The Pesticide Crisis Reveals The Dark Side of Science. We Have The Solutions to Regenerate.

The institutions meant to protect us have turned a blind eye to a widespread, decades-long conspiracy to poison our food, land, and water. The path to healing and transformation is already here.

In President Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous 1961 speech about the dangers of the military-industrial complex, he also cautioned Americans about the growing power of a "scientific, technological elite." "The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by federal employment project allocations and the power of money is ever present," warned Eisenhower. The federal government had become a major financier of scientific research after World War II, and Eisenhower was worried that the spirit of open inquiry ... would be corrupted by the priorities of the federal bureaucracy. Today, many of the people protesting the Trump administration's cuts to federal funding for scientific research are part of that scientific, technological elite.
— Eisenhower Warned Us About the 'Scientific Elite,' Reason Magazine

Across the United States, a powerful legislative push is underway to protect pesticide manufacturers from being held accountable for the harms caused by their products.

Georgia and North Dakota have already passed laws shielding pesticide manufacturers, and similar industry-backed bills are moving forward in up to 21 states. Over 79 members of Congress recently signed a letter defending the pesticide industry, warning against “politically motivated attacks on sound science.”

Mainstream media and authority figures tell us to be outraged by the “attack on science,” but few are willing to face how thoroughly compromised our scientific and media institutions have become due to corporate influence at the highest levels of power. Top editors of world-renowned journals have warned that much of published scientific and medical research is distorted by fraud, corporate influence, and conflicts of interest.

For far too long, the institutions meant to protect us have turned a blind eye to the powerful forces driving environmental destruction, the corporate capture of science, and the unprecedented chronic disease crisis. The good news is that the path to healing and transformation is already here.

This brief investigation connects the dots—completing this investigation with inspiring solutions, people-powered movements, and real-world success stories that serve as powerful reminders: we already have the technology, creativity, and social will needed to begin regenerating all life on Earth.

'Parkinson’s is a man-made disease'

While oligarchs and corporations drive ecological collapse, isn’t it telling that the titans of our centralized food system are so often left out of the conversation? The pesticide issue receives nowhere near the level of outrage sparked by far less damaging issues dominating the news. Yet if you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll uncover a widespread conspiracy to poison our food, air, and water.

Bayer, the maker of the world’s most widely used weedkiller, is facing over 170,000 lawsuits in the US. Billions of pounds of pesticides are used each year on our food despite their use being identified as a cancer risk comparable to smoking. Their products are linked to environmental destruction, nervous system damage in bees, and the insect apocalpyse itself. According to the EPA, glyphosate can kill or harm 93 percent of the plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act.

In 2017, a UN report identified pesticides as a "global human rights concern," revealing that an average of about 200,000 people die annually from the toxic exposure of pesticides across the world. In children, exposure to pesticides increase the risk of reduced IQs, memory and attention deficits, and autism for prenatal children. Pesticides are linked to depression, cancer, brain diseases, birth defects, infertility, organ damage, and other devastating chronic diseases —making it one of the largest corporate liability issues in modern history.

The 1982 neurotoxic contaminant MPTP case was a turning point in showing how a single toxin could instantly trigger Parkinson’s by destroying a specific part of the brain. Scientists later discovered that paraquat — a widely used US pesticide banned in over 70 countries — attacks the brain in much the same way. As rates of Parkinson’s have tragically surged especially among the farming community, neurologists now say the disease is largely environmentally caused, driven by long-term exposure to chemicals like paraquat. A 2024 Politico article put it bluntly: “Parkinson’s is a man-made disease.”

Some may argue that these new laws only shield pesticide makers when their products comply with EPA standards. But how much does that really mean when the EPA has a long and well-documented history of corporate capture — from shielding polluters to facing growing criticism from scientists and whistleblowers who say the agency is failing to protect the public? Why should we trust EPA-approved products are safe when the agency permits tens of millions of pounds of paraquat to be sprayed on our food yet has banned paraquat on golf courses in 2021 due to serious public health risks?

