Lee Zeldin’s EPA has opened a new front in the movement-to-regulator relationship that MAHA built during the Trump years: after shaping portions of public health policy, the group is now seeking changes to environmental rules around chemicals used in everyday products. On New Year’s Eve, Zeldin announced new restrictions on five chemicals commonly used in building materials, plastic products and adhesives, and framed it as a “MAHA win,” according to the Associated Press. The announcement landed amid signs of a fragile collaboration between MAHA and an administration that has also emphasized deregulation.
The broader political context, as MAHA supporters see it, is that the coalition’s durability may depend on whether it delivers visible wins before the midterms. The AP reported that activists linked to MAHA were tracking closely because disappointing the movement could cost the coalition support from a vocal voting bloc as congressional control faces pressure in November. Courtney Swan, who focuses on nutritional issues and has spoken with EPA officials, said an EPA that “does not start getting their stuff together” could lose midterm support.
The outreach that MAHA says it has secured appears tied to earlier access that RFK Jr. helped expand. The AP described how MAHA’s public health influence grew with the help of RFK Jr., who as health secretary pared back vaccine recommendations and shifted the government’s position on topics such as seed oils, fluoride and Tylenol. Building on that momentum, the movement now points to the EPA’s promise to release a “MAHA agenda” in coming months as an avenue for additional changes.
That access has been unusually direct for an activist group, according to advocates and researchers quoted by the AP. Kelly Ryerson, a prominent MAHA activist who had previously sought Zeldin’s removal over weakening chemical protections, said her relationship with the EPA shifted after she attended a MAHA Christmas party in Washington in December, where she spoke with Zeldin and felt he listened to her perspective. Ryerson said Zeldin then invited her and other activists to sit down with him at EPA headquarters for an hour, and that the meeting led to further conversations with Zeldin’s deputies.
Ryerson’s path to engagement did not erase the movement’s longer-running disputes over pesticides and chemicals. The AP reported that last year Ryerson and other MAHA supporters circulated a petition to get Zeldin fired after the EPA approved two new pesticides for use on food. Ryerson said the pesticides involved “forever chemicals,” which she argued resist breakdown and are hazardous to people, while the AP reported that the EPA disputed that characterization.
University of California, San Francisco associate director Rashmi Joglekar said it was atypical for an activist group to meet with the EPA administrator, and said MAHA’s ability to make inroads quickly shows how “powerful” the coalition has become. Ryerson also described the engagement as “absolutely revolutionary,” saying the upcoming plan would “will say whether or not they take it seriously,” and praising MAHA’s access as “unprecedented.” Christopher Bosso, a Northeastern University professor who researches environmental policy, said Zeldin initially did not seem to take MAHA seriously but added that he now “has to,” pointing to sustained pressure from the movement.
The MAHA-EPA push is not limited to the agency, the AP said. It reported that MAHA supporters have also helped steer federal and state lawmakers away from liability shields protecting pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits, with such provisions removed in a congressional funding bill after MAHA lobbying and a similar measure stalling in Tennessee’s legislature. The AP also reported that Zeldin joined a December call with the advocacy group MAHA Action, where he invited activists to help develop the EPA’s “MAHA agenda,” and that EPA staffers have appeared on weekly calls promoting what they describe as open-door policies.
EPA Press Secretary Brigit Hirsch declined to make Zeldin available for an interview for the AP story but said the forthcoming agenda will “directly respond to priorities we’ve heard from MAHA advocates and communities.” Hirsch said the “MAHA agenda” will address issues including lead pipes, “forever chemicals,” plastic pollution, food quality and Superfund cleanups. Ryerson said she wants the chemical atrazine removed from drinking water and wants to stop pre-harvest desiccation, a practice in which farmers apply pesticides to crops immediately before harvesting, and she also wants cancer warnings added on glyphosate, which some studies link to cancer even as the EPA says it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
Even with that optimism, advocates told the AP that they want results rather than messaging. Ryerson said some moves Zeldin has promoted as “MAHA wins” are not enough; she pointed to his New Year’s Eve announcement on phthalates, where he said the EPA intended to regulate some risks but did not address the thousands of consumer products containing the ingredients. Swan said time will tell whether the EPA’s actions are substantive, adding that the EPA was “giving very mixed signals right now.”
Other environmental groups raised concerns about how industry influence could shape the agency’s decisions as MAHA seeks more aggressive regulation. Lori Ann Burd of The Center for Biological Diversity said the administration has a particularly strong alliance with industry interests, citing, among other examples, the EPA’s proposal to allow broad use of the weed killer Dicamba on soybeans and cotton. She said a month before the announcement, the EPA hired a lobbyist for the soybean association, Kyle Kunkler, to serve in a senior position overseeing pesticides.
Hirsch denied Kunkler had anything to do with the decision, saying EPA pesticide decisions are “driven by statutory standards and scientific evidence.” The AP reported that environmentalists pointed to hiring of former industry leaders as a theme in the administration and cited Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva as former higher-ups at the American Chemistry Council who now work in leadership in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which oversees pesticide and toxic chemical regulation. Hirsch said the agency consults with ethics officials to prevent conflicts of interest and ensures appointees are qualified and focused on science, contrasting the approach with “previous administrations” that she said too often deferred to activist groups rather than objective evidence.
Alexandra Muñoz, a molecular toxicologist who collaborates with MAHA activists on certain issues and attended the hour-long meeting with Zeldin, told the AP she sensed industry influence in the room. She said participants were “very polite,” and described the tone as receptive, but added that what was said “felt like we were interacting with a lot of industry talking points.” For MAHA and its critics alike, the next steps are likely to hinge on what the agency ultimately releases as its “MAHA agenda,” and whether those plans translate into rules that shift chemicals and pesticide oversight in ways both sides view as meaningful.