‘Glyphosate Girl’ Applauds USDA Regenerative Pilot, Warns of ‘Pesticide Treadmill’

Originally written by Jeff Louderback for The Epoch Times

Known as the “Glyphosate Girl” because of her advocacy to alert the public about the dangers of the herbicide, Kelly Ryerson closely listened to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s Dec. 10 announcement of a pilot program that will allocate $700 million to support regenerative agriculture.

The founder of the Glyphosate Facts website and co-executive director of regenerative farming initiative American Regeneration, Ryerson, is at the center of fighting Bayer/Monsanto’s efforts to gain immunity for pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits.

“Glyphosate and all chemicals and pesticides are definitely a problem. I would like to see glyphosate banned from pre-harvest spray, and in public places and schools,” Ryerson told The Epoch Times.

“But farmers cannot change their decades-long dependence overnight. Losing access to glyphosate could lead them to use even more toxic replacement chemicals.

“We’re on a pesticide treadmill. Encouraging regenerative agriculture is the solution.”

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press conference on Dec. 10 that the pilot program will give farmers who are dependent on chemical and fertilizer inputs a financial off-ramp to help them transition to a model that emphasizes soil health.

The program aligns with the Make America Healthy Again Commission’s focus on addressing the nation’s chronic disease epidemic by strengthening the nutrient density in food and decreasing reliance on chemicals, Kennedy said.

Regenerative farming methods prioritize building and preserving healthy soils, avoiding synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, with minimal or no tilling.

Under the new program, farmers can receive direct payments, cost-sharing, and technical support when they implement cover cropping, reduced tillage, diversified crop rotations, improved grazing systems, soil biology-focused inputs, and other regenerative farming techniques.

The intent is to help farmers offset short-term costs and risks that accompany the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture.

A billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used each year in the United States to control weeds, insects, and other pests, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Hundreds of millions of pounds are used in U.S. agriculture.

Throughout history, a variety of pesticides have been used.

After World War II, chemicals that were manufactured and used during the war were repurposed for agriculture. The insecticide DDT was introduced into U.S. agriculture in 1946.

According to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, DDT was originally used in the second half of WWII to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops, and was ultimately banned from use in the United States in 1972 due to its adverse environmental and health risks.

Highly toxic herbicides, including atrazine and paraquat, were introduced by 1958 and are still used on U.S. landscapes and agricultural land today.

In 1970, Monsanto chemists Phil Hamm and John Franz identified glyphosate’s herbicidal activity and patented it for use as a herbicide in 1971.

The product, Roundup, was first sold commercially by Monsanto in 1974.

Today, glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in history, according to the Global Glyphosate Study.

In 1996, Bayer/Monsanto launched Roundup Ready genetically modified seeds, developed specifically so crops would be resistant to Roundup.

The use of glyphosate accelerated because farmers widely adopted the seeds, which allowed them to spray the pesticide on crops to kill weeds.

Today, 280 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed on 285 million acres of U.S. farmland every year, according to the nonprofit Center for Food Safety, which advocates for organic and sustainable food.

“Glyphosate is everywhere,“ Ryerson said. ”It is in nearly all of our non-organic food. It’s in the air, and in the water. Parks, schools, golf courses, and many athletic fields are showered in glyphosate. If it’s so widespread and common, we should do everything we can to be sure it’s safe, right?”

Long before she emerged as an advocate, Ryerson worked in investment banking, private equity, and NASA technology commercialization.

Her career path changed after years of battling chronic health issues that were reversed when she shifted to a gluten-free and organic diet.

She developed the belief that chemicals and toxins are fueling the chronic disease epidemic.

Six in 10 adults in the United States have a chronic disease, and four in 10 adults have two or more chronic diseases, according to an essay published in November 2023 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, nearly half of U.S. children (3- to 17-year-olds) are suffering from chronic conditions, according to a study published in July in peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA.

“There is one common thread, and it’s what we eat. It’s critical to change our food system so that it’s not poisoned with chemical toxins,” Ryerson said.

Ryerson attended a conference at Columbia University about the rise in gluten sensitivity. Several presenters said that they were uncertain whether the health conditions were caused by gluten. It could be something else, they surmised.

