There is growing concern about the harmful impact of pesticides on human health, agriculture and biodiversity, prompting calls from researchers to reduce their prevalence.
You know what I hate about this? In the past, you could very easily vote with your wallet by spending it on organic food, instead of this poison laden crap.
But these days, food is so expensive that very few have that option, so we pay a premium to these companies who really don’t give a damn about us, the planet, or biodiversity.
You know what I hate about this? Somewhere someone is getting paid to allow the ag industry to slide on requirements, with the end result of people being poisoned. And we have zero say or representation.
Well in the land of the fee, you might have about 50 000 say in total to be divided up to what you need (a bunch of that going straight to your landlord or mortgage company anyway), while big agriculture firms have 10 000 000s of say dedicated to the policy initiatives they want.
Yes, if they are even used. Many organic farms don’t use anything and/or use considerably less toxic versions to control pests.
When i was able to afford organic produce on a regular basis , i was getting them from a place that sourced from local farms, and none used pesticides at the time. Sure, you find the occasional bug in your lettuce here and there, but nothing that a good wash couldn’t fix. 😂
Local farmers, sure. But from what I know, industrial farmers all use pesticides unless if it’s grown indoors. And a lot of the organic pesticides are more dangerous than artificial ones. Especially since the farmers need to use more.
I don’t remember which one, but I have read about two different organic pesticides that were particularly dangerous. One had high mercury levels, and the other had something about it that made it illegal to use outright in the EU, but was legally used in the US.
It’s been a while since I heard about this sort of stuff, as organic was only starting to become mainstream when I had originally heard about them.
About ten I think. Organic was still pretty niche before then, and only really started to come to mainstream about then, not just foodies and environmentalists.
Yes, I’m sure when the organic biz started to get mainstream attention, there were either some bad actors trying to make a quick buck, or simply not enough data into what was being used, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that happened back then.
But honestly, as long as there are billions to be made, someone will be trying to fly under the radar by using highly toxic stuff which may produce a higher yielding crop. This could be especially true when you have big corporations buying up smaller (and previously ethical ones) to become a monopoly in the space. God knows what deals they make behind closed doors.
Possibly. But indoor produce is less likely to use any sort of pesticide or fungicide, as they are lightly sealed environments.
I won’t say zero, as of course fungi are much harder to keep outside compared to insects, but indoor farms are quite controlled to maximize production. I imagine that fungal infections are much likely to occur for most produce, with only some specific ones being particularly vulnerable depending on the location.
I’ve worked in greenhouses, growing seedlings for tree planting, vegetables and flowers. We used fungicide almost all of the time.
Insecticide was rarely used.
But glysophates were never used as that’s a herbicide. The most common one is Bayer-Monsanto’s Round-Up and used on 98% of GMO crops in Canada.
Bayer-Monsanto has been working hard to keep it on the market (even tho New Brunswick has been finding evidence that it may be the cause of an illness killing people there).
The dose makes the poison. They’re taking a science-based process to update the maximum residue limit.
…don’t give a damn about us, the planet, or biodiversity.
Significantly more land would have to be allocated to agriculture to produce the same amount of food without pesticides. That’s not good for the planet or biodiversity.
Yeah but what if by increasing its usage, it means that you get more into the underground water supply and you end up with elevated concentration in drinking water because of this?
When Syngenta is involved, I’m extremely skeptical that the process is scientific or rather that the variables optimized for are people’s or the environment’s health. The dose isn’t an on/off switch, it isn’t boolean. Given Syngenta’s track record, I’m guessing that they’re optimizing for how much they can sell before the damage is apparent to most. I do believe they’re scientifically establishing these amounts.
“Safe Food Matters president Mary Lou McDonald agreed. Accessing the health and safety data the PMRA uses to determine MRLs is challenging due to stringent limits on what data can be seen — and shared — by the public to protect pesticide companies’ intellectual property. She noted issues with the accuracy and relevance of the data used by the government in its assessment process.
Moreover, she noted the PMRA and pesticide manufacturers have a close working relationship — an issue also flagged by Lanphear.“
The term “science-based process” is directly from the “Government of Canada moves forward on commitments to strengthen the pesticide review process” press release. I don’t believe in anti-science conspiracy theories. If there are issues with the data being used to make these decisions then that should be addressed but there is no evidence of that. You quoted the opinion of a trained lawyer from an anti pesticide charity, not a scientist.
You know what I hate about this? In the past, you could very easily vote with your wallet by spending it on organic food, instead of this poison laden crap.
But these days, food is so expensive that very few have that option, so we pay a premium to these companies who really don’t give a damn about us, the planet, or biodiversity.
