A prominent activist within the Make America Healthy Again movement is openly criticizing President Donald Trump after he signed an executive order boosting domestic production of glyphosate, the controversial weed killer used in Roundup.
During an interview this week on CNN, Zen Honeycutt, founder and executive director of Moms Across America, said she was blindsided by Trump’s executive order boosting domestic glyphosate production.
She said the reaction inside MAHA-aligned online groups was immediate.
“What I was seeing in the chat groups was, ‘I guess I’m a Democrat now, right?'” she said, referring to frustration among supporters who backed Trump in 2024 over his health agenda and partnership with Kennedy.
“I was outraged,” Honeycutt said. “I was actually sick to my stomach when I saw this executive order. It was basically a love letter to glyphosate.”
The order frames glyphosate production as a national security priority.
Supporters inside the administration argue that much of the global supply is controlled by Chinese-owned companies and that expanding U.S. production protects farmers and supply chains.
But Honeycutt said she expected the opposite approach, especially after Trump brought Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into the administration as Health and Human Services secretary.
Kennedy previously won a lawsuit involving Monsanto and has publicly criticized glyphosate.
“Well, I believe that glyphosate causes cancer,” Kennedy said just last month, in remarks played during the CNN segment.
Honeycutt said many activists assumed glyphosate would at least face tighter restrictions.
Instead, she said the order signals strong support for the chemical.
Debate Over Cancer Risk And Farm Policy
She pointed to what she described as more than 700 studies showing harm linked to glyphosate, including research connecting it to multiple types of cancer in animal studies.
She also argued that regulators were aware of cancer concerns decades ago.
The Environmental Protection Agency has not officially classified glyphosate as a human carcinogen.
However, the World Health Organization has labeled it “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
The issue has sparked years of lawsuits against Monsanto and has reached the Supreme Court.
Honeycutt referenced court disclosures commonly known as the Monsanto papers, alleging the company manipulated scientific findings to defend glyphosate’s safety.
Monsanto has denied wrongdoing in past litigation.
Even so, she acknowledged that the administration may be balancing competing priorities.
Farmers have argued they depend on glyphosate to control weeds and maintain crop yields.
According to Honeycutt, some in the industry have told officials they could go out of business without it.
The White House has also emphasized the need to produce more key agricultural chemicals domestically instead of relying on foreign suppliers.
Still, Honeycutt said the move contradicts campaign promises.
“I would hope that this administration would keep their promise,” she said, referencing pledges to address pesticides in food and childhood chronic illness.
Political Fallout Ahead Of Midterms
The controversy is already causing political tension inside the MAHA movement.
Honeycutt said the same anger surfaced earlier when House Republicans backed language viewed by activists as shielding pesticide makers.
She said online chat groups quickly filled with comments from supporters questioning whether they still identified as Republicans after the glyphosate order.
At the same time, she stopped short of fully breaking with the administration. “There is still time for the Republicans to turn this around,” she said.
Honeycutt praised what she described as progress on other health issues, including food dyes and transparency, and suggested Kennedy may be defending the order to preserve his ability to “continue to be able to do the good work he’s doing.”
She said she has responded to his recent social media post and that communication remains open.
Kennedy has defended the order, saying it “puts America first.”
Honeycutt said she understands the national security argument but believes it shouldn’t come at the expense of public health.
She urged officials to review pesticides banned in Europe and China but still used in the United States, and to reduce children’s exposure to chemicals in food.
“Let’s look at the real science that other countries have looked at,” she said.
With midterm elections approaching, Honeycutt said voters are watching closely.
For now, the executive order has exposed a growing divide inside Trump’s coalition: farmers and national security advocates on one side, and health-focused activists on the other.
Whether that divide results in political consequences may depend on what happens next, and whether the administration adjusts course before voters head back to the polls.