Taking the global pesticide industry to task for its “systematic denial of harms” while, at the same time, perpetuating the “myth” of aiding global hunger, a United Nations food expert has put forth a new report on the “catastrophic impacts on the environment, human health, and society as a whole.”

The report (pdf), which will be presented to the UN’s human rights council on Wednesday, comes amid a widescale rollback of regulations in the United States, which could include important constraints on a host of toxic pesticides.

Speaking with the Guardian on Tuesday, UN special rapporteur on the right to food Hilal Elver, who led the study, emphasized the collusion between governments and multinational chemical companies that has led to the lax regulation of pesticides.

“The power of the corporations over governments and over the scientific community is extremely important,” Elver said. “If you want to deal with pesticides, you have to deal with the companies—that is why [we use] these harsh words.”

“Using more pesticides is nothing to do with getting rid of hunger.”
—Hilal Elver, United Nations

Indeed, the study, co-authored by Baskut Tuncak, UN special rapporteur on toxics, does not hold back. The report accuses major pesticide manufacturers of ignoring scientific studies on the dangerous impacts of the chemicals while also employing “aggressive, unethical marketing tactics” to push the idea that pesticides are necessary to feed a growing population.

It states: “While scientific research confirms the adverse effects of pesticides, proving a definitive link between exposure and human diseases or conditions or harm to the ecosystem presents a considerable challenge. This challenge has been exacerbated by a systematic denial, fueled by the pesticide and agro-industry, of the magnitude of the damage inflicted by these chemicals, and aggressive, unethical marketing tactics.”

And despite links to “cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, hormone disruption, developmental disorders, and sterility,” the study notes that “the industry frequently uses the term ‘intentional misuse’ to shift the blame on to the user for the avoidable impacts of hazardous pesticides.”

Elver further debunked the “myth” that pesticides are necessary. “Using more pesticides is nothing to do with getting rid of hunger,” she told the Guardian. “According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), we are able to feed 9 billion people today. Production is definitely increasing, but the problem is poverty, inequality, and distribution.”

And pointing to the fact that most pesticides are used on commodity crops, she added: “The corporations are not dealing with world hunger, they are dealing with more agricultural activity on large scales.”

As for the study’s recommendations—that nations “transition toward safer and healthier food and agricultural production,” such as agroecology, and, in the near term, that governments use the “precautionary principle” to pass stronger regulations on chemicals—it remains to be seen whether those ideas will pass muster in the current political climate.