Robert F Kennedy Jr under fire after making huge U-turn on 'toxic' pesticides

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has faced backlash from Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters after endorsing President Trump's Executive Order on pesticides and herbicides.

The 72-year-old has never been shy about his aversion to the ‘toxic design’ of chemical concoctions sprayed on food.

He previously won a landmark case against chemical giant Monsanto by arguing its Roundup weedkiller contributed to his client’s cancer, and, in January, he reasoned that glyphosate causes cancer, as per MedPage Today.

But now, in a lengthy X post, RFK Jr. has made a U-turn. He alleged that without pesticides, the US food industry could collapse.

His 23 February statement claimed that ‘chemical manufacturers have paid tens of billions of dollars to settle cancer claims linked to their products, and many agricultural communities report elevated cancer rates and chronic disease’.

“Unfortunately, our agricultural system depends heavily on these chemicals. The U.S. represents 4 percent of the world’s population, yet we use roughly 25 percent of its pesticides,” he continued.

“If these inputs disappeared overnight, crop yields would fall, food prices would surge, and America would experience a massive loss of farms even beyond what we are witnessing today. The consequences would be disastrous,” he continued.

RFK Jr. alleged that going cold turkey on the chemicals could lead to ‘disastrous’ consequences, which is why he was supporting Trump’s latest Executive Order to ‘bring agricultural chemical production back to the United States and end our near-total reliance on adversarial nations.’

The EO, signed last week by the 79-year-old Republican, was supportive of glyphosate, for which thousands of people have made cancer claims in court, as per The Hill.

I will always tell the American people the truth.

Pesticides and herbicides are toxic by design, engineered to kill living organisms. When we apply them across millions of acres and allow them into our food system, we put Americans at risk. Chemical manufacturers have paid tens…

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) February 23, 2026

Despite his previous stance on pesticides and herbicides, the environmental lawyer alleged that Trump’s new EO would protect two pillars of national strength: defence readiness and food supply.

“When hostile actors control critical inputs, they directly threaten the security of the American people. The Trump administration will secure these supply chains to eliminate that vulnerability.”

He added that the United States is ‘changing course’ where farm policy and chemical dependence are concerned, and that this transformation will take place without ‘destabilising the food supply’.

"I support President Trump's Executive Order to bring agricultural chemical production back to the United States and end our near-total reliance on adversarial nations.”

Supporters of the HHS Secretary have come out in droves to debate, including prominent activist and author Kelly Ryerson.

“That is America Last, Anti-MAHA, and unforgivable," she claimed via social media.

"It's been a year. Not a single thing has been done by the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] to reduce our children's and families exposure to pesticides," Moms Across America founder Zen Honeycutt, a prominent MAHA activist, replied.

"We love you Bobby but this administration needs to keep their word.”

Alex Clark, a health and wellness influencer, said: “We can ABSOLUTELY secure our agricultural supply chains without handing blanket immunity to the very corporations that helped create this mess in the first place.”

A report by Politico claimed that RFK Jr. ‘was not aware the executive order was coming and that its political ramifications had not been fully considered’.

“They made Bobby walk the plank on it,” an unnamed person close to the White House told the outlet.“

RFK Jr.’s U-turn comes after the father-of-six praised an FDA proposal designed to potentially eliminate the United States’ self-GRAS rule.

GRAS, or ‘generally recognised as safe’, is an FDA designation that allows companies to add certain substances to their food without any formal approval.

The White House-submitted proposal would eliminate the regulatory pathways that allow companies to self-determine that a substance is GRAS, as per Bloomberg Law.

The HHS Secretary hailed the move as a ‘crucial step’ to ‘Make America Healthy Again’, explaining that the GRAS ‘loophole’ was ‘highjacked by the [food] industry’ to add ‘thousands of new ingredients into our food supply.’

“I’m not saying that we’re going to regulate UPFs,” he continued. “Our job is to make sure everybody understands what they’re getting… to have an informed public,” he added during an interview with CBS News 60 Minutes.

FOODbible has contacted representatives of Robert F. Kennedy for comment.