Few people know that some of the chemicals sprayed on our food today were originally developed during World War I and II as nerve agents and poison gases designed to harm and kill humans.

Bayer, the company that acquired Monsanto and produces 40% of the world's glyphosate, grew out of IG Farben — the Nazi-linked chemical giant that helped run the concentration camp at Auschwitz where nerve gases killed hundreds of thousands of European Jews.

Despite undeniable evidence showing that toxic chemicals are impairing our brains, bodies, and our capacity to thrive, these existential warnings continue to be ignored. If this isn’t an attack on science, what is?

By shielding these companies, lawmakers risk replicating the 1986 precedent set by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act, which granted pharmaceutical companies broad immunity even as mounting evidence shows that serious vaccine injuries have been vastly underreported and overlooked for decades.

Monsanto's Propaganda Machine

For decades, Monsanto didn’t just manufacture chemicals—it manufactured reality. Behind the PR campaigns about feeding the world was a ruthless strategy to silence critics, rewrite science, and discredit anyone who got in the way. The following key findings are drawn from The Monsanto Papers and compiled in Merchants of Poison: How Monsanto Sold the World on a Toxic Pesticide:

• Buried internal studies expose how Monsanto knew glyphosate was dangerous and cancerous as early as 1983.

• Systemic ghostwriting of scientific studies and safety reviews while colluding with prestigious universities to downplay cancer risks and make them appear independent.

• The creation of a secretive "Fusion Center” (modeled after FBI and homeland security tactics tasked with surveillance and terrorism) which monitored and targeted scientists, activists, celebrities, policymakers, and social media posts using private “watch lists."

• Coordination with lawmakers to defund the World Health Organization’s cancer research arm and intimidate cancer researchers after it classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen.

• Collusion with 'neutral' front groups like the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) to flood media outlets with industry-approved talking points, label critics as conspiracy theorists, manipulate search results through SEO tactics, and create attack profiles on those who critically reported on the pesticide industry. “You will not get a better value for your dollar,” one Monsanto exec bragged about hiring ACHS. ACSH took hundreds of thousands from chemical giants.

• Weaponization of 'independent' experts and front groups to attack organic food, with hit pieces claiming organic food is a scam. A series of emails between Monsanto’s top medical officer Dr. Daniel Goldstein and Dr. Bruce Chassy discussed grassroots advocacy group Moms Across America, where Dr. Goldstein states: "I have been arguing for a week to beat the s*** out of them and have clearly lost," to which Dr. Chassy responds, "You can't beat up mothers, even if they are dumb mothers but you can beat up the organic industry that paid for and wrote that letter.”

• A presentation by Jay Byrne, Monsanto’s former director of corporate communications, featured a quote by Michael S. Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation: “Think of the internet as a weapon on the table. Either you pick it up or your competitor does — but somebody is going to get killed.”

It came out earlier this year that a company called V-Fluence, funded by USAID and the USDA, secretly tracked and profiled over 500 scientists, environmental activists, journalists, and food safety advocates—many of whom opposed genetically modified foods and pesticides. The v-Fluence dossiers included private addresses, family details, and derogatory commentary with the goal to threaten and “neutralize” critics with surveillance and reputational smears. Members of this portal included over 1,000 USDA policymakers, State Department officials, agrochemical executives, and lobbyists–all working to protect corporate agriculture interests.

Decades later, Monsanto continues to deploy a full-spectrum campaign of manipulation, intimidation, and scientific deceit to protect its profits no matter the human cost.

While the agrochemical lobby pushes for shields, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey is pushing back. His Pesticide Injury Accountability Act would protect Americans’ right to sue chemical companies for harm and prevent corporations from using federal rules as a cover for avoiding responsibility.

