Organics is not pseudo science they Just haven't got the
PR resources of Multinationals.
A lot of science is psudoscience and managed by press release. How often do you see"new discovery revolutionises- - - -"with a sub text of
in 5-10 years if you give me lots more funding
The company making the swine flu anti-viral is the company testing it.
On agricultural chemicals
On chemicals I think a distinction can be made for what I would like to call "plastic-man-made" chemicals and 'everyday' ones.
My plastic-man-made chemicals differ from your everyday chemical in that they are
1. Made by man, not naturally occurring.
2. Do not break down readily. Some with half lives of 10-20+ years.
3. Are foreigners to the food chain with not completely understood effects and affects.
4. No "wee beastie" has worked out how to degrade, disassemble or eat them yet.
5. Are relative recent visitors to the planet The last 50-100 years say.
The issues are:-
1. does the new man made chemical degrade? What is its half life? Does it break down into something more poisonous? (as does DDT to DDE)
2. Does it bio-accumulate?
3. Do we know its long term effects on the mammals at the top of the food chain (Eg extinction of mothering instinct with Californian seals).
5 What diseases eg tetrogenic, cancer, brain, obesity might it case because of its accumulation
and long half life
and ability to disperse thought the entire planet not just your cabbage.
6. What are its effects/affects in the ecosystem
and to wildlife such as frogs, birds etc.
7. is there a better way?
There are plenty of pest control methods that don't involve sprays
Plenty of sprays that degrade within a few days. This is the beauty of organic sprays. Sure you MAY have to spray more often but at least is does degrade The DDT put on my grandfather by the Army in 1944 is still wandering about the planet, some as the more toxic DDE.
Starting in the 1900s and really getting into swing with WW2 chemists started making a new class of chemicals. Chemicals that the Earth had never seen before. These are the chemicals that worry me and worried Rachel Carson when she invented "ecology" and the "environment" movement single-handedly with her book Silent Spring Rachel Carson was literate, and a good communicator-rare in a scientist- and a well educated biologist.
She was actively, under-handily, undermined by chemical companies in her day, and she is still being pilloried by many chemical multi-nationals even now who want to re-write history.
Many of the chemicals she talked about have been banned but many are still with us. Some literally in the bodies of mammals. Some, now being re-branded sold as cures for malaria or whatever.
With the way mass media is controlled by just a few companies, counting their pennies; multinationals are finding it even easier to get their point of view across; even to the extent of filming segments for the nightly news. Many have better equipped and resourced media departments than large national Television Stations. Exxon, for example, makes about $US40+ Billion a year, a lot more than any media conglomerate- even Fox.
The over use of Chemicals a is also an issue. "bugs are bad" is the mantra of so many TV adds.
EG#1
China’s annual production capacity of Glyphosate iis estimated at between 500,000
tonnes and 600,000
tonnes. Fortunately, Glyphosate is is not as toxic as most, although we did lose a lot of frogs with its surfactant, and some studies are coming out now that are worrying.
Monsanto's whole GM business is predicated on Glyphosate being harmless. It is the cornerstone of the company's biotechnology/engineering programme. So it will be a long time before adverse (pseudoscience?) reports see the light of day..
EG#2
Quote:
Americans spend over $1 billion and apply over 70 million pounds of pesticides to suburban lawns-alone- each year, making storm-water runoff a leading source of water pollution.
Pesticides:
kill thousands of beneficial insects, including honeybees, wasps, and ladybugs, for every insect that they attempt to control, and destroy the balance of nature.
are especially harmful to children. Children absorb more pesticides relative to their body weight and are unable to detoxify from the chemicals as their organs are still developing.
Each year more than 43,000 children under age six are exposed to concentrations of pesticides high enough to cause cancer, respiratory illness, and central nervous system damage.
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Eco-Tips :: Natural Pest Management
If pyrethrum is so toxic why are
synthetic pyrethrins used is just about every domestic fly spray.