Program & Schedule

Caroline Cox will discuss basic overview of health and environmental effects of pesticides, the underlying pesticide law, and regulatory authority. 

Sarah Evans, PhD will discuss health effects of toxic chemicals and what individuals can do to protect their own health, as well as how to advocate for healthier policies in their local communities.

Melinda Hemmelgarn, MS, RD will discuss media literacy as it applies to pesticide narratives, framing, and messaging.

This session features four presentations:

• Organic Agriculture: Leading the Way for a Sustainable Future—Jeff Moyer
• Protecting Life—Impacts of Pesticides on Organism Development—Tyrone Hayes, PhD
• Mobilizing Change for Racial Equity and Justice—Bertha Lewis
• Recognizing the Real Cost of Toxic Pesticides: From Childhood to Community Health—Leo Trasande, MD

Changes in policy and practices are often motivated by the effects of pesticides on children’s health, so keeping up with the science is critical to effecting change. Children face unique hazards from pesticide exposure. In the food they eat, the air they breathe, and the surfaces they play on children take in greater amounts of pesticides (relative to their body weight) than adults, and their developing organ systems are typically more sensitive to toxic exposures. Children also come into closer contact with chemicals than adults, as a result of crawling behavior and hand-to-mouth contact. The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a landmark report on children and pesticide use, wrote, “Children encounter pesticides daily and have unique susceptibilities to their potential toxicity. Acute poisoning risks are clear, and understanding of chronic health implications from both acute and chronic exposure are emerging. Epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems.”  

Regulation of pesticides does not take into account devastating adverse impacts to the functioning of organisms, including humans. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can, even at miniscule exposure levels, disrupt normal hormonal (endocrine) function. Such endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) include many pesticides, with exposures that have been linked to infertility and other reproductive disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and early puberty, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and childhood and adult cancers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) began, then virtually stopped, the review and regulation of endocrine disrupting pesticides, despite a mandate in the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) to develop a screening program within two years and then begin regulating.

Ignoring nature has become exceedingly perilous. The need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers can be eliminated by conserving insects and microbes that act to inhibit outbreaks of organisms feeding on crops and fertilize the soil. Reliance on chemical controls creates a vicious treadmill: pesticide use destroys natural balance, thus creating a demand for more pesticide use, which kills more of the organisms needed for balance and fertility, and so on. “Regenerative” agriculture is a term with a range of interpretations, but the key element is improving soil health through healthy soil and carbon sequestration. Robert Rodale, one of the early proponents of organic agriculture, coined the term to characterize a process that moves beyond static maintenance and into enhancement of resources. While organic production, as defined by the Organic Foods Production Act (which establishes the USDA Organic food label), sets a certification framework for implementing whole systems approaches that cycle nutrients naturally in the soil and respect biodiversity, other approaches fall short of this transformative strategy. Terms such as “regenerative,” “ecological,” and “sustainable” are used without definition and a public process for ensuring that they meet the expectations and urgent need for an expedited response to the environmental and public health crises on the horizon. Instead, “organic” must be defined in a way that embraces regenerative, ecological, and sustainable practices.

Climate change, with attending unprecedented temperature shifts, storms, and wildfires, and the devastating decline in biodiversity are escalating as a result of uncontrolled and unnecessary reliance on toxic chemicals. Thwarting these existential crises that threaten life requires a meaningful holistic strategy that commits our nation to ending our fossil fuel-based economy and use of petroleum-based materials that release harmful levels of carbon and noxious gases (including greenhouse gases/GHG) into the environment. Organic production and handling practices have a proven, commercially viable track record. They both sequester carbon and eliminate petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. And, importantly, the data show that this sector of agriculture is now operating without sacrificing productivity or profitability. The only problem: the vested economic interests in the petroleum and chemical industry are holding on to the status-quo. The good news: there are good jobs and money to be made in a green economy.

This session features four presentations:

• Gardening in Partnership with Nature, Ecosystems, and Soil Biology—James Nardi, PhD
• Synthetic Chemicals: Ignored Agents of Global Change—Emma Rosi, PhD
• Policy that Meets the Challenges of the Future—George Kimbrell
• Change in a Global Context—Amy Lewis

Note: Additional farmworker community representatives also will be speaking at this session.

Chemical trespass—including pesticide drift—is an inevitable problem in pest management strategies that rely on spray, dust, and drench pesticide formulations. There are essentially two types of ambient drift: particle drift (off-target movement during application) and vapor drift (off-target movement when a pesticide evaporates from a sprayed surface). EPA does not fully regulate particle drift, and it altogether ignores vapor drift in its regulatory definition of drift. Vapor drift is known to travel much further than particle drift. In addition, the broader concept of chemical trespass encompasses other movement of pesticides, such as runoff, soil contamination, contamination of wild plants and animals, worker exposure, human body burden, and the global transport of pesticides in air and water. The experiences of the panelists from Arkansas, South Dakota, and Iowa tell the story that is repeated throughout the country in agricultural, rural, and residential areas and form the basis for strategies to transition away from a reliance on toxic pesticides.

