Iowa and California disagree with pesticide warning labels on herbicides
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is at the center of a regulatory battle between California, Iowa, Nebraska and other states.
- President Donald Trump has issued an executive order prioritizing production of the herbicide glyphosate in the United States.
- The order uses the Defense Production Act, citing glyphosate’s importance to food security and the military.
- The move comes as Bayer, which makes the glyphosate brand Roundup, faces lawsuits over links between the chemical and cancer.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order this week prioritizing glyphosate production in the United States, saying the herbicide is critical to national security.
President Trump’s executive order, issued late Wednesday, February 18, grants limited immunity to domestic companies that produce glyphosate and phosphorus, declaring both essential to the nation’s military and farmers. President Trump used the Defense Production Act of 1950 to say the element phosphorus is essential for military technologies such as radar, solar cells and sensors, and for agriculture as a “precursor element” in producing glyphosate-based herbicides.
The president also used the Defense Production Act during his first term to order U.S. meat processing plants to stay open during a global pandemic that has sickened thousands of workers with COVID-19 and killed nearly 300.
According to President Trump’s order, glyphosate will allow America’s “farmers to efficiently and cost-effectively produce food and livestock feed.” The order further states that the United States “has only one domestic producer of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate herbicides, and this producer does not meet our nation’s annual needs for these inputs,” requiring the country to import approximately 6 million kilograms of elemental phosphorus annually.
President Trump, in consultation with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, ordered U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to ensure that any orders, rules, or regulations “do not jeopardize the business viability of domestic producers of elemental phosphorus or glyphosate-based herbicides.”
The move comes as states debate whether manufacturers of the widely used chemical, such as Bayer’s Monsanto, which sells the glyphosate-based herbicide as Roundup, should be protected from lawsuits alleging links to cancer. Food & Water Watch senior attorney Dani Reprugle said Thursday, Feb. 19, that the executive order will do little to help farmers or consumers.
“This is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is at the mercy of the agrochemical industry, especially Bayer,” Reprugle said.
He said the Defense Production Act is typically reserved for “national emergencies such as war or the coronavirus pandemic,” in which it was used to ramp up production of things like personal protective equipment and ventilators.
Order comes after Monsanto reaches settlement in Roundup lawsuit
U.S. farmers have widely adopted glyphosate in combination with herbicide-tolerant seeds that can spray weeds without damaging beneficial plants in corn, soybeans and other genetically engineered crops.
Despite Roundup’s popularity among farmers, Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer, has struggled for years to fend off product liability claims, primarily from private garden users who have linked Roundup to cancer diagnoses. Bayer announced on Tuesday, February 17, that it had reached an agreement to pay up to $7.25 billion to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits.
At the same time, the Germany-based company persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal that would significantly limit its liability in the lawsuit.
The Supreme Court’s decision on this issue came largely after the Trump administration upheld Bayer’s position that federal glyphosate regulations favoring Bayer should take precedence over state laws invoked by the plaintiffs.
Bayer warned last year that it could be forced to halt production of the herbicide in the United States unless regulatory changes are made to avoid litigation.
Private lawyer supports President Trump’s order
President Trump’s order comes as he battles concerns about soaring food prices, with farmers complaining of rising costs for fertilizer, seeds and other production costs that exceed the price they receive for their crops. U.S. farmers face possible losses for the fourth year in a row, with the president’s tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico and others exacerbating a prolonged economic downturn.
Jennifer Zwagerman, director of the Agriculture Law Center at Drake University in Iowa, said the order could help improve the nation’s supply of glyphosate herbicides. But it does little to address the concerns many farmers have about consolidation within the fertilizer, chemical and seed industries.
Even though prices for corn, soybeans and other crops have fallen significantly in recent years, production costs remain high.
“For real change to occur, we need to find ways to make our domestic market more competitive,” Zwagermann said on Thursday, February 19th.
Order causes MAHA’s wrath
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously promised to address concerns about harmful pesticides. Last May, a panel led by the secretary of health released a report finding that processed foods, chemicals, stress, and overprescription of drugs and vaccines may be contributing factors to chronic disease among children in the United States.
The report named two herbicides, glyphosate and atrazine, and said these chemicals should be studied further, but it did not recommend specific regulatory changes or restrictions on pesticides used in agriculture. Another report issued in September by the Make America Healthy Again committee covers food and drug marketing, but does not address pesticide regulation.
A spokesperson for the Secretary of Health said in a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday, February 18, that Kennedy supports the president.
“President Donald Trump’s executive orders put America first in the most important areas: our defense preparedness and food supply,” the newspaper said. “We must protect America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it.”
But Trump’s order prompted a backlash from those aligned with the administration’s MAHA movement, which broadly monitors pesticide use.
“Just as the large MAHA base begins to consider what to do in the midterm elections, the president issues an EO to expand domestic glyphosate production, the very same carcinogenic pesticide that MAHA is most concerned about,” said Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA activist known online as “Glyphosate Girl,” in a post on X.
“I can’t think of a bigger middle finger to all MAHA moms,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that opposes the use of chemicals in food, water and household products.
“By granting immunity to the maker of the nation’s most widely used pesticide, President Trump has simply given Bayer permission to poison people. Stop it once and for all,” Cook said in a statement. “This is a shocking betrayal in protecting all of us, but especially those who live and work near agricultural fields where glyphosate is used.”
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), once one of President Trump’s closest allies, has repeatedly criticized the administration’s actions, including foreign policy, health care spending and the response to the Epstein scandal. In a post to X on Thursday, Feb. 19, she said President Trump “signed an EO protecting carcinogenic glyphosate in food.”
Contributor: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY. Reuters
