At the end of book XXII of Homer's "Odyssey," we read that Odysseus fumigated his house with sulphur. This was sometimes in the 1200s BCE. More than three thousand years later, in the 1950s and 1960s, my father used sulphur to protect his grape vines from disease. Thus "pesticides" have a long history. But despite my vague knowledge of my father's rare use of sulphur in his small farm in Greece, I never thought about pesticides. They were things one used in emergencies. All this changed dramatically when I joined the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1979. My position was with the very organization that "regulates" pesticides in America, EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs. My colleagues made it easy for me to learn quickly. They explained what they did and gave me samples of their written work. Talking to my colleagues and reading their papers opened the secret world of pesticides to me. Many modern pesticides are chemicals from chlorine a...

The 32nd National Pesticide Forum, was held April 11-12, 2014 at the   University Place Hotel and Conference Center   at Portland State University. The conference was convened by Beyond Pesticides,  Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides  and  Portland State University's Institute for Sustainable Solutions . The Forum provided an opportunity for grassroots advocates, scientists, and policy makers to interact and strategize on solutions that are protective of health and the environment. Keynote presentations, workshops, and plenary panels focused on solutions to the decline of pollinators; strengthening organic agriculture; improving farmworker protection and agricultural justice; and creating healthy buildings, schools and homes.

A man is offering food to a donkey, which is unwilling to eat. In a way this symbolizes our world with considerable knowledge but unwilling to act to protect human health and the natural world. I hope "Poison Spring" acts as a catalyst to political and ethical action to save ourselves and our Mother Earth.

June 2014: Pomona College, Claremont, California Book Discussion Poison Spring | Video | C-SPAN.org  (1 hour, 5+ mins)

Timecode List 1:00 Kathleen Hallal shows Poison Spring with pink bookmarks 1:31 Dr. Ray Seidler intro 2:51 Kathleen Hallal - lots of note and stickies 3:58 E.G. Valliantatos - EPA not responsible, it is the political and economical forces in the country 4:53 It sounds strange but the EPA has to be redesigned 5:33 Kathleen - our political system is broken - revolving doors, lobbyists 5:16 Audio drop-out (cut 3 mins of video) 5:17 Dr. Ray Seidler - EPA GMO safety studies, neonicotinoids, where is the smoking gun...early history? 7:26 Evan - In 1974, EPA approved Penncap M http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees 9:39  Seidler - bringing us up to date - Congress allows industry to do their own testing 10:48 Evan - It is assumed that the people are honest, fake data, angry women, re-think EPA 12:32 Kathleen - If we don't have these chemicals, we can't farm at all 13:02 Evan - Onion Study (p. 231-233) Larger farms, more chemicals used 14:07 Obama coul...

  Basic Issues 1. GM technology for food has nothing to do with feeding the world; 2. GMOs extend the life (and profits) of pesticides; 3. The strategy of the owners of GM technologies is to control the world's food; 4. The EPA is no longer EPA: The nation's industry is funding Congress and the president and, in return, the White House and Congress have been influencing EPA to do the bidding of the industry. All this influence is sophisticated and unrecognizable by the public. Add to this science as a fig leaf, and the EPA seems to be EPA. "Poison Spring" decodes the industry-White house-Congress-EPA complex; 5. Eat organic food and be active: Moms across America must form a political party with the ideas of the "Poison Spring" as part of their agenda to ban GMOs and most pesticides.

 In the podcast, Mr. Vallianatos explains the depth of corruption that stems from the agency that is primarily controlled by the chemical industry and its political adversaries. Host: Carol Grieve' is a health and wellness coach, food educator, visionary, activist and artist. In her coaching practice she assists many in emotional and wellness related issues. Download Podcast on PC/Tablet/MP3 Player/Phone (22.1 meg)