EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s Unreleased MAHA Agenda Fuels Activist Discontent

In December 2023, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin pledged to issue a formal “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda outlining protections against pesticides, chemicals and other health threats. Eight months later, the promised document has not been released. When asked for an update, an EPA spokesperson described MAHA as “an ongoing effort, not a single report,” and said the agency’s work on the priorities is “active and expanding every day.” Activists note that the absence of a concrete agenda leaves no benchmark for accountability ahead of the November midterm elections.

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Since President Donald Trump’s second term began, Zeldin has overseen a broad rollback of environmental rules, including overturning the agency’s finding that climate change threatens human health, loosening limits on smokestack and tailpipe emissions, and freezing billions of dollars for clean-energy projects. In April, Zeldin announced plans to regulate microplastics and pharmaceuticals under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but the EPA later withdrew those chemicals from its mandatory testing list, citing infeasibility within statutory timeframes.

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The agency’s Federal Register notice explained that developing a drinking-water analytical method for microplastics “is not feasible to develop … within the statutory timeframe.” EPA officials also said that political appointees such as Kyle Kunkler and former industry lobbyists Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva have consulted ethics officials to resolve any potential conflicts of interest. The EPA highlighted $945 million in grants aimed at reducing PFAS “forever chemicals” in drinking water and identified 30 contaminants for nationwide monitoring.

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Activists argue the missing agenda is a “bait-and-switch” that shields the agency from failure. Former EPA water official Betsy Southerland called the reversal on microplastics “functionally toothless.” Critics also point to continued approvals of chemicals such as dicamba, linked to cancer risk, and to the influence of former industry insiders within EPA’s chemical safety office.

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• “I had really hoped that there would be specific steps that were taken through a MAHA agenda,” — Kelly Ryerson, activist (Glyphosate Girl)

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• “People are done with the profits of corporations being prioritized over public health,” — Alexandra Muñoz, molecular toxicologist

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• “The notion that MAHA is a single document waiting to be unveiled fundamentally misrepresents how we operate,” — EPA spokesperson

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• “If RFK and the MAHA movement hadn’t put that issue in the center of the public spotlight, no one would be scrutinizing this nearly as closely,” — Sarah Starman, senior food and agriculture campaigner, Friends of the Earth

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• “the technology to test and treat for microplastics in drinking water is still in development.” — Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator (social media)

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