Latest from Food Politics: More MAHA hypocrisy in action: Dicamba, Mercury, and PFAS

One of the major items on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s agenda has been to get toxic chemicals out of the food supply. He’s not doing a good job on that. Last week, I discussed his hypocritical backtracking on glyphosate. Here, I mention three ...

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By Marion Nestle March 03 2026 More MAHA hypocrisy in action: Dicamba, Mercury, and PFAS One of the major items on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s agenda has been to get toxic chemicals out of the food supply. He’s not doing a good job on that. Last week, I discussed his hypocritical backtracking on glyphosate. Here, I mention three more: DICAMBA The Environmental Protection Agency has announced its reapproval of the pesticide dicamba as a spray on genetically engineered cotton and soybeans—despite how it drifts onto everyone else’s crops, whether growers want it or not. Federal court decisions in 2020 and again in 2024 said such approvals were unlawful. As the Center for Food Safety puts it, Since its first approval in 2016, dicamba drift has damaged millions of acres of farmland and caused devastating damage to orchards, vegetable farms, home gardens, native plants, trees, and wildlife refuges across the country. Experts have found dicamba drift damage to be the worst of any herbicide in the history of U.S. agriculture. Yet the current approval provides even fewer protections from dicamba drift and damage than past approvals. The first lawsuits have already been filed. MERCURY RFK Jr particularly wanted mercury out of fish. Mercury gets into fish from two sources: volcanos and coal-burning power plants.  We can’t stop volcanos, but we sure could insist that coal-burning power plans clean up their emissions. No such luck. The New York Times writes: E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show In particular, the administration is taking steps to improve the economics of coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, by rolling back several regulations that would have made it much more expensive, if not impossible, for many coal plants to keep operating. Over the past nine months, the Energy Department has taken the extraordinary step of ordering eight coal-burning units that had been headed for retirement to stay open and keep running….the E.P.A. is arguing that it would reduce “unwarranted costs” for utilities that own and operate coal plants across the country. The administration is, however, banning mercury from dental fillings (where it s use is declining rapidly and currently accounts for less than 6% of fillings). PFAS A report from the National Academies of Sciences says the USDA has plenty of opportunities do so something about PFAS on farmland. As the New Lede explains,  On Feb. 13…the House Agriculture Committee released its draft 2026 Farm Bill, which includes language that would permit research grants on the agricultural impacts of PFAS in land exposed to firefighting foams, sewage sludge or compost containing the chemicals…But US Rep. Chellie Pingree from Maine said the draft bill reflected a “willful neglect of the PFAS crisis.” “The bill acknowledges PFAS contamination on farmland — but then stops at research,” said Pingree. “While further research is a critical component to addressing PFAS contamination on farmland, we also need to support farmers who have already lost their livelihoods, their markets, and their land.” COMMENT To state the obvious, what all this tells us is that when public (or even personal) health comes up against corporate health, corporate profits win. Make America Healthy Again?  American corporations, yes,  American citizens?  Not so much. The post More MAHA hypocrisy in action: Dicamba, Mercury, and PFAS appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle      Related Posts The supplement industry: questions of safety, adulteration, corruption Op-ed: Can the Food Justice Movement and MAHA Find Common Ground? 60 Minutes: RFK Jr on non-regulation of ultra-processed food   Now Available: What to Eat Now My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out! It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously. For more information and to order, click here. You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs. Visit the Site » ​​​​​​​ Marion Nestle Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita © Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us. If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe. Safely Unsubscribe • Archives • Preferences • Contact • Subscribe • Privacy

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Latest from Food Politics: The supplement industry: questions of safety, adulteration, corruption

Since passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, supplement products became basically unregulated.   The FDA is no longer allowed to monitor these products and only gets involved in situations of egregious harm.   Otherwise, ...

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By Marion Nestle March 02 2026 The supplement industry: questions of safety, adulteration, corruption Since passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, supplement products became basically unregulated.  The FDA is no longer allowed to monitor these products and only gets involved in situations of egregious harm.  Otherwise, you have no way of knowing if their labels have anything at all to do with what is in those bottles. Here are recent items on safety and adulteration issues with supplements (particularly turmeric), and the Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman’s comments on corruption in the supplement industry. SAFETY New outbreak traced to moringa capsules under investigation: Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration are looking into a new outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections traced to moringa powder capsules. The implicated capsules are sold under the Rosabella brand…there is great concern that consumers may have the moringa capsules in their homes because of their long shelf life, which stretches into late 2027. This outbreak is separate from an outbreak of Salmonella Richmond infections traced to Member’s Mark and other brands of moringa. South Korea re-evaluating turmeric, green coffee bean due to adverse reports: South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) is re-evaluating the safety and functionality of turmeric extract and eight other functional ingredients. Health Canada calls for warnings on turmeric/curcumin supplement labels: Health Canada has mandated warning labels on turmeric and curcumin natural health products (NHPs) to indicate the risk of hepatotoxicity, following a review that found potential liver health risks, although rare. ADULTERATION Ginseng aduleration remains a significant concern, says BAPP review: A scoping review by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program highlights that nearly 25% of commercial ginseng products may be adulterated, especially dietary supplements, due to species substitution and presence of undisclosed pharmaceutical ingredients. Turmeric adulteration presents significant opportunity for responsible industry: More than one quarter of turmeric supplement may be adulterated, according to a new comprehensive literature review by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP)…. Read more   CORRUPTION Paul Krugman on dietary supplements: How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy It may seem strange to think of the wellness industry as a corrupt and corrupting force comparable to the fossil-fuel sector. But wellness is big business. McKinsey estimates that U.S. spending on wellness is running at around $500 billion a year, while spending on nutritional supplements alone was close to $70 billion last year. And sellers of nutritional supplements, unlike companies selling pharmaceuticals, are effectively allowed to make false, outlandish claims about what their products do…It’s OK to peddle snake oil with false medical claims as long as you mumble some content-free boilerplate. And where do the snake-oil salesmen peddle their wares? Largely on right-wing media. After all, that’s where they can find customers who have the right mix of anti-intellectualism and disdain for experts. And the snake-oil purveyors are, in turn, a key part of the extreme right’s financial ecosystem. I wrote about this almost five years ago. The relationship between quack medicine and right-wing extremism has a long history…But now we have entered a new era. As many observers have noted, the Trump administration is a kakistocracy: rule by the worst. A history of personal corruption is no longer a bar to high office — it’s practically a requirement.   The post The supplement industry: questions of safety, adulteration, corruption appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle      Related Posts The FDA’s promised work plan for 2026: ambitious, yes, but doable? The infant formula scandals: will they ever stop? Not good news: The FDA is conducting fewer foreign inspections   Now Available: What to Eat Now My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out! It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously. For more information and to order, click here. You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs. Visit the Site » ​​​​​​​ Marion Nestle Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita © Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us. If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe. Safely Unsubscribe • Archives • Preferences • Contact • Subscribe • Privacy

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