MAHA's week in review: Roundup and mercury for all

[Greenbeard]

Big week if glyphosate/Roundup and environmental mercury are your jam. Bad week if you're RFK, who's being forced to eat a lot of shit.

Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits

President Trump issued an executive order late Wednesday aimed at spurring the domestic production of glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller that has figured in health lawsuits.

The move immediately set off alarms among supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, and appeared to put Mr. Kennedy in an awkward position.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, which has been the target of tens of thousands of lawsuits that claim it causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2018, as a plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr. Kennedy helped win a landmark $289 million jury verdict against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, in a case contending the company knew the weedkiller caused cancer.

But in a statement issued through a spokesman Wednesday night, the health secretary said he supported the president.

“Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” Mr. Kennedy said in the statement. “We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it.”

E.P.A. Weakens Limits on Mercury From Coal Plants

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday weakened pollution limits for coal-burning power plants, allowing them to release more heavy metals including mercury, a powerful neurotoxin linked to brain damage.

Among adults, high levels of exposure to mercury can cause heart disease as well as severe damage to the brain and central nervous system. Among fetuses and babies, it can cause significant developmental delays, leading to lower I.Q. scores and impaired motor skills.

The move appeared to undermine the goals of the Make America Healthy Again movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary. As the head of the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, Mr. Kennedy campaigned against mercury pollution for years, citing his own diagnosis of mercury poisoning caused by a diet high in tuna.

“The mercury is coming from those coal-burning power plants,” Mr. Kennedy testified before Congress in 2008. “In 49 states, at least some of the fish are unsafe to eat.”