Dem
47
GOP
53
The MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement is one of the pet projects of HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. The whole idea of MAHA is a misnomer because it implies that America was once healthier than it is now. When might that have been? Still, Kennedy is committed to a lot of crazy stuff that will make Americans unhealthier going forward.
One area where MAHA and MAGA are starting to drift apart is that MAHA hates Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Chemical. A House appropriations bill contains provisions that will shield pesticide and chemical manufacturers from accountability for the damage their products cause to people's health. MAHA people don't like that. But those provisions are in there because MAGA people (e.g., Donald Trump) put them there as paybacks for campaign contributions. Thus, MAHA and MAGA are not on the same page here.
The flagship MAHA group is Children's Health Defense. Its CEO, Mary Holland, said: "It's obvious that there are tensions within this newfound coalition between MAHA and MAGA, and there are some big issues there."
What she means is that conservatives have traditionally sided with Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Chemical (to honor
their bribes campaign contributions). They want fewer environmental rules limiting what these companies can do,
regardless of the effects on public health. MAHA wants tighter environmental protections, putting it in conflict with
the companies that thought they had bought their way out of having pesky rules imposed on them.
A specific ongoing battle is that Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), chairman of the Interior-Environment Appropriations subcommittee, inserted a provision in the appropriations bill stating that states may not require a pesticide label different from the federal one. This is what the pesticide companies want. They don't want California to impose more stringent requirements than what they have gotten the feds to require. The current law gives states additional power, to, for example, state that a pesticide cannot be sprayed within 250 feet of a school. MAHA supports that, but Simpson does not. MAHA is worried about labels because that can affect lawsuits if a product damages people's health.
Another sticking point between MAHA and MAGA is "forever chemicals," which stay in the environment, well, forever. Simpson's bill prohibits the EPA from banning food from farms contaminated with forever chemicals. MAHA doesn't like this. Not that the EPA is likely to do that, since many people who used to work in the chemical industry now have leading roles in the EPA. They want to reduce restrictions on cancer-causing chemicals.
The fight goes on, but even though Kennedy may actually be on the side of the angels here, Trump is the decider and he is for letting industries that have paid him off get what they want. (V)