It’s a vicious cycle:

Birds and bats eat insects contaminated with pesticides. Pesticide poisoning kills birds and bats.

With fewer birds and bats consuming less insects, more insecticides are used to address the growing pest problem. The more insecticides are used, the more human babies are exposed, and infant mortality rises.

Congress could fix this, but instead it’s using the Farm Bill to deregulate pesticides and pay farmers to increase their use.

Infant Mortality Rises With Insecticide Use

A study that looked at bats, insecticide use, and infant mortality from 2006-2017 found that, after bat die-offs, on average, farmers increased insecticide use by 31.1 percent, and infant mortality rates increased by 7.9 percent—that’s an additional 1,334 infants.

Insecticides Kill Birds

A third of North America’s bird population—about 3 billion birds—has disappeared since 1970. From 1987 to 2021, half of all bird species diminished significantly, while one quarter are declining at an accelerated pace.

Birds are disappearing the fastest in agricultural regions, indicating that insecticides are to blame, and, in fact, insecticide residues in birds’ nests correlate with dead offspring and unhatched eggs.

Insecticides Kill Bats

More than half of bat species in North America are at risk of severe declines over the next 15 years. 

When bats eat pesticide-contaminated insects, the poisoning can reach toxic levels in their brains — making them more susceptible to the deadly fungal disease white-nose syndrome.

Less Birds and Bats Means More Insecticides

Birds reduce crop damage from insect pests, significantly increasing crop yield. Globally, birds consume 28 million tons of insects from agricultural landscapes each year.

Bats are even more important biological control agents. In addition to managing pest populations, bats are pollinators. In fact, they are the only nocturnal insect predator and one of just two nocturnal pollinators (alongside moths). Bat population declines are costing American farmers as much as $495 million each year.

TAKE ACTION: Congress Is Using the Farm Bill to Increase Pesticide Use. Tell Them to Do the Opposite!  

Find your county: This map documents the widespread extent of agricultural pesticide usage for 14 of the most harmful organophosphate pesticidesis.

By Toni Farmer, Civil Eats:

“On April 6, Toni Farmer launched a new series on her popular Instagram account, where she teaches gardening. Farmer, who also teaches a course on sustainable agriculture at the University of Pennsylvania, calls it ‘The Plan,’ with the subtitle ‘How we protect food access for our families and communities if this becomes a crisis.’

The ‘this,’ as Farmer explains in her brisk opening post, is an ominous amalgam of threats to our food supply: U.S. tariffs that have driven up food prices, climate change, and now, a war in Iran that is cutting off fertilizer for the farmers who grow our food.

Then, with the urgent but reassuring delivery of an EMT responder, she promises help: practical tips on growing food in the backyard and planning meals, but also insights into the dynamics of a food system under stress—and the inestimable value of bonding with your neighbors.”

Farmer says, “This is the time for community . . . How can we make sure everyone eats through this, and not just us?”

Carey Gillam, The Guardian:

“Vermont is the first US state to ban the weed-killing pesticide paraquat, backed by lawmakers who cited concerns about research showing the chemical substantially increases the risk of the incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson’s disease.

Early versions of the law pointed to multiple studies by the National Institutes of Health have demonstrated that paraquat exposure substantially increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease in those exposed to the herbicide. Lawmakers also noted that other NIH studies have linked paraquat to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and childhood leukemia.

‘There are so many factors that are pointing to the correlation … between paraquat use and Parkinson’s,’ Michelle Bos-Lun, a state representative, said in a 13 May House committee hearing about the bill. ‘We have to do something to phase this out. Our job is to support farmers and to support all Vermonters. My belief is that paraquat is causing harm to both.’”

Read how this is another step toward preventing this largely man-made disease and is long overdue for the U.S. to do the same.

Michelle Perro, MD, Substack:

“We have entered an era where ‘food’ is no longer grown, raised, or even traditionally manufactured. Instead, it is now being engineered in labs through synthetic biology that create novel proteins and fermentation byproducts never before consumed in human history.

And now, these products are being offered as substitutes for one of the most biologically important foods in childhood: milk.

