> A poison is a poison, and if some farmers and agribiz use the ACS
> statement to justify their practices, then they are surely being
> shortsighted and displaying little respect for the earth and "all" its
> inhabitants.
Does this statement suggest that we should ban all cars because they
kill thousands of people a year? Cars do alot of good and most of us
feel that it is "worth the risk" to use them, knowing full well that
there is a possibility of death. I would suggest that this is the
sentiment of the findings of this study.
I personally use as little pesticides as possible, but also realize that
the pesticides on the market today are the safest ever. Organically
grown food has at times had "high rates" of "weak or natural poisons"
that haven't had a positive effect on the eaters as well. (Please hear
me, I'm not comdeming organics!).
How do we deal with "natural poisons" in plants that kill or deter
insects if we say that "A poison is a poison"?
< We ( from a velvet bug to Dwayne Andreas of ADM ) are all
< in this together and need each other to eventually survive the
< silly and selfish pursuit of accumulating all the money and goods one
< can.
I certainly agree that we are in this together, but to alude that a
farmer who uses pesticides is in a "silly and selfish pursuit of
accumulating all the money and goods one can" is not realistic or fair.
There are lots of conventional farmers going broke who use normal
amounts of pesticides and there are organic farmers also finding it hard
to make ends meet. Management is the determining factor in farm
viability no matter what system you use.
-- "New Generation Cropping Systems": the cutting edge of sustainable agriculture http://www2.epix.net/~cmfarm/ Steve Groff Cedar Meadow Farm 679 Hilldale Rd Holtwood PA 17532 USA Ph. 717-284-5152To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".