Photo of Ken Cook

Ken Cook, president and co-founder of Environmental Working Group (EWG), was a principal architect of provisions of the 1985 farm bill that shifted U.S. farm policy from a narrow focus on maximum crop production to include conservation of land, water, wetlands and wildlife. The legislation was widely regarded the most important environmental farm policy reform in decades. In the 1990s, EWG’s research was a major factor in the passage of the landmark pesticide reform law, the Food Quality Protection Act. EWG was among the first to draw attention to the health threat posed by the weed-killer atrazine and conducted the first extensive tests for the chemical in tap water in 29 cities.