President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Wednesday aiming to boost the production of glyphosate in the U.S., sparking major backlash among some health advocates.
The executive order invokes the Defense Production Act to safeguard the domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides, according to a White House fact sheet. Trump wrote in the order that “ensuring an adequate supply of” both is “crucial to the national security and defense” of the U.S., “including food-supply security, which is essential to protecting the health and safety of Americans.”
Glyphosate is a commonly used herbicide that can be used to kill certain weeds and grasses, and it has been registered as a pesticide in the U.S. since 1974, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An Environmental Health study published in June 2025 found that low doses of glyphosate can cause multiple types of cancer in rats, per George Mason University.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously publicly criticized glyphosate, writing in a June 2024 X post that the herbicide “is one of the likely culprits in America’s chronic disease epidemic.”
The herbicide Glyphosate is one of the likely culprits in America’s chronic disease epidemic. Much more widely used here than in Europe. Shockingly, much of our exposure comes from its use as a desiccant on wheat, not as an herbicide. From there it goes straight into our bodies.…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 14, 2024
If ROUND-UP does indeed cause cancer, there wouldn’t be a farmer alive in this country. I’ve been using it for years and years and will continue. Thank you President Trump for showing some common sense.
The only people being harmed by glyphosate is harry homeowners. That herbicide doesn’t seem to bother farmers who use it by the barrel, concentrated at that.