On Thursday, April 30, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on whether to stand with pesticide victims or with Bayer-Monsanto, the company that poisoned them.

If Democrats vote to protect pesticide victims and Republicans support Bayer-Monsanto, as each party is expected to do, we lose.  But the Republican majority is slim at (218 to 215) and several are already breaking ranks.

Republican Representatives Eli Crane of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, Chip Roy of Texas, and Mike Kennedy of Utah are all supporting amendments that would remove some or all of the Farm Bill’s pesticide provisions.

Call the House Switchboard to be connected with your Member of Congress: (202) 224-3121.

Ask them to support Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)’s Amendment #301, which would strip all of the harmful pesticide provisions from the Farm Bill.

If you prefer to email, use the action link below. We’ll update the alert with news of the vote as soon as it happens.

If you’re reading this after Thursday, please check the alert to see if it’s not too late to take action. Sometimes scheduled votes get delayed.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Strike the Pesticide Deregulation Sections From the 2026 House Farm Bill!

Supreme Court Oral Arguments in Monsanto v. Durnell:

As the Washington Post reported, the justices seemed to lean toward blocking lawsuits brought by the tens of thousands of cancer patients that the chemical giant Monsanto failed to warn about the cancer risks of its Roundup weed killer.

No surprise, given that the most senior member of the Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, worked directly for Monsanto as in-house counsel from 1977-1979. Part of his job was keeping Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide registered after a 1976 scandal that the Food & Drug Administration called “the most massive scientific fraud ever committed.” The fraud involved IBT, the testing company Monsanto hired to evaluate the toxicity of glyphosate. IBT employees falsified data and Monsanto employees knowingly used the sham data in submissions to the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1983, three IBT executives, including individuals previously employed by Monsanto, were convicted of fraud.

Despite Thomas’s clear conflict of interest, the justices asked tough questions of both sides and the outcome is not yet certain.

One of the bright spots in the oral arguments was when Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned Monsanto’s lawyer. She raised Bates v. Dow, where the Supreme Court held:

“The long history of tort litigation against manufacturers of poisonous substances adds force to the basic presumption against pre-emption. If Congress had intended to deprive injured parties of a long available form of compensation, it surely would have expressed that intent more clearly. Moreover, this history emphasizes the importance of providing an incentive to manufacturers to use the utmost care in the business of distributing inherently dangerous items.”

Listen to the oral arguments in Monsanto v. Durnell

Read the transcript

University of Southern California – Health Sciences, Science Daily:

“Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains is widely recommended to improve health and reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases.

But new findings from USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC, suggest there may be an unexpected risk for a specific group. Research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research indicates that non-smoking Americans under age 50 who follow healthier diets could face a higher risk of developing lung cancer.

‘Our research shows that younger non-smokers who eat a higher quantity of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,’ said Jorge Nieva, MD, a medical oncologist and lung cancer specialist with USC Norris and lead investigator of the study.

Researchers believe the explanation may lie in environmental exposure, particularly pesticides used in agriculture. According to Nieva, commercially produced (non-organic) fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more likely to carry higher levels of pesticide residue compared to dairy, meat and many processed foods.”

The full study is here, and so is the question nobody in mainstream media seems to want to ask.

We started the Organic Consumers Association in 1998 because we could see what was coming. The chemical agriculture industry was making people sick and the government agencies that are supposed to protect us were in bed with the corporations doing the damage. Twenty seven years later a study out of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center—presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego just eleven days ago—finds that young, healthy, non-smoking Americans who eat more fruits and vegetables are getting lung cancer at higher rates than their peers. The researchers think pesticide residue on commercially grown produce is the reason.

This alarming news should be on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Instead, it is buried in science publications while the same industry that caused it runs ads about feeding the world and is simultaneously at the Supreme Court trying to make sure you can never sue them for the sickness and death they cause. What we are watching is the predictable result of allowing corporations to treat our farmland and our health as a chemistry experiment for decades while small farmers who wanted to do things differently were left without support, without resources, and without a level playing field. That has to change. Organic regenerative farming in this country needs real investment and real policy backing.