Time to Regenerate

Doom and gloom is never the full story. Let’s stop turning on each other and start holding the real purveyors of harm accountable. In a time of deep political division, it’s time to move beyond fear and seek narratives that heal our bodies, restore the planet, and remind us of what brings us all together:

• A peer-reviewed dietary intervention study found that eating a completely organic diet for just six days led to a dramatic 60% reduction in pesticide levels in participants’ bodies. A meta-analysis of 343 peer-reviewed studies found that organic crops contain significantly higher levels of antioxidants and nutrients. A major cohort study involving nearly 69,000 French adults found that those who consumed the most organic foods had a 25% lower overall cancer risk—including a 73% lower risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma—compared to those who rarely ate organic. According to the study, even people with lower quality diets who stuck with organic food had a reduced risk of cancer.

• The rise of urban food forests across the US are ensuring that communities belong to affordable, equitable and resilient local food systems. Communities from Los Angeles, Florida, Illinois, to suburbs in the Netherlands are growing organic vegetables and food in their own yards, sharing their resources, and transforming neighborhoods. “I can’t think of a more generous gift to give to the community than to grow delicious, naturally organic food for the direct community,” [says Crop Swap LA subscriber] Katherine Wong. “This is one of the noblest things anyone is doing today.”

• The regenerative agriculture movement is growing into a global force, uniting farmers, scientists, food justice advocates, and everyday people. Regenerative methods protect groundwater, restore soil health, capture atmospheric carbon and store it in the soil, boost biodiversity, and eliminate the need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Across the globe, movements are growing to reclaim food sovereignty and revive local economies. In India, world-renowned food sovereignty and environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva’s organization Navdanya has trained nearly a million farmers to save native seeds and reject dependency on pesticides and corporate-controlled genetically modified crops.

• A pivotal study in Quebec helped drive major policy change, leading the province to restrict neonicotinoid seed treatments (pesticides widely used in industrial agriculture). Five years after implementation, neonic use on corn and soy dropped by 95%, yet crop yields remained unaffected. In fact, more than half of Quebec’s corn and soy acreage is now grown without insecticides.

• Sikkim, India’s 100% organic state, proves a chemical-free future is possible. Since officially going organic in 2016, Sikkim has earned international acclaim. The shift reversed pollinator decline, increased crop yields like cardamom by 23%, and preserved traditional knowledge about chemical-free farming—all while conserving water and protecting future generations.

• Facing pesticide contamination in its water supply, Paris launched a bold initiative to convert upstream farms to organic. Instead of investing in costly water treatment, the city pays farmers to ditch chemicals to advance a cleaner, organic food system. “It’s better for us to have cleaner, purer watersheds,” says [deputy director general of Eau de Paris Anne-Sophie] Leclere.

• New York is leading the charge to protect pollinators and public health. The state became the first in the US to pass a landmark ban on neonicotinoid seed coatings, which kill bees and contaminate soil and water. The Birds and Bees Protection Act eliminates 80–90% of annual neonic use, signaling a major win for ecosystems and food security.

• Toxicologists, scientists, and researchers are harnessing the power of mushrooms to convert pesticides and herbicides into less toxic compounds , break down plastic, reduce radiation levels in contaminated zones like the Chernobyl Power Plant, and remove heavy metals from industrial sites.

Our Substack, Remedies to the Chronic Illness Crisis explores many other examples of how we're healing together as a society.

Our Inspiration Center highlights some of the most inspiring solutions and stories to transform the world’s most pressing problems.

When we can recognize what’s pushing us — in our personal lives and as a society — we already have a degree of freedom from it. Freeing ourselves from harmful systems starts from within, and what we do to heal our bodies and minds from toxic chemicals, toxic beliefs, and toxic ways of relating with each other. It deepens as we harmonize our choices with the natural world. Challenging information can paradoxically remind us of the greater good. It is the courage of the people and the love for the common good that brings these injustices to light—fueling open dialogue and constructive action.

Note: Want to stay updated and informed about pesticide legislation and other important health freedom movements? Moms Across America, Environmental Working Group, Organic Consumers Association, and US Right To Know are some of our favorite resources!

Contact your representatives to prevent granting liability protection to chemical companies

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