Ahead of MAHA Commission Report, Leaders Urge President Trump to Honor His Pledge to Make America Healthy Again
In Letter, Leaders Call on President to Protect America’s Children & Democracy by Blocking Special Liability Immunity for Harmful Chemicals and Pesticides
If Republicans do not lead, they risk losing moral ground and political support.
WASHINGTON, DC, August 11, 2025 — In advance of the anticipated MAHA Commission Report’s release, more than 240 leaders and organizations in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement today sent a letter urging President Donald Trump to keep his promise to “make America healthy again.” Citing polling that shows strong bipartisan support for MAHA priorities, the signers ask the President to oppose special liability immunity for dangerous chemicals and pesticides and to put children’s health first.
Signers include Mary Holland, President of Children’s Health Defense; Meryl Nass, MD; Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America; and Vani Hari.
MAHA leaders warned that some Republicans “talk MAHA” on camera while quietly advancing policies that undercut it. “Republicans must do more than ride the wave of MAHA’s high polling,” said David Murphy, founder of United We Eat, the top fundraiser for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. “President Trump must stand firm and follow through with real policy that protects American health, including opposing chemical liability shields and the Eats Act that put our children at risk and trample Americans’ constitutional right to sue.”
The letter states: “Millions of Americans voted for you to Make America Healthy Again because you pledged to fight for clean air, clean water, and a healthy nation, and because you recognized public concern about toxins in our environment and pesticides in our food. We are grateful for your leadership—and for appointing Secretary Kennedy to help advance this agenda. But a serious threat now stands in the way, and we respectfully urge you to ensure Congress follows through on your promise to protect our nation’s children.”
Charles Eisenstein, who served as chief speechwriter for Secretary Kennedy’s presidential campaign, said, “There is no constituency within MAHA for pesticide residues, microplastics, or municipal sludge in our food supply. If Republicans want to retain MAHA support long-term, they need to stop siding with agrochemical companies and take leadership on these issues.”
The signers highlight provisions in the FY 2026 House Interior–Environment Appropriations Bill—Sections 453 and 507—that, as a favor to the pesticide lobby, create broad product-liability protections for domestic and foreign pesticide and chemical manufacturers by refusing to fund the critical, legally required scientific safety assessmentsneeded to update labels across more than 57,000 synthetic chemicals. The letter warns this amounts to a “poison pill” for Republicans and a political liability heading into 2026.
In America’s heartland, for example, a recent poll found that 87% of Iowa Republicans oppose granting liability immunity to chemical companies.
“Pesticides are poisons,” said Clayton Baker, MD, an internal medicine physician and fellow with the Brownstone Institute. “Many are known to be toxic to humans and are banned in other countries. If Section 453 becomes law and pesticide manufacturers—including those from China and Germany—are effectively immune from liability, it would be a mistake comparable to the disastrous 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. As he has done so many times already, we are confident President Trump will do the right thing for the American people and ensure pesticide makers, like all manufacturers, are responsible for their products.”
The letter’s text is below. The letter and list of signers are available here.
Dear President Trump,
Millions of Americans voted for you to Make America Healthy Again because of your courageous campaign promise to stand up for those of us “who want clean air, clean water, and a healthy nation, have concerns about toxins in our environment and pesticides in our food.”
We are grateful for your leadership, for your awakening of the nation to these urgent issues, and for your appointment of Secretary Kennedy to help advance this agenda. But now, a serious threat stands in the way—and we respectfully urge you to ensure that Congress follows through with your promise to protect our nation’s children.
Unfortunately, we must bring to your attention an urgent issue regarding the health of our nation, and one that we are concerned may represent peril for the Republican majority in the House at the 2026 midterms.
Namely, the provisions in the FY 2026 House Appropriations Bill (Section 453) and (Section 507) create broad product liability protections for domestic and foreign pesticide and chemical manufacturers by refusing to fund the critical and necessary scientific safety assessments for product label updates of more than 57,000 synthetic chemicals that are required by law, as a favor to the pesticide lobby. In reality, this is a poison pill for Republicans.
Every year, more than 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides are used on U.S. farmland, including dozens of chemicals banned in other developed nations. These toxic substances are present in our food, air, soil, and water, and are increasingly in our children’s bodies, negatively impacting normal brain development and hormonal function. Extensive peer-reviewed research has linked glyphosate to infertility, increased reproductive risks, and 6 of the top 10 most common cancers in the U.S.. At the same time, atrazine is a known endocrine disruptor affecting sexual development, and paraquat has been linked to Parkinson’s and neurological and respiratory diseases.
Perhaps the greatest error of President Reagan’s historic Presidency was signing into law the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA). As we know all too well today, that well-intentioned but ill-advised decision created a free for all within the pharmaceutical industry that has harmed millions of Americans and one more enormous problem that has been left for your administration to correct.
It’s unconscionable that Republicans in the House are now attempting to repeat that mistake by supporting similar broad liability shields for pesticides and forever chemicals. Numerous pesticides that fall under Section 453 are chemicals that are already banned in multiple other developed nations. Despite a massive outcry from citizens, the House Appropriations Committee passed the spending bill last month with Section 453 and Section 507 intact.
Section 507 is also concerning as it prohibits the EPA from finalizing risk assessments for PFOA and PFOS forever chemicals found in biosolids spread on farmer’s fields and eliminates funding for community health monitoring, new research, and the cleanup of more than 70 million acres of U.S. farmland contaminated with PFAS from the application of biosolids. Already dozens of farms across the U.S. have been shut down and forbidden to sell their products to consumers as PFAS has been linked to serious harms in human health, including cancer, hormone disruption, liver and thyroid problems, reproductive harm, and abnormal fetal development.
The American experiment in democracy began as an act of rebellion against royal monopolies imposed by the King and Parliament. If Republicans in Congress allow these unconstitutional protections for powerful industries like pesticide manufacturers, they are betraying the very foundations of freedom and our democratic rights, putting both public health and America’s competitive economy at risk.
If Republicans do not lead, they risk losing both moral ground and political support.
A 2024 poll by Accountable Iowa of Iowa Republicans found that efforts to pass cancer lawsuit liability bills, which were defeated in the Iowa state legislature this year, could significantly cost Republicans in state and federal elections in 2026.
* 87% of registered Republican respondents oppose giving chemical companies like Bayer-Monsanto immunity from lawsuits.
*94% of surveyed Republican voters agreed that it is very concerning that the EPA relies on industry-funded data to carry out safety studies.
Mr. President, if Make America Healthy Again is to mean anything, now is the time to act. Stripping Section 453 and Section 507 is not partisan—it’s about protecting families, defending farmers, and preserving the right to seek justice and accountability in our nation’s courts. Americans across the spectrum want health, transparency, and the right to be free of toxic chemicals that cause known physical harm to millions of Americans daily.
Mr. President, creating broad liability protections for pesticides is a losing issue for your party and your coalition, and may well cost you the House majority in the midterms. This would also be a travesty of justice along the lines of the 1986 NCVIA.
We ask you to take action to make sure any protections for pesticides are stricken from this Appropriations bill, especially Section 453 and Section 507, and urge you to act now to protect our people, preserve your legacy, and show the nation that Make America Healthy Again is more than a campaign slogan. It’s a promise.
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Trevor FG, Founder
Silent | Partner | Inc.
(704) 775-0487
TrevorFG@protonmail.com
DC, NYC, CLT, LDN