Iowa Republicans partnering with quack ‘Raja of World Peace’ Maharishi Flying Yoga cult “scientist” to study pesticide residues

State Representative Jeff Shipley (R-Van Buren), and his Committee for Peace and Prosperity, today announced a major collaborative research initiative with the Health Research Institute (HRI) in Fairfield, Iowa. Led by renowned scientist Dr. John Fagan, CEO and Chief Scientist of HRI, the study will rigorously investigate pesticide exposure among Iowa residents using highly sensitive Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS/MS) to identify pesticides and their breakdown products (metabolites) in human biological samples.

Representative Jeff Shipley will serve as the lead author and primary financier of the study, underscoring his commitment to evidence-based policymaking that prioritizes public health, prosperity for Iowa families, and informed discussions on chemical safety and liability.

“Iowans deserve clear, independent science to understand pesticide exposure in our daily lives—especially as debate rages over corporate accountability and personal health protections,” said Rep. Shipley. “Partnering with Dr. Fagan and the Health Research Institute, a leader in rigorous, accredited testing for food purity, environmental contaminants, and human health impacts, ensures this study will deliver credible, actionable data. This isn’t about politics, it’s about elevating human consciousness through objective and verifiable collection and publication of data.”

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Dr. John Fagan, a globally respected expert in nutrient density and in food safety, sustainability, and the health consequences of pesticides and related technologies, added: “This project is exactly why I founded the Health Research Institute. Our team is eager to bring our CLIA- and ISO-accredited expertise in advanced analytical methods, including mass spectrometry, to this vital Iowa-focused project. By measuring pesticide metabolites longitudinally in human samples, we’ll generate unprecedented seasonal data that can inform better practices, stronger safeguards, and healthier communities.”

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here

Editor’s Note: The Science Literacy Project has investigated John Fagan, who is a leader in the Maharishi cult based in Iowa and goes by the name “Raja of World Peace”. The movement was founded in the 1950s by Marharishi Mahesh Yogi and has been planning a new world government since the 1970s. It established its center in Iowa, where it teaches its trademark Vedic teachings, transcendental meditation, and its signature spectacle — “Yogic Flying” — in which devotees seeking utopian enlightenment bounce in a lotus position on a path to higher consciousness. 

Fagan is affiliated with various Maharishi for-profit Ayurveda alternative health, herbal supplements and natural products companies where his endorsements and research as “Raja Doctor Fagan” are used to help sell and promote a wide range of homeopathic cures.

He is an ardent opponent of the use of modern agricultural technology while promoting Maharishi Vedic agriculture, which he claims “uses the sounds of nature to enliven the full value of consciousness in food” by having Maharishi trained vedic pandits (monk-like scholars in the Hindu scriptures) send vibrations and special sounds drawn from the “unified field” (described as the transcendental field of self-referral consciousness) into crops at various phases of planting, growth and harvesting which he claims gives them six, seven or eight times higher vitamins or nutrition and 20 to 30 times higher anti-oxidant levels.

Read more about Raja Doctor Fagan and the Maharishi cult at the Science Literacy Project/Genetic Literacy Project

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