A Closer Look Into Who Advocates for Common Pesticide Use

It should go without saying that when I finally posted about "Stop the Spray" in our town's Facebook group, I received some amount of pushback.

This user manages to accomplish a trifecta of condescension, presumption, and a lack of research. Without looking into how "Stop the Spray" started, he mentions the testing processes that pesticide products undergo before entering the market. He diminishes human health as a simple "drawback" to the use of these pesticides, as if this was a fair tradeoff for an attempt at eradicating invasives and managing foliage on public roadways -- a flawed Utilitarian approach at best.

It only took one accidental glance for me to realize that this individual has a history of working in farm sales and currently works for the Farm Bureau Federation, a lobbying group based out of Washington D.C.

It makes perfect sense that his agenda would include maximizing corporate profit over human health. Without any anonymity, regret, or embarrassment, he comments on a "Stop the Spray" post in an attempt to sway opinions toward accepting commonplace pesticide use, when his agenda is shockingly obvious. This man makes money by at least partially advocating for harmful environmental practices such as spraying pesticides on our food and public roadways.

I can't comment on this user's education level, however he certainly assumes mine when he comments about how I need to research into pesticides.

Much of my reading and writing in University was about pesticide use in monocultures across our country. Ever since then, my passion for the topic has only deepened, considering the personal toll that pesticide use takes on my health. I have continued to research this topic, especially after establishing my landscape business in 2018, where it became imperative for me to persuade my clients against spraying, since that would make it impossible for me to work in their landscapes.

The importance of my research into pesticides only increased when I discovered that others in the county experience the same illness that I do, which requires showering to remove the toxins.

I am happy for this user. I am jealous of this user. He does not need to care about the human health consequences of pesticide products because clearly -- as far as he knows -- his health remains unaffected by them thus far. That in itself is a privilege he does not realize that he possesses -- the "crown" he wears that he cannot see.

There will always be opposition to our "Stop the Spray" movement. It is vital that we identify the agendas of those who do.