Researchers performed detailed molecular analyses on a commercially available synthetic milk product created through precision fermentation. What they discovered raises alarming concerns not only about these products themselves, but about the regulatory collapse that allowed them onto the market with no independent scrutiny.

The synthetic milk product analyzed in the study contained 236 fungal proteins and 93 unidentified fungal metabolites. Researchers also found major differences in amino acid composition and nutrient profile when compared to bovine milk.”

Perhaps most strikingly, the product consisted largely of fungal proteins rather than the singular milk protein consumers are often led to believe they are purchasing.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Lawmakers To Ban Genetically Engineered Frankenfoods Made With Synthetic Biology (So-Called “Precision Fermentation”)!

by Shaun Griswold, Native News Online:

“The Indigenous Food Pyramid is an acrylic canvas painting from artist Joeseph Arnoux (Piikani/Sp’q’n’i), developed with the editorial staff at Cultivating Culture to present a view on the relationship between new federal nutritional policies and Indigenous Food Sovereignty practices.

The pyramid is a way to talk about reporting by journalists at Cultivating Culture that shows how tribal sovereignty and food are intertwined to resolve disjointed conflicts shaped by contradictions from generations of United States trust and treaty policies with Native Americans.

This includes journalism about returning salmon in Nez Perce, traditional food baskets in Zuni Pueblo, Wind River buffalo increasing student attendance, land management conflicts on hunting grounds for The Five Civilized Tribes, or how Native-owned restaurants increase capital for cultural presence in front of international audiences.”

The Indigenous Food Pyramid has 27 items that all have an impact on cultural and nutritional health that happen to line up with the federal standard, while standing apart through tribal self-determination and land practices.

If you read this week’s alert, you are aware of the fact that pesticides are moving through our water, through insects, through the animals that eat them, through the food we grow and the air we breathe.

The research connecting bat die-offs to increased insecticide use to rising infant mortality is one of those findings that is particularly heartbreaking. There are 1,334 additional infant deaths traced back to what happens when we lose the natural systems that kept pest populations in check. 

As bat populations collapse, farmers lose one of their most effective natural pest controls and reach for the sprayer to compensate. And as insecticide use goes up, so does infant mortality. 



And Congress can do something about it. This isn’t a situation where science hasn’t caught up with policy. The Farm Bill is audaciously moving in the wrong direction, pushing deregulation and subsidies that encourage more pesticide use, not less.


We need to be relentless, with your help, in demanding they actively support organic, regenerative practices and move away from these degenerative poisons wreaking havoc on our landscapes and health.

We’ve been at this fight for a long time, and many of you have been too. You know that turning this around doesn’t happen in one Farm Bill cycle. But it also doesn’t happen without sustained pressure, and a deep commitment to staying on top of these issues.

If this week’s alert moved you, please consider putting something behind it. Every dollar we raise goes toward making sure these issues don’t get buried. They touch everything: our health, our soil, our water, the creatures we share this planet with, and the children coming up behind us.

Thank you, as always, for staying in this with us.



Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Have you considered making a gift from your IRA?

The EU is quietly moving toward a major shift in how genetically modified foods are regulated, and most people have no idea it’s happening.

In this eye opening interview from GMWatch, Professor Michael Antoniou, an Emeritus Professor of Molecular Genetics and Toxicology at King’s College London, sits down to explain what the EU’s proposed New Genomic Techniques regulation actually means for the food on your plate.

A whole new category of GMO crops could soon enter the market without safety testing, without traceability, and without labels.



Professor Antoniou breaks down why the precision of tools like CRISPR is being oversold, how even a single genetic edit can set off a chain of unintended changes in a plant’s chemistry, and why once these organisms are released into the environment, there is no taking them back.

He also takes on the “we need GMOs to feed the world” argument, pointing out that global hunger is rooted in poverty and inequality, not a shortage of food.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Sec. Kennedy: GMOs Should Not Be GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe)!

by Martina Igini, Earth.org:

“16 Trump-appointed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials were paid more than $2.8 million by chemical companies and trade groups seeking an end to the federal disaster management system that protects the nation from chemical catastrophes.

