(Beyond Pesticides, April 8, 2009) The Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) and Beyond Pesticides are asking that you take action to help secure everyone’s right to know about “secret” hazardous ingredients found in commonly used farm and household pesticide products. Please e-mail Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson at [email protected], no later than May 1, urging EPA to respond to NCAP’s petition and mandate that pesticide manufacturers list hazardous “inert” ingredients on pesticide labels. “Inert” refers to ingredients in a pesticide formulation that have been added to the active ingredient to serve a variety of functions, such as acting as solvents, surfactants, or preservatives. However, the common misconception is that “inert” ingredients are physically, chemically, or biologically inactive substances. EPA allows pesticide manufacturers to put harmful chemicals into pesticide products without telling the public — chemicals linked with cancer, genetic damage, and reduced fertility, despite admitting the policy is misleading. EPA has stated that “many consumers have a misleading impression of the term ”˜inert ingredient,’ believing it to mean water or other harmless ingredients.” A December 2006 commentary in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ journal Environmental Health Perspectives calls for improvements in pesticide regulation and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 2, 2009) Last summer, when a pesticide tank exploded at a Bayer chemical plant in West Virginia, comparisons between the site’s potential risk and the 1984 Bhopal disaster, in which an explosion and leak at the Bayer site’s sister plant killed thousands, were drawn. The investigation into the West Virginia incident is ongoing, but recent reports show that Bayer is using every means to prevent full disclosure of the potential for a similar disaster to occur in the United States. Like Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant, Bayer stores stockpiles of the highly toxic chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC) in Institute, West Virginia. The U.S. plant has the capacity to store more than twice the amount of MIC that was leaked in Bhopal. The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, a nonregulatory agency, is conducting an investigation into the cause of last year’s explosion, emergency response coordination, and future prevention measures. However, Bayer has invoked the 2002 federal Maritime Transportation Security Act because its campus is attached to a dock on the Kanawha River, claiming the Act exempts it from sharing “sensitive security information” due to potential terrorism. The board has already canceled one public meeting on the investigation, the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 1, 2009) A study published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Paediatrica reports that the highest rates of birth defects for U.S. babies arise when conception occurs during the spring and summer months, when pesticide use increases and high concentrations of pesticides are found in surface waters. The study entitled, “Agrichemicals in surface water and birth defects in the United States” is the first study to link increased seasonal concentration of pesticides in surface water with the peak in birth defects in infants conceived in the same months. Researchers analyzed all 30.1 million births in the U.S. between 1996 and 2002. A strong association between higher rates of birth defects among women whose last menstrual period was in April, May, June or July and elevated levels of nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in surface water during those same months was found. The correlation between the month of last menstrual period and higher rates of birth defects is statistically significant for half of the 22 categories of birth defects reported in the Centers for Disease Control database from 1996 to 2002, including spina bifida, cleft lip, clubfoot and Down’s syndrome. “Elevated concentrations of pesticides […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 25, 2009) Canadian researchers have discovered a new class of fungicides that can bolster a plant’s natural defenses against fungal attack. Unlike conventional fungicides, researchers say these new anti fungal agents, called paldoxins and based on natural plant chemicals, may prove to be safer, more selective and less likely to fall victim to pests becoming resistant. In a report presented at the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society on March 23 in Salt Lake City, Utah, researchers at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, describe their development of six synthetic versions of the new anti-fungal agent, which works to block fungal enzymes that overwhelm plants’ natural defenses. Plant chemicals, called phytoalexins, are responsible for the defense mechanism exhibited by many plants to kill disease-causing fungi. However, many fungi release enzymes that detoxify, or destroy the phytoalexin, leaving the plant vulnerable to the fungi’s attack. The researchers took advantage of this counterattack strategy by developing anti-fungal agents to block the fungi’s destruction of phytoalexins. Paldoxins are short for phytoalexin detoxification inhibitors. Lead researcher, Soledade Pedras, PhD, and her colleagues discovered these agents after screening broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens and other plants in the so-called “crucifer family” of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 24, 2009) With the 27th National Pesticide Forum, Bridge to an Organic Future: Opportunities for health and the environment, less than two weeks away, the final program has been set and is available online (in both English and Spanish). This national conference will be held April 3-4, 2009 at the Century Center in Carrboro, NC. Simultaneous Spanish translation will be available. The Forum will begin with an optional tour of Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro, NC on Friday afternoon at 1:00pm. Piedmont Biofuels is a cooperative that runs a research farm and sustainable biodiesel production facility, manufacturing local