Last December, after Make America Healthy Again activists drafted a petition for his removal, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin pledged to release a formal MAHA agenda outlining the agency's health priorities. Eight months later, no such document exists.
When asked for a status update this week, an EPA spokesperson said MAHA represents "an ongoing effort, not a single report," and that work on priorities is "active and expanding every day." The shift in framing marks what critics call another broken promise from an administration they say has prioritized deregulation over the health agenda it campaigned on.
What the Left Is Saying
MAHA activists who supported President Donald Trump's 2024 victory say they have witnessed a cascade of disappointments. Kelly Ryerson, whose social media account 'Glyphosate Girl' focuses on nontoxic food systems, said she had hoped for specific policy steps. "We haven't had any of the wins that we were requesting," Ryerson said.
Alexandra Muñoz, a molecular toxicologist who collaborates with activists on certain issues, said public frustration is mounting. "People are done with the profits of corporations being prioritized over public health," Muñoz said. She predicted this sentiment would influence voters in November's congressional elections.
Critics point to EPA's deregulatory actions as evidence the agency has abandoned its stated health mission. Jeremy Symons, a senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA employees and political appointees critical of the administration, said Zeldin "pays lip service to MAHA, but sadly he is actually making Americans less safe from toxic chemicals."
Sarah Starman, senior food and agriculture campaigner at Friends of the Earth, credited the MAHA movement with raising public awareness of pesticides, even as she criticized EPA's response. "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," Starman said.
What the Right Is Saying
EPA officials defend their record as consistent with MAHA principles. An agency spokesperson pointed to $945 million in grants to help states and communities reduce PFAS contamination in drinking water, along with identification of 30 drinking water contaminants proposed for nationwide monitoring.
The administration has also highlighted regulatory actions it frames as MAHA wins. Zeldin announced the EPA intends to regulate certain phthalates for environmental and workplace risks. This week, the agency announced a partnership with Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture to protect consumers from heavy metals and other contaminants in food.
On microplastics, which activists cite as a key concern, Zeldin said on social media that "the technology to test and treat for microplastics in drinking water is still in development." The EPA stated in a Federal Register notice that it was "not feasible to develop a drinking water analytical method within the statutory timeframe."
The administration rejects characterizations of inaction. "The notion that MAHA is a single document waiting to be unveiled fundamentally misrepresents how we operate," an agency spokesperson said, adding that MAHA work is integrated throughout EPA's programs.
What the Numbers Show
In April, Zeldin listed microplastics and pharmaceuticals as contaminants that could be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. By late June, neither appeared on a list of chemicals the EPA planned to test for under a mandatory program used to gather information about drinking water contaminants.
The EPA has proposed overturning the landmark finding that climate change threatens human health. The agency rolled back dozens of environmental regulations in what Zeldin called "the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen." It also froze billions of dollars for clean energy programs and restructured agency research operations.
Former industry representatives now hold prominent EPA positions. Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the soybean industry, leads pesticide policy at the agency, which recently allowed continued use of dicamba, a weedkiller linked to increased cancer risk in some studies. Nancy Beck, a former executive at the American Chemistry Council, serves as a top official in EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
The Bottom Line
The absence of a formal MAHA agenda has left advocates without a benchmark to measure progress against promises made during the 2024 campaign. Activists say this ambiguity shields the administration from accountability while regulatory rollbacks continue at a rapid pace.
For Ryerson, the lack of documentation serves a political purpose ahead of midterm elections. "It absolves them of any failures, especially when it comes to midterms," she said. "They won't have to point to some list that they haven't been able to achieve really anything on."
The White House MAHA Report released earlier in Trump's term identified long-term exposure to environmental chemicals as a leading cause of chronic disease in children. Whether EPA's ongoing efforts will address those concerns remains unclear without specific benchmarks or timelines.