Agriculture groups fear Thursday’s Make America Healthy Again Commission report will cast doubt and confusion on pesticides, despite decades of rigorous testing.
The report issued by the Make America Healthy Again Commission received criticism from across the political spectrum Thursday. Farm groups said it ignores science demonstrating the safety of pesticides and seed oils, while consumer health groups said the report soft-pedals the dangers of crop protection chemicals.
“The Make America Healthy Again Report is filled with fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides,” the National Corn Growers Association said in a statement. “We are deeply troubled that claims of this magnitude are being made without any scientific basis or regard for a long history of EPA expert evaluations of these products.”
The American Soybean Association said in a statement the report is “brazenly unscientific and damaging to consumer confidence in America’s safe, reliable food system.”
ASA called on President Donald Trump “to step in and correct the commission’s deeply misguided report.”
Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said it was “deeply troubling” for the White House to endorse the report considering it casts doubt on the food system while also trying to celebrate farmers. He noted farmers were largely excluded from the report despite requests for meetings, as Agri-Pulse previously reported.
“We suspect USDA had a prominent role in the report’s recognition that farmers are the critical first step in the food system, but as a whole, the report falls short,” Duvall said. “The American people were promised transparency yet presented with a report developed in secret.”
The report raised questions about the use of herbicides such as glyphosate and atrazine, citing research linking the widely used chemicals with adverse health outcomes. However, it also acknowledged that some pesticide research was limited, and suggested that further independent studies are necessary.
But NCGA and other farm groups argue pesticides like atrazine and glyphosate have been extensively studied and proven safe for decades.
By naming glyphosate and atrazine in the report, the administration “offered activists a gift on a silver platter,” said Alan Meadows, director of ASA. This report could be used to push litigation aimed at removing these pesticides from use, he said.
Following the report, CropLife America, which represents the U.S. pesticide industry, said it was confident in the current regulatory framework for pesticides. Losing access to these tools would hurt farmers and could lead to higher grocery prices for consumers, the group continued.
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Creating doubt about pesticide use, the commission could actually deter Americans from consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, the product the report encourages over ultraprocessed foods, CropLife continued.
“While the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Report recognizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) robust and science-based decision-making, it unfairly casts doubt on the integrity of the federal review process,” said Alexandra Dunn, president and CEO of CLA.“This report will stir unjustified fear and confusion among American consumers who live in the country with the safest and most abundant food supply.”
Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity said the report didn't go far enough on pesticides. The group suggested that agriculture lobbyists were successful in “strong-arrming” members of the commission to ensure the “focus will continue to be on protecting not American’s health, but industry profits.”
ASA also went after the report for appearing to favor the use of “minimally processed animal-based sources like butter and lard” over seed oils coming from soybean, corn, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, and canola.
“Significant research conducted over decades shows that plant-based oils are low in saturated fats and can improve health outcomes,” ASA’s press release says.
The report also takes aim at added sugars and specifically its role in ultraprocessed foods.
The Sugar Association said added sugar consumption is declining, and currently make up about 12% of total daily calories. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting added sugar consumption to 10% of daily calories, while nutrition groups argue intake should be lower.
Even as added sugar consumption has dropped, obesity and chronic disease rates have still increased, Sugar Association said.
“America’s hardworking sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers agree that chronic diseases are serious and warrant attention and rigorous scientific review to determine their root causes,” said Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association. “We are confident that continued evaluation of gold-standard evidence will reaffirm what hundreds of years of history have indicated - that balanced diets have room for moderate amounts of real sugar.”
Pivoting away from sugar could lead to an increase in artificial sweeteners, which the report also criticizes.
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