Issues of water contamination intersect with ecosystem health, as well as issues of global change. Synthetic chemical pollution is not adequately studied even though it is an ongoing occurrence. According to Emma Rosi, PhD, “In the 1960s, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring sounded the alarm on the environmental dangers of synthetic chemicals. The problem hasn’t gone away, it’s only intensified, and we need to reawaken awareness. Synthetic chemicals are leading agents of global change and it’s essential that we invest in the research needed to understand and minimize their impacts.” The research on coral reefs is indicative of a systematic need to control chemical pollution at its source and more fully track biodiversity at multiple levels.

Ensuring scientific integrity and compliance with optimum environmental and public health protection is absolutely critical in facing the existential crises associated with chemical use and the resulting climate crisis and biodiversity destruction. In this context, targeting malfeasance and misdirection on the part of agencies responsible for protecting health and environment is essential. Key lawsuits and outcomes or projected outcomes send an important message and hammer for ensuring that regulators meet the challenges of the day and establish the standards necessary for future sustainability. Litigation results also help frame the limitations and deficiencies in law, driving the transformational reform agenda.

An op-ed in the New York Times asks, “What Happens if America’s 2.5 Million Farmworkers Get Sick?” Without those farmworkers, the year-round supply of fresh fruits and vegetables that we take for granted would be impossible. The supply chain of those vital foods starts with the workers who plant, cultivate, and harvest them. Sustainable agriculture must include "agricultural justice" as a key component. In the broadest sense of the words, agricultural justice is intended to ensure a workplace with fair wages and benefits, no discrimination or coercion, and protection from hazards, such as harmful chemicals, including pesticides, and safe housing and communities free of chemical trespass. Acknowledging, respecting, and sustaining the workers who plant, cultivate, and harvest the nation’s food is central to the basic values and principles that advance sustainable practices.

Note: Farmworker community representatives will also be speaking at this session.

Organic farming/gardening and soil are inextricably linked. The macro- and microorganisms in healthy soils interact in a symbiotic manner with plant roots, strengthening plants, enabling them to resist diseases and facilitating water and mineral uptake. The essence of organic production is maintaining and enhancing the organic matter content of soil by relying on environmentally beneficial methods such as green manure, crop rotation, and biological pest management. In his book, Discoveries in the Garden, James Nardi, PhD says we should value the “wisdom of the weeds”—not only for what we can learn from them, but also for their contributions, including protecting the soil from erosion; conserving nutrients; building soil structure, organic matter, and mineral content; supporting soil biology; sequestering carbon; and encouraging biodiversity. In addition, as the book suggests, observing weeds can teach us about plant strategies for growth, reproduction, and competition. Working with nature in land management is the key to the discussion and solution for moving forward.

This plenary features four presentations:

• Biodiversity and Scientific Integrity: A Vision for Agriculture—Jon Lundgren, PhD
• Benefiting from Nature on the Farm and in the Wider Landscape—Jo Ann Baumgartner
• Organic Landscape Management—Chip Osborne
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Food Production—Molly Rockamann

A holistic approach to agriculture is critical to sustainability. There are growing concerns about soil health in agricultural systems dependent on toxic chemicals that kill indiscriminately. For example, the newest generation of systemic insecticides, neonicotinoids, has brought scientific attention to their adverse impact on pollinators and predatory species that offer ecosystem services in a balanced ecosystem. Studies are showing declines in a range of insects beyond the target insects. A study, “Meta-analysis reveals that seed-applied neonicotinoids and pyrethroids have similar negative effects on abundance of arthropod natural enemies,” finds that plant seeds coated with insecticides, thought to be a way to reduce environmental contamination, adversely affect the health of insect predators as much as broadcast applications of insecticides. The urgency of the environmental and public health problems that the nation and world face, calls for a transformation in the current chemical-intensive approach to land management. What defines the necessary transformation? The changes that are critically needed require a higher level of public involvement, from purchasing to policy.

Pollinators are in unrelenting devastating decline. But it’s not just pollinators. Research has found dramatic drops in overall insect abundance, leading entomologists to speak of an “insect apocalypse.” Various studies have found reductions of up to a factor 60 over the past 40 years –there were 60 times as many insects in some locations in the 1970s. Research shows that insect abundance has declined more than 75% over the last 27 years. The dramatic drop in insect biomass has led to equally dramatic pronunciations from highly respected scientists and entomologists. “We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon,” says David Goulson, PhD of Sussex University. “If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse.” It is clear that dramatic changes are needed.

With communities across the country adopting organic landscape management practices and policies for lawns, playing fields, and parks, identifying practices and products that are compatible with the sustainable approach is a central concern for managers and residents. Organic systems nurture soil biology to support the natural cycling of nutrients, resulting in resilient turf systems and plants. Because the use of toxic materials undermines the organic system by harming soil life, identifying compatible products, for both control and fertility, is essential to the organic system. Serving as basis for case study discussion is the experience of Chip Osborne, Osborne Organics and the organic company, PJC Organic; the transition to organic at University of California Berkeley; Montgomery County, Maryland; and Dover, New Hampshire.