fuel out of waste vegetable oil. Read more about the facility in an article about Piedmont’s Ecoindustrial Park. The tour is limited to 40 people. To attend the tour, please RSVP to [email protected] to reserve a seat on the bus. This year’s conference will feature a special appearance by the Paperhand Puppet Intervention. Giant insect puppets from their “I am an Insect” production will pay Forum participants a visit Friday night. Keynote speakers at this year’s conference include: Jim Hightower, national radio commentator and author of Swim Against the Current: Even a dead fish can go with the flow; Baldemar […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 19, 2009) Researchers investigating the long-term immune effects of dioxin have found that exposure to dioxin during development or while nursing diminishes the capacity to fight infection later in life. The study, published in Toxicological Sciences, reported that mouse pups born to pregnant mice that were exposed to a small amount of dioxins had fewer white blood cells that normally kill the flu virus and more of a different kind that increases lung inflammation. The study entitled, “The aryl hydrocarbon receptor affects distinct tissue compartments during ontogeny of the immune system,” aimed to identify the critical windows of exposure where fetuses are most sensitive to dioxin’s harmful effects. Pregnant mice were given a dose of 1,000 ppt dioxin either during pregnancy, lactation, or throughout pregnancy and lactation. After dosing, mothers and pups were kept dioxin-free. Researchers then infected mothers and pups with a non-lethal dose of the influenza virus. Researchers found that the number of specialized white blood cells – referred to as CD8+ T-cells that specifically recognize and kill the flu virus, were significantly reduced in the pups but not their mothers. The most severe reduction in these white blood cells was seen when dioxin was […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 16, 2009) Exposure to a mixture of the fungicide maneb and the herbicide paraquat significantly increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a new University of California, Berkeley study, “Parkinson’s Disease and Residential Exposure to Maneb and Paraquat from Agricultural Applications in the Central Valley of California.” Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study findings show that exposure to both pesticides within 500 meters of an individual’s home increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s by 75 percent. For individuals 60 years of age or younger at the time of diagnosis, there is a more than four-fold increase in risk of the disease when exposed to a combination of maneb and paraquat and a more than doubling of risk when exposed to either maneb or paraquat alone. The Berkeley researchers used geographic information systems that analyzed data from California Pesticide Use Reports and land-use maps to calculate historical residential exposure to agricultural exposure to the two pesticides. From 1998 to 2007, the researchers enrolled 368 incident Parkinson’s disease cases and 341 population controls from California’s Central Valley and developed potential exposure estimates incurred between 1974 and 1999. Also published this month by some of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 13, 2009) National Women’s History Month (March 2009) features a new film honoring Rachel Carson, the woman who launched the modern environmental movement. The film, A Sense of Wonder, will be screened nationwide to celebrate today’s women leaders who are saving the planet. Beyond Pesticides believes that the film, which is available on DVD, is a great tool for community organizers. March activities include three major city celebrations and film premieres: Washington, DC: Wednesday, March 18, 7:00pm at the National Portrait Gallery. Co-sponsored by the Environmental Film Festival. (8th & F Streets NW, Washington, D.C., 20001) Los Angeles: Thursday, March 19, 7:30pm at the Laemmle Music Hall Theater. (9036 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, Calif., 90211) New York City: Friday, March 27, 7:30pm at Anthology Film Archives Theater. (32 2nd Avenue at 2nd Street, New York, New York, 10003 Each screening is free and open to the public. This year’s National Women’s History Month will honor Rachel Carson, the pioneer of the modern environmental movement. Carson’s bestseller Silent Spring led to the banning of the chemical DDT, the creation of the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency, and the birth of the organic food movement. Al […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 5, 2009) A new study published in the March 2009 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives finds that pesticide combinations cause more harm to endangered salmon than ndividual pesticide exposure. This means that single-pesticide risk assessments required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inadequately assess hazards. Mixtures of organophosphate and carbamate pesticides are commonly detected in freshwater habitats that support threatened and endangered species of Pacific salmon. According to the researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and Washington State University, these pesticides inhibit the activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and thus have potential to interfere with behaviors that may be essential for salmon survival. The researchers measured brain AChE inhibition in juvenile coho salmon exposed to sublethal concentrations of the organophosphates diazinon, malathion, and chlorpyrifos, as well as the carbamates carbaryl and carbofuran. The pesticides were tested individually and in combination. They plotted AChE levels on a curve to determine whether the toxicologic responses to binary mixtures were additive, antagonistic (lesser than additive) effect, or synergistic (greater than additive). The authors observed addition and synergism, with a greater degree of synergism at higher exposure concentrations. Several combinations of organophosphates were lethal at concentrations that were […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 4, 2009) The Ontario government