CDC Corruption and the Attack on American Agriculture

On this Wednesday, July 12, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson examines the politicization of public health agencies and the assault on American agriculture. Dr. James Lyons-Weiler of IPAK-EDU analyzes the departure of CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, while sixth-generation farmer and rancher Trent Loos exposes the false narratives driving climate policy against farmers.

Public Health Agencies Gone Rogue

Start listening at 28:00 – Hour 1

James Lyons-Weiler, founder of IPAK-EDU and author of Popular Rationalism on Substack, breaks down the legacy of outgoing CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. He notes that before joining the CDC, Walensky published research arguing that PCR testing alone was insufficient for diagnosing respiratory viruses like coronaviruses, requiring confirmatory tests with 100% specificity. Yet once in charge, she abandoned her own scientific standards.

Lyons-Weiler explains that PCR testing during COVID-19 produced false positive rates ranging from 40 to 90 percent throughout the pandemic. The resulting quarantines of healthy individuals devastated the American economy, a consequence he warned the FDA about in advance. He argues that Walensky’s coordination with the American Federation of Teachers on prolonged school closures caused measurable harm to children’s development, with no scientific justification for the policies.

On her way out, Walensky approved an RSV vaccine recommendation despite minimal evidence of an emergency. Lyons-Weiler characterizes the CDC, NIAID, and NIH as rogue agencies that steamrolled constitutional checks on power, noting that quarantine authority belongs to state governors, not federal bureaucrats.

“The power structure, the people that have the power to do anything like a quarantine, falls to the governors of the states, not to CDC, not to Fauci. And the governor has to be convinced that an individual poses an immediate threat to others.”

James Lyons-Weiler, Founder of IPAK-EDU

The Carbon Dioxide Deception

Start listening at 45:00 – Hour 1

The conversation turns to climate policy, where Lyons-Weiler challenges the demonization of carbon dioxide. He explains that CO2 is not the most dangerous molecule humans release into the atmosphere; it is plant food essential to photosynthesis. His Environmental Toxicology course at IPAK-EDU teaches that the vilification of greenhouse gases like CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide ignores their essential roles in sustaining plant and human life.

When asked about the potential for climate change to become the next vehicle for government overreach, Lyons-Weiler points to the failed COVID response as evidence that totalitarian policies face significant resistance from Americans. He recounts overhearing parents at a park discussing vaccine shedding and population control, concluding that public trust in health authorities has collapsed beyond repair.

Defending American Agriculture from False Narratives

Start listening at 65:00 – Hour 2

Trent Loos, sixth-generation farmer and rancher and host of Loos Tales Media, recounts confronting an EPA biochemist at a public meeting following a train derailment that spilled molten sulfur into the Yellowstone River. The EPA expert assured residents that sulfur posed no danger to humans. Loos then asked why the same EPA banned sulfur from diesel fuel 20 years earlier to protect the planet.

The expert’s response revealed the contradiction at the heart of environmental regulation: sulfur becomes harmful only when it evaporates and returns as acid rain, yet the same element mixed with water in a river is harmless. Loos argues that the EPA bans elements essential to soil health while claiming to protect the environment. Agronomists confirm that sulfur deficiency in soil has become a serious problem since its removal from diesel fuel.

“I think that the EPA is banning things that are important for elemental health of the planet, and you’re just hoodwinking us. His response was precious. He said, well, sir, I’m from the East Coast, and you folks out West just think different than we do.”

Trent Loos, Sixth-Generation Farmer and Rancher

Natural Pesticides and the DDT Deception

Start listening at 75:00 – Hour 2

Loos explains that caffeine is a natural pesticide produced by coffee and tea plants to protect themselves from insects. Grandmothers who put coffee grounds in gardens were applying a proven pest deterrent while adding nitrogen to the soil. He applies coffee grounds to his potato crop as an alternative to commercial pesticides.

The entire Environmental Protection Agency, Loos argues, was created for one purpose: to ban DDT. He cites historical evidence that DDT saved nearly a million lives during World War II by controlling mosquito populations that spread malaria. Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring launched the fear campaign against chemicals that continues today, setting back public health advances.

The Methane Myth and Property Rights

Start listening at 90:00 – Hour 2

When Kim raises the claim that buffalo methane differs from cattle methane, Loos is blunt: it does not. Historical records show 60 to 70 million buffalo roamed America before 1800. Today, 80 million ruminants, including beef cattle, dairy cattle, and buffalo, produce comparable emissions. He explains that methane, nitrous oxide, and CO2 are not pollutants but essential plant nutrients that environmentalists have demonized.

A caller named Doug from Littleton adds nuance to the sulfur discussion, explaining that in diesel engines, heat and combustion create sulfuric acid that corrodes internal components. The distinction between elemental sulfur and its combustion byproducts illustrates how the same substance behaves differently in different contexts.

Loos concludes that attacks on livestock have nothing to do with emissions. Independent landowners who raise animals represent the last bastion of self-sufficiency, and controlling them means controlling the land itself. The real agenda is eliminating property rights, not protecting the climate.