Pollinators And Power Terry Oxford / UrbanBeeSF

Today I am talking with Carey Gillam, author and an investigative
journalist for 25 years both with Reuters and The Guardian. She is also the
researcher director for US Right to Know, the most effective non-profit
research organization exposing how corporate funding of Public agricultural
Universities like UC Davis and Uni of Florida corrupt the research about
the danger of agro chemicals.

Her research of industrial agricultural practices and the chemicals it
requires has taken her throughout rural America. She has spent time with
row crop farmers, ranchers, vegetable growers and orchard operators from
the Dakotas to Texas, and from California to the Southeast. She has been
welcomed inside the high-tech laboratories, greenhouses and corporate
offices of some of the largest U.S. agribusinesses. And she has spent
countless hours interviewing key U.S. regulators, academics, lawmakers, and
scientists. With years of this behind-the-scenes reporting, Gillam has
developed deep insight into the risks and rewards of the modern-day food
system, and hopes to share that knowledge with others who care about the
food they eat and feed to their families.

Carey has just finished her second book, The Monsanto Papers; Deadly
Secrets, Corporate Corruption and One Mans Search for Justice. To Quote a
Barnes and Noble review, “With enough money and influence, could a company
endanger its customers, hide evidence, manipulate regulators, and get away
with it all—for decades?”

Henk Tennekes, Author of The Systemic Pesticides, A disaster in the Making
was a Dutch Toxicologist who researched neonicotinoids, the most used agro
chemicals on the planet. Henk wrote his book when he saw that these poisons
would break the food chain at it's most critical link, the
insect/invertebrate life system of the planet.

Bayer and Academia at Wageningen University (EU equivalent to UC Davis
University), who portray themselves as leaders in pollinator health, both
blacklisted him and worked to destroy his career. They put a shot across
the bow to those who would blow the whistle and expose the cozy
relationship of Honeybee Academia and the chemical industry.


Henk’s accent was difficult to understand, so I asked Tom Theobald, friend
of Henk and activist beekeeper from Colorado, to stand in and read as Henk
from the transcript. If you'd like the original interview of Henk please
email me for a copy. Marc Pieterse, a Dutch admirer of Henk's work, took
the time to translate Henk's interview into a transcript. Thank you Marc
and Tom for all your help. And thank you Henk for seeing the future and
warning us, even if you paid dearly for it.

Amigo Bob Cantisano who passed away December 26, 2020, was and remains a
mountain of influence on the Organic Farming world, both in California and
worldwide. He was one of the founders of the organic movement in the early
70's and made his life’s work about chemical free soil and farming. See the
LA Times Obituary to get the full history of this remarkable man. The loss
of Amigo is huge. I'm so glad he gave me the time he did and as we touched
on very difficult topics for this podcast.

This interview with Amigo was about Robert Van De Bosch who was killed for
writing 'The Pesticide Conspiracy' in 1978 by the ‘Pesticide Mafia’ as he
coined them. This is relevant information for today because Van was a
highly respected and influential entomologist who'd had enough of the games
University of California was playing with agriculture in allowing the
pesticide industry carte blanche in our food system. To understand where we
are, we have to look at the past. Van paid the price for speaking out and
his pivotal book stands alone as a siren call to the dangers of allowing
chemical interests to control our food and farming.

Graham White of the UK was an incredibly intelligent and outspoken soldier for pollinators and nature. He was the most well-researched, well read and well rounded honeybee advocate who knew everything about the chemical industry's control of our food system.

Jeff Anderson, owner of California Minnesota Honey Farms is a long time migratory beekeeper with thousands of hives and a front line activist fighting the powerful pesticide interests in our regulatory agencies, the EPA, USDA, BIP and powerful Ag Public Universities.

Sainath Suryanarayanan is the co-author of 'Vanishing Bees' by Rutgers University Press, Vanishing Bees is a clear eyed and rock solid assessment of how public agriculture universities, many entomology departs and beekeeper leaders work hand in glove to protect pesticide industry interests in our agriculture.