Cancer-linked pesticide in the spotlight after controversial order: 'Toxic by design'

There has been a shake-up in the Make America Healthy Again movement regarding glyphosate, a widely used herbicide that has been the subject of significant controversy.

The debate follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that ensures an adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides related to national defense.

MAHA supporters have previously pushed a pesticide-free agenda, warning of potential health harms caused by glyphosate.

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Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said he believes there is sufficient evidence linking glyphosate to neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, to warrant limiting exposure.

"With Parkinson's, this association appears to be due to the gut, vagus nerve and brain axis, where the exposure affects the microbiome in the gut, which then ascends slowly up to the brain, causing the neurodegenerative disease years later," Siegel told Fox News Digital.

"There is also a growing association being found between high-dose glyphosate or occupational exposure and metabolic disorders, liver disease and some cancers, specifically lymphoma.

"Growing research backs this. I favor limiting it."

Studies have shown that glyphosate, a pesticide used in products such as Roundup, owned by Monsanto, could raise cancer risk.

In one University of Washington study published in the journal Mutation Research, researchers found that exposure to the pesticide increased the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 41%.

The nonprofit Investigate Midwest, which analyzed data from both the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Cancer Institute, also recently found that pesticides may contribute to cancer rates.

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Among the top 500 counties for per-square-mile pesticide use, more than 60% had cancer rates above the national average of 460 cases per 100,000 people, according to the report.

Investigate Midwest, which is based in Illinois, interviewed more than 100 farmers, environmentalists, lawmakers and scientists as part of a partnership with the Pulitzer Center's StoryReach U.S. Fellowship.

Iowa, which used 53 million pounds of pesticides last year, holds the nation's title for second-highest cancer rate.

Bill Billings, a resident of Red Oak, Iowa, was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. 

"The cancer specialist said, very directly, (my) cancer is a result of being exposed to chemicals," Billings said in the report.

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Kelly Ryerson, founder of Glyphosate Facts and owner of the Instagram account @glyphosategirl, told Fox News Digital her journey researching the herbicide began with her own health struggles.

Ryerson, who is based in California, previously struggled with chronic illness and autoimmune issues, which she said improved when she stopped eating gluten. 

After attending a medical conference at Columbia University's Celiac Disease Center, Ryerson began to question modern farming practices rather than the gluten itself.

"A lot of times, farmers are spraying Roundup on our grains right before harvest to facilitate an easier harvest," she said. "After that easier harvest, because everything's dry at the same time, those crops go directly to the mill and may end up in our food supply, at alarmingly high levels."

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In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization framework, classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."

The classification was based on limited evidence of cancer in humans (notably non-Hodgkin lymphoma in some studies) and sufficient evidence in experimental animals.

A spokesperson for Monsanto told Fox News Digital it will comply with Trump's order to produce glyphosate and elemental phosphorus.

"President Trump's executive order reinforces the critical need for U.S. farmers to have access to essential, domestically produced crop protection tools, such as glyphosate," the spokesperson said.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been a vocal critic of Roundup, working with his legal team in 2018 to award $289 million to a man who alleged the weed killer caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to reports.

Following backlash to Trump's executive order, Secretary Kennedy said he supports the order but acknowledged that "pesticides and herbicides are toxic by design, engineered to kill living organisms."

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"When we apply them across millions of acres and allow them into our food system, we put Americans at risk," he posted on X. "Chemical manufacturers have paid tens of billions of dollars to settle cancer claims linked to their products, and many agricultural communities report elevated cancer rates and chronic disease."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.