is set to announce sweeping new regulations that will prohibit the use of 85 chemical substances, found in roughly 250 lawn and garden products, from use on neighborhood lawns. Once approved, products containing these chemicals would be barred from sale and use for cosmetic purposes. On November 7, 2008, the Ontario government released a proposed new regulation containing the specifics of the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, passed last June. Then, Ontario joined Quebec in restricting the sale and cosmetic use of pesticides but environmental and public health advocates said then that the new law preempted local by-laws and actually weakens protections in some municipalities with stronger local protections. There are over 55 municipalities in Canada where the residential use, but not sale, of pesticides is banned. The prohibition of these 85 substances is the latest step in this Act. The proposal contains: ”¢ List of pesticides (ingredients in pesticide products) to be banned for cosmetic use ”¢ List of pesticide products to be banned for sale ”¢ List of domestic pesticide products to be restricted for sale. Restricted sale products include those with cosmetic and non-cosmetic uses (i.e., a product that’s allowed […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 3, 2009) National radio commentator, writer and author Jim Hightower will be speaking at the 27th National Pesticide Forum, Bridge to an Organic Future: Opportunities for health and the environment, April 3-4, 2009 in Carrboro, NC. Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Mr. Hightower believes that the true political spectrum is not right to left but top to bottom, and he has become a leading national voice for the 80 percent of the public who no longer find themselves within shouting distance of the Washington and Wall Street powers at the top. His talk at the Forum is called, “Putting ‘Progress’ Back In Progressive: The route to social justice, fair food and a sustainable environment.” In his latest book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, America’s most irascible and hilarious curmudgeon turns a kind and benevolent eye toward brave, hardy, and hardworking souls around the country who have found ways to break free from corporate tentacles; redefine success in business, politics, and life in general; and blaze new pathways toward a richer and happier way of life, from the farmers’ cooperative that said “NO!” to Wal-Mart and thrived to the economists […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 2, 2009) Pesticide exposure and genetic variability in the dopamine transporter (DAT), a protein that plays a central role in dopaminergic neurotransmission of the brain, interact to significantly increase the risk factor for Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers. The population based case-control study, “Dopamine Transporter Genetic Variants and Pesticides in Parkinson’s Disease,” builds on the existing body of evidence of animal data and epidemiological studies that link exposure to pesticides, including gene-pesticide interactions, to Parkinson’s disease. The UCLA researchers, looking at incident Parkinson’s disease cases in three rural counties in Central California, find DAT increases the risk of Parkinson’s when individuals have occupational or residential exposure to pesticides. This is the first epidemiologic study of Parkinson’s disease that relies on pesticide data that is from a record-based source versus recall-based data relying on individuals’ memory. The second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting more than one million people in the U.S., Parkinson’s disease occurs when nerve cells in the substantia nigra region of the brain are damaged or destroyed and can no longer produce dopamine, a nerve-signaling molecule that helps control muscle movement. The new UCLA study is […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 25, 2009) After three years of legal battle, the North Carolina Pesticide Board on February 19, 2009 fined Florida-based Ag-Mart Produce Inc. a substantially lower fine of $3,000 than the originally proposed $185,000, after deciding that it can only prove six of about 200 worker safety accusations that had been levied against the company. This comes less than a month after the unprecedented ruling against Ag-Mart in New Jersey, where the company was ordered to pay penalties of more than $931,000 for misusing pesticides and jeopardizing the health and safety of workers in its New Jersey farm fields and packing houses. The Florida-based company, described as one of the biggest pesticide offenders, has been accused of routinely exposing hundreds of workers to toxic chemicals. Investigators in North Carolina, Florida and New Jersey, the three states where the international company grows its tomatoes, scrutinized the company’s records and charged it with ignoring laws intended to keep workers safe from toxic pesticide residue. The investigators alleged workers were sent into the fields too soon after dangerous chemicals had been sprayed. The case started three years ago when some workers gave birth to babies with severe birth defects. One mother […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 24, 2009) NIEHS staff scientist Freya Kamel, Ph.D., Harvard School of Public Health professor Chensheng (Alex) Lu, Ph.D., and Wake Forest University’s Center for Worker Health director Thomas Arcury, Ph.D. will speak as Science and Health panelists at Bridge to an Organic Future: Opportunities for health and the environment, the 27th National Pesticide Forum, April 3-4 in Carrboro, NC. Freya Kamel, Ph.D. Freya Kamel’s research interests focus on environmental determinants of neurologic dysfunction and disease, in particular, neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Kamel and her colleagues at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined the relationship of farm work-related exposures to subclinical neurobehavioral deficits in farmworkers. Deficits in neurobehavioral performance reflecting cognitive and psychomotor function related to the duration of work experience were seen in former as well as current farmworkers, and decreased performance was