note that several signers had met with him and are in a 鈥渃ollaborative effort to advance the MAHA agenda.鈥�
Zeldin鈥檚 office declined to make him available for an interview on his work with MAHA activists, but EPA Press Secretary Brigit Hirsch said the forthcoming agenda will 鈥渄irectly respond to priorities we鈥檝e heard from MAHA advocates and communities.鈥�
The American Chemistry Council said 鈥渟mart, pro-growth policies can protect both the environment and human health as well as grow the U.S. economy.鈥�
EPA’s alliance with industry raises questions
Despite the ongoing conversations, the Republican emphasis on deregulation still puts MAHA and the EPA on a potential collision course.
Lori Ann Burd, the environmental health program director at The Center for Biological Diversity, said the administration has a particularly strong alliance with industry interests.
As an example, she pointed to the EPA鈥檚 proposal to allow the broad use of the weed killer Dicamba on soybeans and cotton. A month before the announcement, the EPA hired a lobbyist for the soybean association, Kyle Kunkler, to serve in a senior position overseeing pesticides.
Hirsch denied that Kunkler had anything to do with the decision and said EPA鈥檚 pesticide decisions are 鈥渄riven by statutory standards and scientific evidence.鈥�
Environmentalists said the hiring of ex-industry leaders is a theme of this administration. Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, for example, are former higher-ups at the American Chemistry Council, an industry association. They now work in leadership in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which oversees pesticide and toxic chemical regulation.
Hirsch said the agency consults with ethics officials to prevent conflicts of interest and ensures that appointees are qualified and focused on the science, 鈥渦nlike previous administrations that too often deferred to activist groups instead of objective evidence.鈥�
Alexandra Mu帽oz, a molecular toxicologist who collaborates with MAHA activists on certain issues and attended the hour-long meeting with Zeldin, said she sensed the industry’s influence in the room.
鈥淭hey were very polite in the meeting. In terms of the tone, there was a lot of receptivity,鈥� she said. 鈥淗owever, in terms of what was said, it felt like we were interacting with a lot of industry talking points.鈥�
Activists await the EPA’s MAHA agenda
Hirsch said the MAHA agenda will address issues like lead pipes, forever chemicals, plastic pollution, food quality and Superfund cleanups.
Ryerson said she wants to get the chemical atrazine out of drinking water and stop the pre-harvest desiccation of food, in which farmers apply pesticides to crops immediately before they are harvested.
She also wants to see cancer warnings on the ingredient glyphosate, which some studies associate with cancer even as the EPA said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
While she鈥檚 optimistic that the political payoffs will be big enough for Zeldin to act, she said some of the moves he鈥檚 already promoting as 鈥淢AHA wins鈥� are no such thing.
For example, in his New Year’s Eve announcement on a group of chemicals called phthalates, he said the agency intends to regulate some of them for environmental and workplace risks, but didn’t address the thousands of consumer products that contain the ingredients.
Swan said time will tell if the agency is being performative.
鈥淭he EPA is giving very mixed signals right now,鈥� she said.
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Govindarao reported from Phoenix.
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