An analysis of financial disclosures by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an ethics watchdog, revealed that 23 separate chemical companies paid EPA officials a total of $1,442,913 in salaries, bonuses, compensation for consulting and legal services and other payments before they joined the agency. Separately, eight chemical industry trade associations also paid EPA appointees a total of at least $1,431,638.

Two of these associations – the American Chemistry Council and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers – publicly supported the rollback of key safeguards against chemical emergencies and disasters.”

Both figures are likely a “dramatic undercourt,” CREW said, given that officials are not required to disclose exactly how much money they made from past clients.

The Proposed rules from the Trump administration would gut requirements for real world testing of AI medical software and strip away transparency tools that let clinicians understand how these systems actually make decisions. Hospitals and medical associations are sounding the alarm, but the rollbacks are moving forward anyway.

Clinicians on the ground are already seeing the cracks. AI note taking tools miss emotional tone, skip critical details, and generate errors that overworked doctors are now expected to catch. The technology isn’t ready, the oversight is being dismantled, and patients are the ones left exposed.

Whether it’s what’s in our food or what’s driving our healthcare, the pattern is the same: corporate convenience gets prioritized, accountability is being stripped away, and the public is left to deal with the consequences on their own.

Read this article by Darius Tahir for KFF Health News about growing concerns over proposals that would eliminate requirements for real world user testing of AI healthcare tools and strip away transparency standards that help doctors and nurses understand how these systems make decisions.

Manchán Magan, published by Chelsea Green:

“The Irish language has thirty-two words for field. Among them are: Geamhar – a field of corn-grass • Tuar – a field for cattle at night • Reidhlean – a field for games or dancing • Cathairin – a field with a fairy-dwelling in it.

The richness of the Irish language is closely tied to the natural landscape and offers a more magical way of seeing the world. 

Most people associate Britain and Ireland with the English language, a vast, sprawling linguistic tree with roots in Latin, French, and German. But the inhabitants of these islands originally spoke another tongue. Look closely enough and English contains traces of the Celtic soil from which it sprung, found in words like bog, loch, cairn, and crag. Today, this heritage can be found nowhere more powerfully than in modern-day Gaelic. 

In Thirty-Two Words for Field, Manchán explores how Gaelic, a three-thousand-year-old lexicon, has imbued the natural world with meaning and magic, evoking a time-honored way of life, from its thirty-two separate words for a field to terms like bróis (whiskey for a horseman at a wedding), iarmhaireacht (the loneliness you feel when you are the only person awake at dawn), and bladhmann (steam rising from a fermented haystack or idle boasting). ”

Thirty-Two Words for Field is an enthralling celebration of Irish words and a testament to the indelible relationship between landscape, culture, and language.

20 Homemade Cleaners That Cut Through Grime In Every Corner Of Your Home

Fish Can Pass PFAS Safety Limits One Chemical at a Time, but Cocktail Effects Reveal a Bigger Unseen Risk – New Study

Severe Global Food Crisis Could Come Within the Year, Says UN Agency

Why Early Medieval Ireland Had Laws for Bees

Vaping Drives Toxic Metals Into Lungs Within Days

Zeldin Says EPA Providing ‘Flexibility’ by Loosening Rules for Pollutants Used in Grocery Refrigeration

Kitchen Compost: Turning Trash into Treasure

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Conservation:Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Freeze and DOGE Cuts Limit Farmer Access to Popular Conservation Programs

Alcohol Is Wreaking Havoc on U.S. Public Health. American Society Looks the Other Way

In Decisive Ruling, Court Finds Government Failed to Protect More Than 1,500 Endangered Species From Toxic Pesticide Malathion

Ultra-Processed Foods Tied to Nearly Fourfold Asthma Risk in Children

National Elk Refuge CWD Discovery Calls for Talk of Reducing Nation’s Largest Herd

Even The ‘Safe’ Additives? Study Raises Concerns About Food Preservatives, Heart Health

Japan Is Gripped by Mass Allergies. A 1950s Project Is To Blame