Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, seen here in an NFL photo from 2006, announced in congressional testimony that he has Parkinson's disease, possibly related to his many concussions. He was discussing a scandal in Mississippi involving the transfer of millions of dollars in funds meant for poor families to help pay for a volleyball stadium that was a pet project of Favre. Getty Images photo. (Mark Konezny | NFLPhotoLibrary)

In a moment that sent shockwaves through the sports world, Hall of Fame quarterback – and Green Bay Packers legend – Brett Favre revealed that he was suffering from the neurological disease known as Parkinson’s. In front of a U.S. congressional committee, Favre was testifying about a business scandal that has dealt his reputation a major blow in recent years. Favre had been the top investor in a drug company called Prevacus. The shady firm was handed $2 million in welfare funds from the state of Mississippi. In July, Prevacus’ founder Jacob VanLandingham confessed to using this welfare money to pay his gambling debts and pled guilty to wire fraud. Favre has been blamed for also profiting from this theft, a charge he strongly denies.

Favre’s congressional testimony produced emotional whiplash as, within his opening remarks about this grubby caper, he revealed his shattering diagnosis. “Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” Favre said. “And I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me, because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart.”

The announcement, while tragic and shocking, was also not surprising. Parkinson’s disease can be spurred by excessive blows to the head, traumatic brain injuries, or repeated concussions. Perhaps the most prominent sufferer of Parkinson’s was the boxer who late in his career took punches like no other: Muhammad Ali. Favre played football like the older Ali: repeatedly pummeled yet always coming back for more. No one is close to Favre’s record 297 games started in a row. That’s not just a number for quarterbacks: that’s all players. In Favre’s time, unlike today, shots to the QB’s head or driving him into the turf was legal and lauded. In a 2018 Today Show interview, Favre says that while playing, he was diagnosed with “only” three or four concussions but also commented, “When you have ringing of the ears, seeing stars, that’s a concussion. And if that is a concussion, I’ve had hundreds, maybe thousands, throughout my career, which is frightening.”

There will be apologists for the game who will no doubt say that one cannot “blame football” for Favre’s condition. They sound like the tobacco company executives disavowing any connection between smoking and lung cancer. In a wide-ranging survey produced by Boston University, the forefront institution on concussion research, people who suffered traumatic brain injuries were 61% more likely to develop Parkinson’s. That is staggering. The National Football League and their feckless commissioner Roger Goodell would be wise to get in front of this, to not play the role of clueless tobacco executive, and speak to the league’s funding efforts to find new treatments. They should articulate how they are trying to make the game safer. They should take accountability for the fact that their sport can have horrific outcomes.

This announcement could also mark an inflection point for Favre. For even his most die-hard fans — and he has legions — it has been exhausting to laud this person as any kind of athletic hero. He has, under a bright public eye, displayed myriad flaws. There were the pill addictions, the attempted infidelities, and now most shamefully, accusations that Mississippi’s favorite son was stealing funds meant for the state’s poorest residents. But Favre always kept a loyal following from people – particularly in Wisconsin – who will always appreciate how he laid it all on the line week after week with a boyish, daredevil grin. They adore the player more than the man, but when these categories inevitably spill over, they are fine with the contradictions because he has their hearts: his flaws are just part of what makes him human. 

Now Favre gets to be the suffering saint of football: a great quarterback brought down by the game he played like a little kid in the backyard. He can be a receiver of sympathy instead of a source of shame. Favre will undoubtedly be offered support from all corners. If there is one thing we have learned about Parkinson’s, even with new treatments being developed, he is truly going to need it. 

This commentary is published as a joint project of the Wisconsin Examiner and The Progressive magazine.

Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group speaks Tuesday, Sept. 17, at a Capitol Hill briefing urging the EPA to ban the use of the herbicide paraquat dichloride to protect farmworkers. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom.)

WASHINGTON — Public health advocates and farmworkers called for a federal ban on a toxic herbicide they say led to their Parkinson’s disease during a Tuesday briefing for congressional staffers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will determine next year if the herbicide, paraquat dichloride, should have its license renewed for another 15 years. The herbicide is used for controlling weeds in agriculture settings. It’s currently banned in more than 70 countries and has several serious health conditions it’s linked to, such as cancer and increases the likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease.

Nora Jackson, a former farmworker of Indiana, said that her cousin, whose job it was to spray paraquat on farms, developed Parkinson’s at 55 years old. Signs of Parkinson’s usually appear around 60 years old.

“Farmworkers often have to do extremely risky jobs … but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Jackson said. “It is possible to have an agriculture system that does not depend so heavily on paraquat and it does not have to be a pesticide that puts so many people’s lives at risk.”

The disease has drastically affected his life, Jackson added.

“He now relies heavily on medication and uses a walking stick to be able to walk every day,” she said.

The briefing on the health risks of paraquat was hosted by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, which is an alliance for farmworker women, and the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that produces research and advocates for public health.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research was established by the actor who starred in blockbusters Back to the Future, Doc Hollywood and Teen Wolf. Fox was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s at the age of 29.

Ban necessary

The EPA has until Jan. 17 to make a decision on paraquat’s future availability.

Advocates at Tuesday’s event called for the agency to deny paraquat’s license renewal, saying other regulations to reduce exposure to the herbicide have come up short.

“Keep in mind that people have been using this chemical as directed, and are still developing Parkinson’s disease,” Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group’s senior vice president of government affairs, said. “So putting more restrictions on how it’s used, when it’s used, what equipment you use, and so on, is not the answer.”

Parkinson’s disease affects the nervous system and causes unintended shakiness, trouble with balance and stiffness. There is no cure.

The California Legislature is moving to ban the herbicide. 

David Jilbert, of Valley City, Ohio, a former farmworker with a background in engineering, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021.

“As a longtime environmental engineer, I understood the importance of personal protection equipment, and I particularly followed all safety protocols,” he said.

He sold his vineyard in 2019 because he wasn’t feeling well and his hands were beginning to move slowly.

“My diagnosis changed everything, affecting every aspect of my life, from physical capabilities to emotional wellbeing, financial stability,” he said. “There is no cure for Parkinson’s. It is degenerative and it will only get worse, not better.”

Charlene Tenbrink of Winters, California, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2020. She worked on her family farm from 1993 to 2000 where she would mix, load and spray paraquat.

Tenbrink said she felt let down by the federal government because she was unaware of the health risks that paraquat could pose.

“We’ve been trying to change this for a long time,” she said.