diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
index 84c85a0..d53bf5d 100644
--- a/start.sh
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# read .env values
-awk -F= '$1 == "BACKEND_DEBUG" {print $2}' .env
 
 echo "Running as: $RUN_TYPE"
 cd backend/