pesticides

There are said to be ten times more micro-organisms than cells in the human body and millions per gram in healthy soil. Without them we would not survive. They are essential for the survival of plants and animals. Damaging them is asking for trouble. We depend on microorganisms in our gut for survival.

effects
Pesticides disrupt the natural balance of micro-organisms in the soil enhancing short term profit at the expense of future yields. A return to productivity or sustainability is difficult after pesticides have degraded the soil and traditional seed varieties have been displaced by genetically modified, pesticide resistant varieties controlled by pesticide companies. Especially where the genetic diversity of traditional crop varieties is lost.

Spraying for one animal (insects are the usual target) will take out or affect the rest. Even narrow spectrum pesticides kill or damage a range of species and disrupt the interdependent balance between them. Combinations of pesticides can be devastating and unpredictable.

Humans are built on the same genetic and biochemical foundations as pests so we are inevitably affected by pesticides.

Pesticides in food and the environment and degradation products of plastics have been linked to increases in disease rates including cancers and the disturbances of human foetal development including disturbances of sexual health, maturation and identity (gender-bender effects).

Pesticide self-poisoning accounts for one third of suicides worldwide. Many are farmers whose health or livelihood has been destroyed by effects of pesticides.

regulation
The government lobby groups of chemical companies are so powerful in industrialised countries that regulatory authorities cannot be relied on to protect health. Most third world countries have no way of effectively resisting multinational pesticide companies to regulate the use of pesticides. They are profitable dumping grounds.

GM
There is no way of quantifying the risk of inintended catastrophic or irreversible health or environmental effects of GM strains. The leakage of dangerous gene sequences into other organisms is one alarming possibility. There is little or no short term testing of most GM foods and public use is now the long term test.

Some GM crops are pesticide resistant so that crops can be sprayed with pesticides. Others contain inbuilt pesticides. Already there has been ecological damage, loss of subsistence agriculture, loss of established cultivars to inferior GM strains, and harm to the health of humans and other animals.

Most strains with inbuilt pesticides taste inferior (many animals won't eat them if they have a choice) but once processed, flavoured and packaged they often merge unlabeled and undetectable into the food supply.

From the past experience of intense pesticide and tobacco industry promotions in the face of scientific and public opposition we are going to learn the hard way but only after gigantic profits have been made – and once again, far too late.

treatments
Australian interstate cross border pest treatment ranges from harmless hot water treatment to immersion in Fenthion. Fenthion is highly toxic to birds and marine invertebrates and toxic for humans and is banned or severely restricted in most advanced countries.

All cartons from interstate are printed with the code for any treatment applied to its contents. The codes can be viewed on the link below together with the ICA Operational Procedures including the treatment, the pest or pests for which it is approved, and the states which accept the treatment.

alternatives
Farmers are reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides for many crops using natural pest control methods with increased profitability and sustainability and no drop in production.

copyright (C) John Brasted 2008
updated 06/11/11

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