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A split is emerging within Trump’s base as health activists accuse Mr. Zeldin of leading the agency to prioritize chemical industry interests over public health.

Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, appeared with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Salt Lake City earlier this year. Recently, Mr. Zeldin has gone on a charm offensive.Credit...Niki Chan Wylie for The New York Times

Dec. 13, 2025, 12:04 p.m. ET

Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, flashed a smile as he addressed a webcast hosted by the Make America Healthy Again movement.

“We want to make sure,” Mr. Zeldin said, “that your members have a seat at the table, and that we’re able to directly engage and communicate.”

It was in many ways a hostile audience. Just last week, several prominent MAHA activists circulated a petition urging President Trump to fire Mr. Zeldin, saying that he was prioritizing the interests of chemical manufacturers over the well-being of American children.

They point to the agency’s efforts to loosen restrictions on harmful chemicals, and to approve new pesticides, including two that contain what are internationally recognized as “forever chemicals” linked to serious health risks. And they say the E.P.A. is breaking Mr. Trump’s promises to make America healthy again.

“I’m horrified by what’s happening at the E.P.A. right now,” said Courtney Swan, a MAHA activist and nutritionist, and a petition organizer. “The agency’s gone in the completely wrong direction. It’s completely anti-MAHA.”

In recent days, Mr. Zeldin, a seasoned politician, has gone on a charm offensive.

On Monday, he made a surprise appearance at a MAHA holiday reception.** **There, he invited activists to visit him at E.P.A. headquarters the following day. There, he introduced them to senior department heads and promised that the agency would adopt a “MAHA agenda.”

In a statement, Brigit Hirsch, the E.P.A. press secretary, said Mr. Zeldin had been “engaging with the broader community and those open lines of communication have never ceased.”

She added, “We greatly value these relationships, and are committed to total transparency and continued MAHA engagement as we implement the president’s agenda.”

Under Mr. Trump, the E.P.A. has also been working to loosen limits on pollution from smokestacks, tailpipes and producers of oil and gas. But the MAHA activists are focused on pesticides and chemicals, worried about potential links to rising cancer rates, as well as infertility. It’s a concern shared by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The tension between the MAHA activists and the E.P.A. threatens to create a rift within Mr. Trump’s base. Some of the movement’s leaders say they will work to make children’s exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals an issue in next year’s midterm elections.

“Listen, I’m a die-hard conservative,” said Alex Clark, who** **hosts a health and wellness podcast for young conservative women on Turning Point USA, the late Charlie Kirk’s media network. “I voted for Trump every single time. I want the Republicans to win the midterm. One reason we won’t is if the E.P.A. continues to mess it up for moms.”

Ms. Clark and other activists are particularly upset by the E.P.A.’s appointment of several former chemical industry executives and lobbyists to senior roles overseeing pesticides and toxic chemicals.

Nancy Beck, a former senior director at the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, is running the office that oversees chemical safety. Her deputy, Lynn Dekleva, is also a former senior director at the same organization. Kyle Kunkler, the top lobbyist for the soybean industry, now oversees pesticides at the E.P.A.

MAHA activists see evidence of corporate influence. For example, an action plan released by Mr. Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again Commission excluded ways to reduce exposure to pesticides. That was after an earlier report singled out as harmful two widely used pesticides, glyphosate and atrazine, that have been linked to adverse health outcomes, especially in children.

Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA influencer and former investment banker who calls herself the Glyphosate Girl on social media, wants the president to reconsider the political appointees at the agency. “When is the E.P.A. going to step up?” she said.

Ms. Clark, the podcast host, was more blunt. “The MAHA Moms have absolutely had it with people like Nancy Beck and Kyle Kunkler,” she said. “This could not be more ‘fox guarding the hen house.’”

For now, Mr. Zeldin’s strategy has been to promote programs already in place at the E.P.A. as part of the MAHA agenda. On Wednesday’s webcast, Mr. Zeldin mentioned replacing lead pipes, combating food waste and cleaning up toxic Superfund sites. The agency is also re-examining research on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water, another MAHA issue.

But some activists are not buying it. “Obviously, we want to get lead out of our water too, but I think he’s using it as a distraction,” Ms. Swan said.

Others have tried to smooth things over. “I know many of you are not sure about the E.P.A.,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, the television celebrity who now oversees Medicare and Medicaid for the Trump administration, on Wednesday’s webcast. But it is “always a good sign when the head of the agency wants to talk to you,” he said.

Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action, which hosted the webcast, said that the group saw “genuine commitment to dialogue on critical public health issues” from Mr. Zeldin, and that “ongoing discussions have been substantive and solution-focused.”

Ms. Ryerson said the past week had indeed been a sea change. She had requested to meet with Mr. Zeldin almost two months ago but “never got any response, not even, he’s too busy,” she said.

But on Tuesday, she was among the women invited to meet with Mr. Zeldin and senior E.P.A. leadership. (Ms. Beck, Ms. Dekleva and Mr. Kunkler were not present, she said.)

Alexandra Muñoz, another activist and a molecular toxicologist who was also at the meeting, is opposed to any loosening of regulations on toxic chemicals. She said she provided Mr. Zeldin with her written arguments against changes proposed by the E.P.A.

The agency is “opening the gate for harmful exposures that can impact children’s development and health,” she said.

Tracey Woodruff, a professor in maternal and children’s environmental health at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the activists had raised some valid concerns about chemical exposure, even as she took issue with the science behind other MAHA priorities, like rolling back vaccines.

They were “tapping into the idea that this is a huge area of unregulated exposures to the American public — to children — that the government hasn’t dealt with,” she said.

The MAHA revolt also suggests a shift in the players facing off over environmental policy.

Until now, the biggest outcry over Mr. Trump’s environmental policies has come from groups largely aligned with progressive causes. And to be sure, traditional environmental groups continue to challenge the Trump administration over its rollbacks of environmental regulations.

But it is the Make America Healthy Again activists who have the attention of administration officials, at least for the moment.

“We engage with E.P.A. so often, and have never come close to the administrator’s office,” said Lori Ann Burd, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy organization.

“So the fact that you can get an invite overnight just speaks to the power of the MAHA world,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of pressure on the administration right now coming from people who they know they owe a lot to.”

Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.

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