Hedgerows, a planted border or divider between managed or built land areas, in urbanized, rural, and agricultural environments, provide important habitat for all kinds of organisms, supporting ecosystem balance. This is one of many important tools in the face of habitat decline, given fence-row-to-fence-row cultivation practices in agriculture, manicured lawns and landscapes, urban sprawl, and the use of broad spectrum pesticides that threaten the diverse organisms that make up a healthy ecosystem. With severe loss in recent years of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and birds, natural and diverse hedgerows take on a new importance in nurturing and restoring populations in decline. Hedgerows alone will not counterbalance the widespread use of systemic pesticides that are poisoning food sources (pollen, nectar, guttation droplets, earthworms and insects) on which various pollinators depend as a clean food source, but they can be a critical tool in slowing pollinator decline and creating zones of protection until land managers (agricultural and nonagricultural) make the shift to sustainable practices that protect biodiversity. What other tools must be adopted to support the broadest definition of the local ecology and an equitable social system, including those in black and brown communities who may not have access to organic food and farming? As much as organic farms are places of biodiversity, they are also social organisms that must be inclusive and diverse, bringing together healthy food production, farm-based education, and community empowerment in a way that is uplifting to those who are disproportionately at risk to health threats. The panel will discuss what that looks like.

Natural land ecosystems are shifting dramatically due to climate change. Long-term data sets demonstrate that these changes are quite complex with each species reacting differently, while at the same time whole plant communities are shifting. As non-native plant species are introduced into this unpredictable situation, determining the best management approach and the trade-offs for different decisions is challenging. Herbicides are often the first option that land managers choose to protect native plant communities. But do herbicides work? What are the non-target impacts to native plants, soil health, insects, and other wildlife? What are the impacts to ecosystems and biodiversity? This workshop panel will discuss the scale of the challenges that land managers face, as well as current research and case studies to help determine which land management objectives are feasible now and into the future. 

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This plenary features the following presentations:

• Ensuring Meaningful Regulatory Review—Tristan Brandhorst, PhD
• Corporate Accountability for Social Change—Kim Richman
• Understanding and Tackling Chemical Industry Corruption—Carey Gillam
• Organic Land Management and 40 Years of Beyond Pesticides - Jay Feldman

The complexity of pesticide effects on cells, enzymes, and organ function in the body, and on organisms generally, are not understood to the extent that they should be—and must be if we are to rely on these chemicals. And yet, people in positions of authority push for pesticide use, sometimes because they simply defer to regulators, or believe that because a pesticide is on the market it must be safe, or have been trained to use the chemicals. Sometimes, lacking knowledge of the science, or lack of science, they feel that the pest control needs are more important than any potential harm, known or unknown, of the pesticide use. More robust national discussion is needed on the unknowns associated with chemical effects, whether independently or as mixtures in the environment, which should stimulate a raging national push for precautionary action in the face of incomplete information necessary to safety findings.

Better infrastructure is critically needed to support locally produced food that meets the principles and values embodied in regenerative organic practices. Without infrastructure to meet the existential public health and environmental crises on the horizon, many farmers and producers have been largely on their own when it comes to selling and distributing their produce. When individual farmers must manage the sales, aggregation, delivery, and invoicing for their products, they have much less time on their farm. This has been the topic of policy discussions and farm needs assessments for years, but there was never the political will or the resources dedicated to building out functioning food hubs. A sustainable food system depends on collaboration, farm support, and informed consumers. In some cases the COVID-19 crisis has helped to galvanize communities around the development of food hubs that meet the moment, but also envision food security and sovereignty into the future.

Local organizing is the engine of change, especially when transformational change is the only solution to problems that have been allowed to grow exponentially through existing practices and policies . The exciting adoption of community-based solutions to problems that cause and exacerbate adverse health effects, environmental contamination, and long-term degradation of ecosystems has been a bright light over the years, as federal and state policies accept levels of harm that are out of sync with community values. Communities are adopting models, based on the work of individual leaders and organizational advocates, that show the path forward for a sustainable future nurturing life, at the local, national, and international level. What are those examples of leadership and the challenges and successes that take on the threats to life and a sustainable future?

Local organizing is the engine of change, especially when transformational change is the only solution to problems that have been allowed to grow exponentially through existing practices and policies. The exciting adoption of community-based solutions to problems that cause and exacerbate adverse health effects, environmental contamination, and long-term degradation of ecosystems has been a bright light over the years, as federal and state policies establish levels of harm that are out of sync with community values. Communities are adopting models, based on the work of individual leaders and organizational advocates, that show the path forward for a sustainable future nurturing life, at the local, national, and international level. What are those examples of leadership and the challenges and successes that take on the threats to life and a sustainable future?