MAHA, Green Groups Resist Pesticides at High Court, Congress

An unlikely assembly of social media activists and vaccine skeptics are joining forces with lawmakers and environmental advocacy groups in Washington to oppose the Trump administration’s recent actions on pesticides.

The coalition on April 27 will display their burgeoning bond at a rally dubbed “The People vs. Poison,” aiming to highlight a battle over how much legal liability pesticide manufacturers should face.

The protest coincides with oral arguments before the US Supreme Court in a case that could influence whether Bayer AG is liable for thousands of lawsuits alleging its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. House lawmakers next week are also expected to vote on a farm bill that would preempt state pesticide regulations driving many of the claims against Roundup.

Members of the Make America Healthy Again movement, concerned pesticides have increased chronic disease rates in the US, worry that Bayer—the sole domestic manufacturer of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup—won’t be held accountable. And environmental groups have long criticized the Environmental Protection Agency as failing to protect human health and ecosystems from pesticide exposure.