Educational Media Reviews Online

Circle of Poison is an expression used among biologists, meaning that the residue of pesticides on crops remain in and on the produce for consumers. This unabashed documentary speaks to how the global agricultural industry’s contamination of the soil, air, and water will have irreversible costs for humanity in the not so distant future. This tragic misconduct emphasizes that harmful substances, banned in the US, are being exported. For example, the US banned the domestic use of DDT decades ago, yet US companies continued to produce it and export it. Story upon story of the unethical sales of harmful pesticides to other countries are offered, such as the use of endosulfan. In India, communities are besieged by health problems, mental disabilities, and birth defects due to pesticide use. Further, the film demonstrates the longevity of the crisis, showing adults who were affected as children. Audiences should be prepared for heart-wrenching and explicit images and accounts.

Touching on the political history of the problem, the film points to 1981 when then President Carter issued an executive order to prohibit the US export of substances that are banned in the states. This order, however, was overturned shortly after. Despite renewed hope in the Circle of Poison Prevention Act of 1991, it too disintegrated due to pushback by lobbyists. The film continues with incidences of corrupt politicians motivated by chemical and agricultural corporations. It concludes with optimistic accounts of organic farmers, local activism, and protests against chemical companies. This work also includes a rough, extended cut of its interview with Jimmy Carter.

Circle of Poison is a bombardment of outrage-fueled condemnation. It is tightly focused on the human impact of pesticides, not the environmental impact.