RFK Jr. wants more scrutiny of chemicals, but Trump's EPA did the opposite

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Donald Trump, he suggested that Trump’s health policy could include revisiting standards for chemicals and pesticides — part of an agenda Kennedy has dubbed “Make America Healthy Again.”

But two former and two current staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency told NBC News that stance contrasts starkly with how the agency operated under Trump. During the Trump administration, they said, the EPA — the government’s lead regulator of toxic substances — was keen to approve new chemicals and remove regulations on existing ones despite evidence of potential harms.

“There was a huge amount of pressure to approve chemicals despite the risks that were clearly associated with the chemicals,” said Maria Doa, who directed the EPA’s Chemical Control Division during the first year of the Trump administration and is now senior director of chemicals policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization that advocates for restrictions on toxic chemicals.

Such accounts align with three reports released last week by the EPA’s Office of Inspector General, which determined that some EPA scientists were retaliated against during the Trump administration for expressing “differing scientific opinions.” The inspector general, Sean O’Donnell, was appointed by Trump.

Three EPA whistleblowers told ProPublica on Thursday that their complaints were the subject of the reports (which redact employee names). They allege that they received negative performance reviews and were reassigned to new roles after resisting pressure to conceal evidence of certain chemicals’ harms.

Remmington Belford, an EPA spokesperson hired last year, said the Trump administration “placed intense pressure on both career managers