> Where is the residue testing USDA. Where is the chain of evidence.
>
I've seen the labs where they test the safety of chemicals, and met
people who do this. They appear to be good operations. Untold millions
of rodents, and thousands of beagles, occasional monkeys are used in the
testing. I have a passing familiarity with the kinds of (extremely
conservative) models used for extrapolation to low doses. Believe me,
enormous effort is brought to bear on this, millions upon millions of
dollars for each chemical screened, and many years of testing.
> Organic growers keep records for years where every thing they sell
> goes so it is easy to trace back to the source yet not so with
> chemical growers. And yet the USDA says organic food is not safer
> than conventional foodstuff.
>
Ultra-worst-case scenarios, and residue levels of pesticide use are
modeled, and 1000 fold saftey factors built in. The companies
internally screen thousands of promising new chemicals that get
discarded for safety reasons, for every one sent on for EPA scrutiny.
> Do you think organic food is safer than conventional food?
>
No. I am convinced that the risks from the vast majority of pesticides
are so small that they disappear in the background noise of naturally
occuring risk from things like mycotoxins, plant metabolites, natural
antigens, and pathogenic bacteria. In any case, the risks are too small
to be measured.
> Where are all those pesticides coming from and are they USDA approved?
>
There aren't all that many that get through the intense scrutiny. But
the big chemical companies have gigantic R & D efforts that design
molecules, often based on naturally occuring toxins from plants,
mushrooms, spiders, etc. They screen these robotically, in-vitro
against a few pest, or pest-like species before toxicity testing the
most promising against vertebrates. Then they make radio-labeled
versions of the chemical, and follow all the metabolites through various
vertebrate species. Then they synthesize and do toxicological studies
on the metabolites. It is extremely difficult and demanding work.
> and the band plays on.
>
That is the feeling I get when you folks keep ranting about the supposed
dangers of pesticides. IMO, this is a distraction from more important
issues in responsible agriculture. Humans are doing quite well. It is
wild nature we should be worried about.
Dale
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