We have never told people the USDA Organic label is a perfect solution. It has been fought over, weakened and in some cases gamed by the same large agricultural interests that have always prioritized profit over people. But it still means something important. It still means no synthetic pesticides on your food and no synthetic fertilizers in the soil it is grown in. Think of it as the floor, not the ceiling. What we really need to be moving toward is organic regenerative, farming that not only avoids harmful chemicals but actively rebuilds soil health, restores ecosystems and produces food the way it was meant to be grown. If you are regularly buying conventional produce this study is a reason to make a change where you can. Better yet, find a farmer, coop or market you can trust, one who is farming organically and doing it honestly. Better still, grow some of it yourself. For our health and that of our families, we should be striving towards organic regeneratively grown food whenever possible.

We have been running campaigns on these issues for twenty seven years and we have the wins to show for it. But we cannot do it without you. If you are reading this newsletter, chances are you believe the food system needs to change and are tired of corporations writing the rules that are supposed to protect us. Your support helps make this work possible. Please consider donating to the Organic Consumers Association today. Every dollar goes toward the action alerts, advocacy, education and accountability work that does not happen unless we all fight for it.

Support OCA here

Ben Cornwell, New Food:

“Almost all climate pledges made by the world’s largest meat and dairy companies could amount to ‘greenwashing’, according to new research analyzing more than 1,200 sustainability claims across the sector.

The study, published on 22 April 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate, found that 98 percent of environmental claims from leading meat and dairy companies relied on misleading or unverifiable pledges rather than clear evidence of emissions reduction strategies.

Researchers analyzed 1,233 environmental claims from 33 of the world’s largest meat and dairy companies, taken from publicly available sustainability reports and corporate websites between 2021 and 2024. Using a greenwashing assessment framework, the study concluded that 1,213 claims could be categorized as greenwashing.”



Most environmental claims from major meat and dairy firms rely on vague targets, raising major concerns over transparency.

Headlines like the one above can make the whole food system feel hopeless. That frustration is valid. But there are many hard working, organic regenerative farmers and businesses making honest claims and you may have to dig a bit before you make up your mind.

This research rightly calls out the hollow climate pledges of Big Meat and Big Dairy, and we stand firmly behind that scrutiny. But there is a critical piece missing from this conversation, one that rarely gets named: the study makes no distinction between industrial animal agriculture and regenerative animal agriculture.

When done right, through rotational grazing, soil building practices, and truly closed loop systems, animal agriculture can be a genuine climate solution, not just a lesser harm. Healthy grasslands sequester carbon. Well managed herds restore degraded land. These are not greenwashed talking points. They are documented ecological realities.

The problem has never been the cow. It is the industrialized, extractive model that corporations like these hide behind glossy sustainability reports. Cows have been part of healthy land systems for thousands of years. We are arguing against the industrial machine that has replaced farming with factory production and degenerative practices. 

We believe the path forward is not erasing animals from our food system. It is holding industrial producers accountable while scaling up the regenerative model that actually delivers results.

And that standard is just being rolled out. Regeneration International, and sister organization, Organic Consumers Association, have developed a new global regenerative certification spearheaded by our own International Director, Dr. André Leu. It is grounded in science and designed to be user-friendly for farmers and landholders. This is the kind of accountability the food system has needed for a long time, and we are proud to be pushing it forward.

Follow our work here and read The Regenerative Agriculture Solution by Ronnie Cummins and André Leu.

When it comes to finding food you can actually trust right now, two certifications stand out for their integrity:

The American Grassfed Association, sets rigorous standards for how animals are raised and how land is managed, and the Real Organic Project exists specifically to support farmers who are doing right and distinguish genuine organic farming from the industrial operations that have quietly taken over that label.

If you want the full picture on what is in your food and who is producing it honestly:

The Cornucopia Institute’s Scorecards are worth bookmarking. They cover not just meat and dairy but many of the foods central to your health and daily life, with research grounded in science and a genuine commitment to honest organic labeling and production standards.