related to chronic exposure even in the absence of a history of pesticide poisoning. Thus, long-term experience of farm work is associated with measurable deficits in cognitive and psychomotor function. Dr. Kamel participated in work on the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a large cohort study of licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses in Iowa and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 23, 2009) Permethrin and lindane metabolites are found in children who use lice shampoos containing the insecticides, according to researchers affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, “Pesticide exposure resulting from treatment of lice infestations in school-aged children in Georgia,” published in the February issue of the journal Environment International, is the first to measure children’s exposure to chemical lice treatments. The researchers collected baseline urine samples from 78 enrolled children between the ages of six to ten years of age. About one-third of those children were diagnosed with head lice and subsequently treated with at least one over-the-counter permethrin lice treatment, a prescription lindane treatment, or both. Within seven days of the insecticide application, urine samples were again collected. The permethrin exposed children had significantly higher urinary pryrethoid metabolite levels in their post-exposure urine samples. Lindane metabolites were also elevated in urine samples after treatment. Interestingly, the study states, “Exposed participants appeared to have higher pre-exposure metabolite levels — likely from multiple treatments before enrollment — than unexposed participants.” Pentachlorophenol, a metabolite of lindane, was significantly higher in the urine of those children who used a lice treatment regardless of whether it […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 19, 2009) The Endocrine Exchange (TEDX) has released a new database on the prenatal origins of endocrine disruption, called Critical Windows of Development. It compares human development in the womb with laboratory research showing where and when low-dose exposures to chemicals have effects. The timeline currently charts three chemicals: dioxin, bisphenol A (BPA), and phthalates. TEDX plans to expand the database to include PCBs, PBDEs, DDT, and other endocrine-disrupting pesticides. Examples of conclusions from the prenatal exposure research include: BPA affects development of the male and female reproductive systems, increases susceptibility to breast cancer and alters behavior in adult animals; Phthalates decrease sperm production and increase body weight; and, dioxin affects male reproduction and the immune system. Before a baby is born it is exposed to a myriad of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs interfere with the delicate system of vital hormones, glands and organs that control how a baby develops and functions throughout life. EDCs such as BPA, dioxin and phthalates can penetrate the womb and cause adverse effects at extremely low exposure levels. These chemicals are found in water bottles, food cans, dental resins, cleaning products, cosmetics, fragrances, packaging and construction material, cars, planes, recreational […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 18, 2009) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting through February 23, 2009 public comments on a petition to cancel all registrations for the herbicide 2,4-D and to revoke all of its tolerances. The petition was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in November and published by EPA on December 24, 2008. As the most commonly used “home and garden” chemical, millions of U.S. households especially vulnerable children and pets, are exposed to this toxic chemical. Beyond Pesticides fully supports the cancellation of this dangerous pesticide which has been associated with a host of adverse human impacts, such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, endocrine disruption, reproductive and developmental effects, as well as water contamination and toxicity to aquatic organisms. The highly toxic chemical can be replaced by cost-competitive and effective management practices widely used in organic agriculture and lawn care. As long as 2,4-D remains on the market, the public will continue to be exposed to, and suffer the effects of this chemical whose health impacts have long been ignored by EPA. Public health and environmental advocates believe it is time that EPA put science and the health of the public and the environment first and ban […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 17, 2009) A U.S. District Court Judge has denied a request for remediation in resolving an on-going lawsuit between the victims of the worst industrial disaster in human history in Bhopal, India and Union Carbide, the company responsible for the disaster, according to Reuters, after Union Carbide objected to the victims’ request for remediation. Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide in 2001 and with it, its liabilities for the chemical plant disaster involving the production of methyl isocyanate (MIC), used as an intermediate in the production of the insecticide carbaryl (Sevin). Yet Dow Chemical has refused to clean up the site, provide safe drinking water, compensate the victims, or disclose chemical information to physicians; claiming that the Indian government is responsible for the environmental cleanup. In 1984, Union Carbide was responsible for the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, India. Forty tons of deadly gas was released. Seven thousand people died in the next few days and 15,000 have died since from illnesses related to the accident. Over 100,000 victims still suffer from illnesses because of this event. In a 1989 settlement, Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to victims. However, $330 million still has not been paid […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 12, 2009) Genetically modified (GM) crops are benefiting biotech food giants instead of the world’s hungry population, which is projected to increase to 1.2 billion by the year 2025 due to the global food crisis, according to a report released