You know what I hate about this? Somewhere someone is getting paid to allow the ag industry to slide on requirements, with the end result of people being poisoned. And we have zero say or representation.
The only say we have anymore is to do something about it.
Then they call those people eco-terrorists.
Well in the land of the fee, you might have about 50 000 say in total to be divided up to what you need (a bunch of that going straight to your landlord or mortgage company anyway), while big agriculture firms have 10 000 000s of say dedicated to the policy initiatives they want.
That’s a really long way to call me poor 😂
Well done. 👏
Also there are plenty of organic pesticides fwiw
Yes, if they are even used. Many organic farms don’t use anything and/or use considerably less toxic versions to control pests.
When i was able to afford organic produce on a regular basis , i was getting them from a place that sourced from local farms, and none used pesticides at the time. Sure, you find the occasional bug in your lettuce here and there, but nothing that a good wash couldn’t fix. 😂
Local farmers, sure. But from what I know, industrial farmers all use pesticides unless if it’s grown indoors. And a lot of the organic pesticides are more dangerous than artificial ones. Especially since the farmers need to use more.
I don’t believe they are more dangerous, unless the research found otherwise in the last 10 years.
But i cant speak to the industrial side of things, since i was buying local.
I don’t remember which one, but I have read about two different organic pesticides that were particularly dangerous. One had high mercury levels, and the other had something about it that made it illegal to use outright in the EU, but was legally used in the US.
It’s been a while since I heard about this sort of stuff, as organic was only starting to become mainstream when I had originally heard about them.
So like 30 years? Organic stuff was getting popular in the late eighties. Maybe it’s time to brush up again lol
About ten I think. Organic was still pretty niche before then, and only really started to come to mainstream about then, not just foodies and environmentalists.
Yes, I’m sure when the organic biz started to get mainstream attention, there were either some bad actors trying to make a quick buck, or simply not enough data into what was being used, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that happened back then.
But honestly, as long as there are billions to be made, someone will be trying to fly under the radar by using highly toxic stuff which may produce a higher yielding crop. This could be especially true when you have big corporations buying up smaller (and previously ethical ones) to become a monopoly in the space. God knows what deals they make behind closed doors.
@Dearche @Showroom7561
Indoor produce can be worse because of the use of fungicides.
Possibly. But indoor produce is less likely to use any sort of pesticide or fungicide, as they are lightly sealed environments.
I won’t say zero, as of course fungi are much harder to keep outside compared to insects, but indoor farms are quite controlled to maximize production. I imagine that fungal infections are much likely to occur for most produce, with only some specific ones being particularly vulnerable depending on the location.
@Dearche
I’ve worked in greenhouses, growing seedlings for tree planting, vegetables and flowers. We used fungicide almost all of the time.
Insecticide was rarely used.
But glysophates were never used as that’s a herbicide. The most common one is Bayer-Monsanto’s Round-Up and used on 98% of GMO crops in Canada.
Bayer-Monsanto has been working hard to keep it on the market (even tho New Brunswick has been finding evidence that it may be the cause of an illness killing people there).
It seems like you can still vote with your wallet. It just takes harder voting.
The dose makes the poison. They’re taking a science-based process to update the maximum residue limit.
Significantly more land would have to be allocated to agriculture to produce the same amount of food without pesticides. That’s not good for the planet or biodiversity.
Yeah but what if by increasing its usage, it means that you get more into the underground water supply and you end up with elevated concentration in drinking water because of this?
If it’s dangerous then obviously stop doing it. But use science to test your hypothesis
When Syngenta is involved, I’m extremely skeptical that the process is scientific or rather that the variables optimized for are people’s or the environment’s health. The dose isn’t an on/off switch, it isn’t boolean. Given Syngenta’s track record, I’m guessing that they’re optimizing for how much they can sell before the damage is apparent to most. I do believe they’re scientifically establishing these amounts.
Stop saying “science-based process,” Greg.
“Safe Food Matters president Mary Lou McDonald agreed. Accessing the health and safety data the PMRA uses to determine MRLs is challenging due to stringent limits on what data can be seen — and shared — by the public to protect pesticide companies’ intellectual property. She noted issues with the accuracy and relevance of the data used by the government in its assessment process.
Moreover, she noted the PMRA and pesticide manufacturers have a close working relationship — an issue also flagged by Lanphear.“
The term “science-based process” is directly from the “Government of Canada moves forward on commitments to strengthen the pesticide review process” press release. I don’t believe in anti-science conspiracy theories. If there are issues with the data being used to make these decisions then that should be addressed but there is no evidence of that. You quoted the opinion of a trained lawyer from an anti pesticide charity, not a scientist.