The Organic Consumers Association stands behind the work of all these groups wholeheartedly and we encourage you to use these resources the next time you are deciding where to put your food dollars.

Check out our Regenerative Farm Map to find a farm near you!

Li-elle Rapaport, The Conversation:

“Amid a rapid, AI-driven technology boom and all the changes it’s entailed, mental health issues due to social isolation have been on the rise. Researchers in social and clinical psychology have documented this shift and coined it the ‘loneliness epidemic.’

Human connection is imperative to psychological well-being but the world is increasingly disconnected. With technology streamlining our lives, many report growing levels of depression, anxiety and existential dread brought on by the physical and emotional distance it creates between us.

And so psychologists have begun asking: ‘How do we stay connected to the here and now, and to each other?’

One facet of self-compassion theory — a concept developed by psychologist Kristin Neff that dictates treating ourselves with the same care and understanding as we would our friends — may hold the answer.”

“Common humanity” promotes the recognition that we are, in fact, not alone since all humans share the same fundamental experiences, emotions and struggles.

by Stacey Leasca, Food & Wine:

“‘Food is Medicine programs are already improving the health of communities around America,’ Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, said. ‘Now, we are starting to understand how nutritious, locally sourced food can also drive economic growth.’

The report, conducted by Dalberg Advisors between September 2025 and January 2026, clearly shows that the economic benefits are strongest when the investment dollars in FIM programs remain local, meaning they go to community farms and purveyors, as well as regional distributors, rather than large national suppliers. This way, the money fuels new jobs in various areas, from farming and meal preparation to delivering these meals to patients.

Connecting local farmers with institutions like hospitals, schools, and food banks can help expand access to a variety of nutrient-dense foods while supporting new economic and domestic market opportunities for farmers and producers.”

These programs improve health outcomes and could cut $32.1 billion in healthcare costs while preventing millions of hospitalizations each year.

The USDA just signed a $300 million deal with Palantir Technologies to consolidate every participating farmer’s data into a single system, land holdings, conservation practices, insurance claims and financial records, all in one place, all managed by one of the most controversial data companies in the country. The pitch sounds reasonable enough: less paperwork, faster payments, fewer trips to the county office. But the Union of Concerned Scientists is asking the question nobody in the administration seems to want to answer. Who actually benefits when a company with deep ties to ICE, the Pentagon and the IRS gets handed the keys to America’s agricultural data?

Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel and has built its reputation on surveillance infrastructure for the federal government. The efficiency argument is real but it is not the whole story. Farmers have historically been fiercely protective of their operational data, and for good reason. Once that information lives in a unified database run by a company with this track record, the question of how it gets used, and by whom, is no longer a hypothetical.

The Union of Concerned Scientists piece by Karen Perry Stillerman is one of the more clear eyed takes we have seen on this and it is worth reading before the conversation moves on.

Neuroscience News, Monash University:

“A new international study identified a direct link between the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and a measurable decline in the brain’s ability to focus.

Key Facts:

* The 10% Threshold: For every 10% increase in daily energy from UPFs, researchers observed a distinct drop in visual attention. A 10% increase is roughly equivalent to adding one standard bag of chips or a soft drink to a daily routine.

* The Mediterranean Myth: Surprisingly, the negative effects of UPFs occurred even in individuals who otherwise followed a ‘healthy’ Mediterranean diet. This suggests the processing of the food itself is as damaging as the lack of nutrients.

* Attention as a Foundation: While the study did not find a direct link to immediate memory loss, it highlighted that attention is the prerequisite for learning and problem-solving. Eroding this foundation increases long-term dementia risk.

* Structural Destruction: Ultra-processing often destroys the natural cellular structure of food and introduces artificial additives and industrial chemicals that may trigger cognitive decline through mechanisms like neuroinflammation.”

If you have ever noticed yourself struggling to focus, this research may explain more than you expect.

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