“At one of the workshops, I asked, ‘Could it be something that’s on the farm?’ They said ‘no.’ After that, a whistleblower from General Mills found me at the conference and said, ‘You should check it out because Roundup is sprayed on our oats, our wheat, and all these grains right before harvest. You might want to see,” Ryerson said.

Ryerson said she asked the whistleblower: “Roundup? You mean the kind that is sold at Home Depot? We’re eating it? Don’t you think that’s connected?”

“He’s like, ‘I don’t know.”’

Ryerson immersed herself in all she could about pesticides and their impact on health.

Around the same time in 2018, a California jury convened to determine if Monsanto was liable in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleged the company’s glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, caused his cancer.

The case of school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging glyphosate causes cancer.

It was a few months after Bayer bought Monsanto for $63 billion.

Expecting a protest against Monsanto, Ryerson made her way to the courthouse. There was no fanfare and only one local news crew in the courtroom, she recalled.

It was the first time Ryerson met Kennedy, who was part of the legal team representing Johnson.

From start to finish, Ryerson covered the trial and wrote about it on her “Glyphosate Girl” blog, cultivating a following.

A jury determined that Monsanto had failed to warn Johnson and other consumers of the cancer risks posed by its weed killers and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages.

Since then, Bayer has paid billions to settle many Roundup lawsuits while Ryerson has expanded her advocacy.

She co-founded American Regeneration with Ryland Englehart to help shape policy and advocate for regenerative farmers.

Bayer has won some of the suits it did not settle. In others, it has been found liable and ordered to pay damages, including by jurors in Georgia who awarded a plaintiff $2.65 billion in March.

On Dec. 1, lawyers for the Trump administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a case that found Bayer liable for failing to warn that Roundup can cause cancer.

A jury found in favor of John Durnell, a Missouri man who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after exposure to Roundup.

The jury’s ruling was upheld by a state appeals court, and the Missouri Supreme Court declined to review the case.

In April, Bayer asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, arguing that federal law governing pesticide labeling preempts any state requirements and that the court should consider how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved Roundup labeling without a cancer warning.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer on Dec. 1 sided with Bayer, writing in a brief to the high court that EPA officials determined that an ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, “is not likely to be carcinogenic in humans, and the agency has repeatedly approved Roundup labels that did not contain cancer warnings.”

The EPA has stated in a 2020 study that glyphosate poses “no risks of concern” to human health when used according to its label and considered the ingredient “unlikely to be a human carcinogen.”

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer—part of the World Health Organization—classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen, a substance that can cause cancer.

In early December 2025, Ryerson was among several advocates of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda who circulated a petition calling for the firing of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

They pointed to the agency’s moves to loosen restrictions on harmful chemicals and approve new pesticides, including two that contain “forever chemicals” linked to health risks.

“Forever chemicals” is a common term for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of man-made chemicals used in products such as nonstick cookware, waterproof fabrics, and firefighting foam. They are called “forever” because they do not break down easily in the environment or the human body.

The petition said that the chemicals are “being released into our food and water supplies” and “pose serious threats to both present and future generations.”

“This approach will inevitably lead to higher rates of chronic disease, greater medical costs, and tremendous strain on our healthcare system,” the petition stated.

On Dec. 9, Zeldin attended the Christmas party for MAHA Action, the chief PAC that supports the movement’s initiatives, and invited Ryerson and other advocates to the EPA for a meeting the next day.

In a Dec. 10 MAHA Action Media Hub webinar, Zeldin said he had “a great meeting” with MAHA representatives.

“We want to make sure that MAHA Action and its members have a seat at the table and ability to directly engage and communicate,” Zeldin said, adding that the EPA had worked “over the course of the last few weeks” to finalize a MAHA agenda for the agency.

He specifically referenced MAHA’s objective to reduce the use of pesticides.

Ryerson appeared on the same webinar after Zeldin spoke and said with a grin, “I imagine it was hard for him to come into a MAHA holiday party,” praising the EPA head for engaging in conversation and inviting MAHA advocates for a meeting.

