From Eric Lipton NYT about pesticides on fruits & veggies & the companies who make them.

[MelissaB]

FOLLOW ALONG HERE--IT YOU EAT FRUIT & VEGETABLES. My colleague @dannyhakim and I took a deep journey this summer into the world of pesticides, corporations that make them, workers who grow the food and the E.P.A., which decides if they are toxic or safe.

Link to tweet

Our interest in topic started way back in March 2017 when Pruitt took very unusual step of rejecting recommendation of top EPA scientists who had concluded EPA needed to ban a pesticide chlorpyrifos as appeared to do serious harm to children of farmworkers

Link to tweet

As a reporter working at a newspaper like The NYT--where our editors really let us dig into important topics that impact nation--we were left wondering. What really happened here? Why would Pruitt reject health-based recommendation of his own staff? Here was a hint. EPIDEMIOLOGY

Link to tweet

We got this email as a result of a FREEDOM of INFORMATION REQUEST. It shows that the DAY AFTER Pruitt rejected the recommendation of EPA staff that wanted him to ban chlorpyrifos, his top aides began a broader discussion re epidemiology. But was not a coincidence. @industrydocs

Link to tweet

To unpack the previous tweet a bit. CropLife America is Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, etc & the other top global manufacturers of pesticides. Shortly after Trump was elected, CropLife petitioned EPA to STOP relying on epidemiology to make pesticide decisions. SECRET SCIENCE effort starts

Link to tweet

So the pesticide industry is telling the EPA to stop using/or curb its use of human studies that examine possible links between exposures to pesticides and serious harm, like lower IQs among children, Parkinson's disease, cancer, etc. LIKE THIS

THIS IS VERY SERIOUS STUFF. This is not just Dems and GOP fighting in DC or Trump calling news reporters FAKE NEWS. This is food we all eat in the United States. And the thousands of farm workers who grow it. So @dannyhakim and I decided we needed to SALINAS Calif to investigate.

So what did we find? Well, there is some very rigorous research going at UC Berkeley as scientists there track farm workers for two decades now, starting with pregnant women who had a particular pesticide in their blood and looking at their children as they grow up.

This is the research at the pesticide industry wants squashed. As researchers have repeatedly found these pesticides appear to be harming children. And the EPA is JUST STARTING a major reassessment of this class of pesticides called ORGANOPHOSPHATES, which includes chlorpyrifos

JUST as this REVIEW of ORGANOPHOSPHATES is ramping up, Pruitt rolls out his SECRET SCIENCE plan, that would prohibit the EPA from relying on science that is not pubic and data is not shared with EPA. EPI data is very sensitive. Involves real people @cuepidemiology

So while @dannyhakim and I are still digging in here, Pruitt's plan is rolled out. But we noticed something startling as I began to dig into documents from the TOBACCO INDUSTRY @industrydocs NOW REMEMBER. THESE ARE TOBACCO INDUSTRY DOCUMENTS>>>USING SAME ARGUMENT>

This is really interesting stuff. Appears like pesticide industry teamed up with folks EPA to use an argument invented by tobacco industry to try to block the use of EPI studies so that the EPA does not ban pesticides they sell. Here is some recent testimony by former OSHA head

We spoke with CropLife America (pesticide industry) & with EPA. Both said they very much support use of good epidemiology & that this is all about making sure regulatory decisions are FACT BASED. It is not about quashing science. They embrace all science. This is from CropLife

THERE IS MUCH MORE, I could share. We have probably 10,000 pages worth of documents collected from this story. But it is Saturday and I have to trim bushes in backyard. But now you at least know the journey @dannyhakim and I went on. PLEASE READ THE STORY

IT is running on front of SUNDAY's NYT Business Section, in print. And retweet this. Everyone in the U.S. should understand this debate about the safety of pesticides used on our food. If you eat, you should care. Cheers.

Note: I stopped copying each tweet and just copied the text. There are a lot more documents you if go to twitter and read the thread.

[2naSalit]

1. And where has that slimebag

Grver gone to lately? A resort along the Black Sea for a life of luxury?

[thbobby]

2. The use of pesticides and herbicides

has been a life-threatening policy of farmers and gop for decades. My dad was a farmer and I grew up on a farm. Overspray of herbicides by crop dusters ruined a 20-acre pasture that was a near paradise when I was growing up. Once you know what to look for, you can see the effects of herbicides on trees everywhere. Branches that are nearly barren of leaf growth except at the very end. Long branches with very little forking. We eventually won a 20K settlement, but still had a beautiful place on our farm ruined.

Farmers vote repug because they do not want regulation on pesticides and herbicides. My dad called such farmers "chemical farmers". Pesticides and herbicides vastly reduce the amount of labor needed to tend a farm. Even tillage is reduced as spraying herbicides eliminates the need to plow for weed control - grow crop, spray herbicides, plant, and repeat.

There are ways to reduce the use of herbicides and pesticides. Labor to remove weeds in growing crops and till the land. Ladybug distribution is effective at controlling pests. But chemicals are cheaper than labor and organic pest control.

I will never buy produce at a farmer's market because there is no regulation on pesticides. Farmers spray pesticides, produce is insect free and looks good, but is poisonous. With gop in control, there is less and less regulation on what farmers can do. And farmers want to make money more than they want to provide safe and nutritious produce (not all farmers, but many of them, especially corporate controlled farmers).

Want to buy organic? Make sure you understand the legal definition.

We are being poisoned by our love of cheap groceries and the producer's love for high profits. Capitalism in action.