Efforts at stimulating an investigation into the leadership of the American Farm Bureau Federation continue full speed ahead. The article below illustrates yet another reason why Farm Bureau's vast insurance and agribusiness network needs intense scrutiny for "conflicts of interest."

For your information, the insurance company mentioned below, Country Companies, is owned and operated by the Illinois Agricultural Association (IAA). IAA is the "front" umbrella organization for the Illinois Farm Bureau Federation. (IFBF) Control of IAA's insurance and agribusiness interests is largely handled by a cadre of interlocking directorates comprised mostly of Farm Bureau officers.

For instance, Ron Warfield is president of IAA, IFBF and several Country Companies insurance affiliates. He also serves in various capacities in approximately 14 other Farm Bureau related organizations.

As the story below reveals, Country Companies has some unfortunate insurance policies on long-term disability to chemical exposure. What is not mentioned below is how the powerful Farm Bureau lobby opposes stronger regulations on factory hog farms AND various chemical pesticides/herbicides and biotechnology.

While this omnipresent Farm Bureau lobby advances policies that increase the load of chemicals in the environment, according to the quote below, their insurance companies are "cynical" and "unfeeling" to those suffering from these very pollutants.

Take a moment and send an email to the journalist who composed this piece and thank her for her courageous journalism.

Also take a moment and send this to your congressional representatives. This is the only way and investigation will be forthcoming.

Kind regards,

Scotty Johnson

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Terry Bibo
tbibo@pjstar.com

Nancy rarely leaves her home in Farmington. It is her one sure haven in a world that may be harmless for most people, but not for Nancy. Allergy and asthma sufferers can understand, a little. A gentle breeze for everyone else triggers headaches and sneezing and runny noses for the afflicted.

For Nancy, the outside world is crippling, so she stays in a house as chemical-free as she can make it. Her home is equipped with seven special air filters, the carpeting has all been replaced by wood flooring, and nothing but organic cleaners are ever used here.

Her husband does most of the shopping because the shortest trip can fatigue Nancy for days. When she does go out, usually for doctor's appointments or other necessities, she wears her air filter.

She tries to break trips into the smallest errands. Even so, she sometimes pulls over to the side of the road or in parking lots to nap.

"People ask my mom, 'What does Nancy do in the house all day?'" she says. "I don't tell them I'm not well enough to do much."

Nevertheless, according to her insurance company, she no longer qualifies for long-term disability. On Dec. 2, 1998, "medical information" from a doctor Nancy was sent to by her insurance company said she could work at something. On Dec. 28, Country Companies cut her off.

"The reason is that, after two years of our policy the definition of a disability changes from somebody performing the duties of their existing job to somebody performing the duties of any job," says Jean Lawyer, director of corporate communications for the insurer.

True, no doubt. But there is more to the case of Nancy Bostic, and Lawyer might want to think twice. Before March 18, 1993, Nancy Bostic had a job similar to Lawyer's in a sister company. She also worked in public relations, but for the Illinois Farm Bureau, which is an affiliate of Country Companies.

Her office was above the garage. Fumes filtered up. Regular spraying with the insecticide Dursban around the office didn't help.

But after months of renovations and redecorating - and months of aching joints and pains and difficulty concentrating - Nancy was flattened all at once.

"When I left the office I had no clue I'd never go back to work," she says.

Technically, she did go back later that year, but it quickly was clear she couldn't do her job. She couldn't think straight. She was "slow."

Rather than go through a trial, Nancy settled her worker's compensation claim for "a pittance" in 1997. The Farm Bureau did not admit any fault, but it did pay $100,000. With legal fees and medical bills coming out of that total, Nancy ended up with far less, which supposedly compensated her for the rest of her working life. She was 44.

Now she is 47, most of the settlement has been used to renovate the house so she can live in it, and the disability she was counting on is gone. She still can't concentrate. Some medical reviews indicate she may have suffered brain damage that lowered her IQ permanently. Others cite depression.

"I have to laugh about it because I've cried too long," Nancy says, chuckling grimly. "Who wouldn't be depressed in my situation?"

After years of silence on the issue, she decided to let her story be told for a couple of reasons. First, she considers herself a "canary in the coal mine" on the ever-increasing chemical saturation of our world. There are a few people like Nancy Bostic around now; there is reason to believe there may be a lot more before long.

Second, she is also "a pit bull." She thinks what Country Companies did is wrong, and she is fighting with all the limited resources at her disposal. And she doesn't think it is a coincidence that she was cut off just months after she publicly criticized the Farm Bureau for its stand on mega- hog farms.

Her lawyer, Michael Waters, did not want to say much as negotiations continue with Country Companies.

"I can say she's a deserving lady who's been victimized by a cynical, unfeeling insurance company," he says.

You can also say that she will still join the parade of protests, at considerable personal cost, air filter and all.