MAHA Was Supposed to Stop This
Symbolic wins on vaccines. Real wins for the chemical and peptide industries.
On July 23, an FDA advisory committee overruled its own scientists and voted to let pharmacies legally prepare BPC-157, a peptide (a short chain of amino acids, the same building blocks as any protein) popularized largely by podcaster Joe Rogan, who credits it with healing his tendonitis. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he uses peptides himself. BPC-157 was one of seven peptides the committee considered that week. The eight yes votes came from the committee’s eight newest members, all appointed by Kennedy, most of whom have financial ties to the peptide industry.
FDA recognizes that industry has expertise to offer and has a long-standing practice of allowing an industry seat in a non-voting role. Using waivers to seat financially conflicted voting members isn’t new either; the practice dates to the 1990s and has continued across both parties. What’s different here is the scale: eight of fourteen voting members, appointed together in one wave, most with financial ties. Not surprising, then, that they used their position to advance their businesses. The argument they made for those votes, that a prescription requirement moves people out of the dangerous unregulated market, doubles as their business plan: bolstering the clinics several of these committee members already run.
Appointing industry representatives with a direct conflict of interest is not just happening at the FDA. At the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin appointed four new members to the agency’s Science Advisory Board: one from Corteva, one from Dow, and two from Chemours. Three of the four have a direct financial interest in PFAS, the forever chemicals the board is supposed to evaluate. The following month, the EPA proposed rescinding its own 2024 drinking water limits on four PFAS chemicals linked to cancer and liver damage, reversing its position in ongoing litigation to side with chemical companies, including Corteva and Chemours, and water utilities that had sued to overturn the standards.
Kennedy introduced MAHA, Make America Healthy Again, on August 23, 2024, when he ended his own presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, delivering a coalition built on one concern: that federal health decisions were being written by the industries they were supposed to regulate. Vaccine-safety skeptics were at its core, but it also appealed to parents worried about chemicals in food and water, and people convinced that the pharmaceutical industry had captured the agencies meant to check it. That coalition helped elect Trump in 2024.
The appointment of industry representatives to federal committees has not escaped MAHA’s attention. In August 2025, more than 200 MAHA activists wrote to President Trump opposing provisions in a federal spending bill that would shield pesticide makers from liability, warning that doing so “may well cost you the House majority in the midterms.” Six months later, in February 2026, Trump signed an executive order boosting domestic glyphosate production.
Nine days after the peptide vote, Trump signed an executive order on vaccines, a core issue for MAHA. The order narrowed the recommended childhood vaccine schedule from 18 to 11 diseases. It is not clear the order is enforceable, so this is a symbolic win for MAHA.
Two plus years into Trump, and we are able to see what the MAHA agenda actually is. Their attacks on vaccines are underway; it has not gotten rid of corporate self-interest prevailing over what’s safe to eat, drink, or inject.
Endnotes
FDA advisory committee composition, vote outcome, and scientist objections: NBC News, FDA panel, with ties to the peptide industry, recommends easing restrictions on four of the compounds
Named committee members with financial ties to peptide clinics: Tech Times, citing Associated Press reporting, FDA Panel Backs Peptide BPC-157 for Compounding in 8-6 Vote Over Scientists’ Objections
FDA’s standard practice of a non-voting Industry Representative seat: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Guidance for Industry: Advisory Committees
History of conflict-of-interest waivers across administrations: American Enterprise Institute, FDA Advisory Committees and Conflicts of Interest
EPA Science Advisory Board appointments, Corteva/Dow/Chemours affiliations: Society of Environmental Journalists, EPA Adds More Pesticide Industry Reps to Science Board
EPA’s reversal in PFAS drinking water litigation: Earthjustice, Trump EPA Proposes to Eliminate and Delay Protections from Toxic Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water
Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump and introduction of MAHA, August 23, 2024: NBC News, RFK Jr. joins Trump onstage in Arizona rally hours after endorsing
MAHA activists’ August 2025 letter to Trump: Reuters, via AOL, ‘MAHA’ activists urge Trump to oppose limits on pesticide regulation
February 2026 glyphosate executive order: NewsNation, Trump seeks to boost controversial herbicide glyphosate, drawing MAHA ire
Marion Nestle’s “MAHA versus the realities of MAGA”: Food Politics by Marion Nestle, Update on the MAHA Policy Report
August 10, 2026 vaccine executive order, schedule reduced from 18 to 11 diseases: The White House, Fact Sheet: President Trump Delivers Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
Legal experts on the order’s limited enforceability: CNN, What Trump’s executive order means for vaccinations this fall