US President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on “elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicide” is facing renewed scrutiny for potentially shielding a controversial weapon of war.

The order promotes the domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate. Elemental phosphorus is the raw material used in white phosphorus weapons, which cause severe burns and tissue damage, and their use is controlled under international humanitarian law.

Glyphosate is the key ingredient of Roundup, the most commonly used herbicide by US agriculture. Back in 2015, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

Under the order, the US Secretary of Agriculture is directed to ensure that no government “order, rule, or regulation” threatens the “financial viability of domestic producers of either substance”. Crucially, it also grants those producers immunity under the Defense Production Act — a provision critics say could insulate manufacturers from legal accountability.

Initial reaction to the order focused on Trump’s support for glyphosate, drawing condemnation from some of the leaders of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the lobby group that supports US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Controversially, however, Kennedy backed Trump’s order, claiming that it safeguards America’s national security.

“Donald Trump’s Executive Order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply. We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it,” Kennedy said in a statement to CNBC.

The executive order also declares that “elemental phosphorus is a scarce material that is critical to national defense and security”, and the New York Times reports that Trump’s decision “was significantly influenced by “concerns about the availability of phosphorus for defense”.

Monsanto supplies US military

In response to the executive order, Roundup’s manufacturer, Monsanto, said that it “will comply with this order to produce glyphosate and elemental phosphorus.”

Monsanto is the only US company that produces white phosphorus. It supplies it to the ICL Group (formerly Israel Chemicals Ltd) which sells it to the US military, where it is processed into weapons, according to Corruption Tracker, a US group that tracks corruption in the arms industry.

Last month, Monsanto, which was bought by the German company Bayer in 2018, reached a provisional $7.25 billion settlement with US law firms representing clients who claim that exposure to Roundup caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). 

The agreement covers plaintiffs exposed to Roundup before 17 February and currently have a medical diagnosis of NHL, or who receive a medical diagnosis within 16 years following the final approval of the agreement, according to an announcement from Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018.

The executive order may provide the company with protection against other legal challenges.

‘Deep, severe burns’

White phosphorus, which “ignites spontaneously in air at temperatures above 30 °C”, is extremely hard to extinguish and can cause “deep and severe burns”, according to the WHO. 

“White phosphorus is harmful to humans by all routes of exposure,” according to the WHO.

It can cause “severe deep burns” as it is “highly soluble in lipids” and can penetrate skin tissue. Its smoke harms people’s eyes and respiratory tract as phosphorus oxides dissolve in moisture to form phosphoric acids. 

Exposure can also cause “cardiovascular effects and collapse, as well as renal and hepatic damage and depressed consciousness and coma,” says the WHO. 

White phosphorus in Lebanon

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported last week that Israel had fired white phosphorus (a type of elemental phosphorus) bombs over a residential area of Yohmor, a town in southern Lebanon.

HRW has previously reported Israel’s use of white phosphorus in at least 17 municipalities in Lebanon between October 2023 and May 2024. HRW has previously documented Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza in 2008-2009.

In October 2023, Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab verified that Israel’s attacks on Gaza used M825 and M825A1 projectiles labelled with the US Department of Defense (now Department of War) Identification Codes for white phosphorus-based rounds. 

White phosphorus is classified as an “incendiary weapon”, not a chemical weapon as military forces claim that they use it as a smokescreen. The use of white phosphorus is governed by Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), which prohibits the use of airdropped incendiary weapons in “concentrations of civilians”. Israel is not a signatory to the convention.

Bayer’s influence in the Trump administration

A recent investigation by US Right to Know exposed extensive links between the Trump administration and Bayer, which owns Monsanto. 

It linked 22 key Trump administration staff members to Bayer’s lobbying or legal network. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and US Attorney General Pam Bondi have both been partners in Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm that  represents Bayer.

Ballard Partners founder Brian Ballard “raised more than $50 million for Trump’s 2024 campaign, and served on the 2024 inaugural and transition finance committees.”

“More than 30 senior officials at lobby firms retained by Bayer have direct ties to Trump, having worked in one or both of his administrations or political campaigns,” according to Right to Know.

Image Credits: Aljazeera, Pesticide Action Network.