Zeldin was joined by EPA senior leaders at the gathering.

“This is unprecedented access. Usually, [the EPA personnel] don’t even email you or call you back, which is frustrating,” Ryerson said, expressing hope that the EPA will take action on MAHA Action recommendations.

While Ryerson and fellow MAHA proponents work to make progress with the EPA, they continue the battle on another front.

Ryerson said Bayer is focused on limiting the ability of Americans to sue chemical manufacturers if they get sick from exposure, essentially creating a pesticide liability shield.

Bayer has repeatedly said that glyphosate is safe, often citing a 2016 EPA review that determined that the pesticide ingredient was “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

The company has a page on its website titled “The Truth About Glyphosate.” One section stated that the chemical “has undergone rigorous regulatory evaluations by the EPA and has consistently met the strict standards of safety.”

On Dec. 5, the scientific journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology retracted a 2000 study that concluded “under present and expected conditions of new use, there is no potential for Roundup herbicide to pose a health risk to humans.”

According to the retraction from the co-editor in chief, evidence suggests that Monsanto employees “may have contributed to the writing of the article without proper acknowledgment as co authors.”

The retraction also concluded that the study’s authors may have been paid by Monsanto without disclosing it and that the findings about its cancer risk “are solely based on unpublished studies from Monsanto.”

The paper “had a significant impact on regulatory decision-making regarding glyphosate and Roundup for decades,” according to the journal, which said that it has “lost confidence in the results and conclusions of this article, and believes that the retraction of this article is necessary to maintain the integrity of the journal.”

The EPA has said it will announce an updated human health risk assessment for glyphosate in 2026.

In a statement, EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch said that the retraction would not affect its stance because the agency does not rely on review articles for its pesticide risk assessments.

Bayer issued a statement defending glyphosate’s safety and noted that Monsanto’s involvement was appropriately cited in the acknowledgments.

“Glyphosate is the most extensively studied herbicide over the past 50 years. Thousands of studies have been conducted on the safety of glyphosate products,” Bayer spokesman Brian Leake said. “The vast majority of published studies on glyphosate had no Monsanto involvement.”

Earlier this year, Ryerson was one of 241 MAHA advocates who sent a letter to Trump urging him to prevent the House of Representatives from limiting regulation for pesticides and “forever chemicals” in its environmental appropriations bill.

Signatories of the letter highlighted provisions in the Fiscal Year 2026 House Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill—Sections 453 and 507—which they said create broad product-liability protections for domestic and foreign pesticide and chemical manufacturers “by refusing to fund the critical, legally required scientific safety assessments needed to update labels across more than 57,000 synthetic chemicals.”

The appropriations bill passed through the House Appropriations Committee on a voice vote, but has not been brought to the House floor. On Jan. 5, the House Appropriations Committee released the specifics of the measure, which does not include Section 453.

In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times on Jan. 5, Bayer said it agrees that “no company should have blanket immunity.”

“To be clear, the language in section 453 of the House appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior would not prevent anyone from suing pesticide manufacturers,” Bayer said. “The future of American farming depends on reliable science-based regulation of important crop protection products—determined safe for use by the EPA.”

MAHA Action celebrated the removal of Section 453 from the spending bill.

“The Senate version of the bill also does NOT contain Section 453. Once again MAHA has proven just how powerful our voice is when we come together on an issue,” the group said in a Jan. 5, post on X.

Ryerson told The Epoch Times on Jan. 5 that she is “thrilled” about the decision and credited “the thousands of people who helped us rally and contact Congress about the harms that would come from a pesticide liability shield.”

Bills to eliminate state causes of action for pesticide injuries have passed in Georgia and North Dakota, failed in Tennessee, and are undecided in other states.

Ryerson expects that the chemical corporations will continue their efforts to pass state-level liability shields in 2026.

“Without MAHA advocates, all of these bills would be pushed through with little opposition, and there wouldn’t be attention on the dangers of glyphosate and all of the other chemicals and pesticides,” Ryerson said.

“It’s exhaustive doing all we are doing, but it’s necessary. The health of our families are at stake.”