yesterday by the Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth International. The report, “Who Benefits From GM Crops: Feeding the Biotech Giants Not the World’s Poor,” explains how biotech firms like Monsanto are exploiting the dramatic rise in world grain prices that are responsible for the global food crisis by sharply increasing the prices of GM seeds and chemicals they sell to farmers, even as hundreds of millions go hungry. The findings of the report support a comprehensive United Nations’ assessment of world agriculture in the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which in 2008 concluded that GM crops have little potential to alleviate poverty and hunger in the world. IAASTD experts recommended instead low-cost, low-input agroecological farming methods. “U.S. farmers are facing dramatic increases in the price of GM seeds and the chemicals used with them,” said Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the US-based Center for Food Safety […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 11, 2009) Connecticut lawmakers are taking an interest in the much debated cause of a massive die-off of lobsters that has all but wiped out the state’s 40 million dollar industry, according to the Easton Courier. Fishermen and environmentalists blame the use of the insecticide malathion, a hazardous organophosphate, currently used in community mosquito eradication programs, however the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) argues that there is not enough scientific data to lead to the banning of the chemical. The huge die-off of lobsters began in 1999, days after towns in Fairfield County, Westchester County and Long Island, as well as New York City, sprayed malathion to kill mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. Also at that time, remnants of hurricane Floyd drenched the state and washed the pesticide into Long Island Sound. The DEP, however, says the storm caused many other factors that led to the mass die-off. However, the lobster population has yet to recover. State lawmakers find DEP’s position on malathion puzzling. Rep. Richard Roy (D-Milford), chair of the House Environment Committee, and Senate Assistant Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwal) are questioning DEP about its efforts to restore the state’s lobster industry while […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 9, 2009) Baldemar Velásquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), AFL-CIO, will be speaking at Bridge to an Organic Future, the 27th National Pesticide Forum, April 3-4, 2009 in Carrboro, NC. FLOC, founded by Mr. Velásquez in 1967, is both a social movement and a labor union focusing on migrant workers in the agricultural industry. The FLOC vision emphasizes human rights as the standard and self-determination as the process. The union struggles for full justice for those who have been marginalized and exploited for the benefit of others, and has sought to change the structures of society to enable these people a direct voice in their own conditions. FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez was raised as a migrant farmworker. Since his childhood, he has worked in the fields and orchards of many states from Texas to the Midwest. He suffered the oppression and discrimination of migrant workers, and watched his parents humiliated many times from the injustices they experienced trying to support their family. Finally, after one incident when his father was cheated out of promised wages in front of the family, Baldemar began organizing migrant workers to stand up for their rights. Following the model […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 9, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently soliciting comments on Monsanto’s second application to extend its experimental use permit for soybeans genetically engineered (GE) with the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This will be the new administration’s first test on how it handles the issues surrounding GE crops. Among a number of concerns regarding GE crops, crops engineered to contain Bt threaten the long-term efficacy of Bt, which is an approved insecticide in organic farming. Monsanto’s permit on these GE soybeans was first granted by EPA in September 2007 and then extended in April 2008. Under the permit, plantings are permitted through July 31, 2009. Monsanto is requesting to extend the experimental program until December 31, 2010 and amend it by conducting tests with up to 0.466 pounds of Bt Cry1Ac protein in soybeans on 1,362 acres, according to the February 4th Federal Register notice. The testing trials will take place in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Virginia. Following the review of the application and any comments and data received in response to this solicitation, EPA will decide whether to issue or deny the EUP request, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 5, 2009) Former chief environmental correspondent for The New York Times Philip Shabecoff and freelance journalist Alice Shabecoff will be making a rare public talk at Bridge to an Organic Future, the 27th National Pesticide Forum, April 3-4, 2009 in Carrboro, NC. They will be speaking Friday evening at the conference and signing copies of their new book, Poisoned Profits: The toxic assault on our children, during a reception immediately following their presentation. See registration information below. Based on more than five years of investigative research and reporting, Poisoned Profits reveals the cumulative scientific evidence connecting the massive increase in environmental poisons to the epidemic of disability, disease, and dysfunction among our nation ´s children. The authors conclude that the poisoning of the environment is as grave a threat to the future as any problem confronting our nation. Yet even as individual parents and pediatricians struggle to fight illness, one child at a time, the public remains in the dark about the enormity of this crisis. Why? Because, according to the authors, corporations control the system, molding laws to their liking. The book shines a light on the motives and means of corporate-paid lawyers, “product defense” companies, […]