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Roger Smith
A crop duster spraying for weeds.
Organic farmers are at the forefront of a movement to challenge the aerial use of pesticides and other chemicals on nearby properties, saying the chemicals are carried on the air, much like second-hand smoke.
Their story is told in a story published Tuesday by 100Reporters, a new investigative reporting group.
New research is leading growing numbers of scientists and physicians to challenge conventional wisdom about what is safe when it comes to pesticides and pesticide drift. Through research and litigation, they are also characterizing pesticide spillover as a form of trespass, willful negligence and property damage. And people objecting to drift are turning to expensive scientific analysis to bolster their objections, because this kind of testing is not routinely done.
Clare Howard has the story at 100r.org.
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Oh goody more lawsuits! Good luck taking on Monsanto or Con-Agra.
Personally I'm waiting for the secondhand fat lawsuits.
An interesting study in conflicting property rights. On the one hand, you have the right to prohibit legal substances on your property if you so choose. On the other hand, you shouldn't have the right to dictate what legal substances your neighbor uses simply because you are concerned about spillover. This is one of those things that should be more covered by a good neighbor understanding, like the occassional noisy party in a neighbor's backyard. You cannot stop noise at a fence line, and a certain about of spillover is inevitable. Just be reasonable about it.
That is, just both parties be reasonable about it.
Look at our politics, finding two reasonable parties willing to find a comprimise is VERY rare nowadays
Then again , some neighbors may be happy to receive the pesticide drift because it's free ....
People, get a clue.
The water table in the Central Valley/Delta of California is so polluted with pesticides/neurotoxins that frogs can no longer reproduce, because the males are emasculated (penises too small). The frogs are the canary in the mine analog.
What do you suppose the toxic overload on human beings is, when you add up all the sources? All studies of "safe levels" are done one at a time for each pesticide, but the FDA does not consider the cumulative effect. Organic is the only way to go, especially for children.
The argument that farmers have economic reasons to spray is foolish. Comparisons show that the cost of loss of crop to insect depredation is usually pretty much a wash with the cost of pesticides and application. Remember the ALAR controversy? Apple farmers somehow managed to survive, even though the mothers of the USA refused to buy sprayed apples. Studies have been done that show that the cost to the consumer of unsprayed produce would be negligible, if agri-business industrialized it. Also, insects develop immunities and/or mutate, thus creating a need for more, better, newer, more effective, etc. killer compounds.
Agri-business is in the same mode as military-industrial complex, in that it creates a "need", then fulfills it to great profit for themselves, but at great expense to the body politic.
How about commercial application of insecticide to produce greener grass? My neighborhood still has well water which we are unable to drink. Our politicians have allowed over development in the area, creating rows and rows of mcmansions and industrial parks. All of the runoff, lawn chemicals and ice melting compounds are winding up in my water supply yet the DEP is okay with that. The town's recommendation if I have a problem with that? Pay thousands to the commercial (not municipal) water supply to tap in, then pay exorbitant monthly fees to that illegal, but government sanctioned, monopoly.
To 2nd Generation: I am sorry for your situation. This applies to golf courses as well. In fact, men have died, yes, died, because their leather golf shoes were porous, which allowed the toxic fertilizers and weed killers on the course grass into the soles of their feet. The recommendation is to wear non-porous golf shoes made of synthetic materials! I wonder why human beings can not think more globally about how we treat our natural resources. Someday, clean water will be the most valuable substance on earth.
Madeline- you're preaching to the choir here. There is documentary every one needs to watch. The Prophets of Doom. 6 scientists discussing their field and the future of Earth.
Water was heavily discussed and unlike other aspects, water is one that can't be made by man.
Once it's gone, it's gone forever. Hulu the documentary or Netflix. It's well worth your time.
If you wanted to do an organic farm, why did you buy farmland next to a "regular" farm? Perhaps the organic farmers should get a co-op together and buy a large tract of land that they can do their kind of farming, and leave a band of land around the farm as a sort of buffer zone...? Just a thought. You can't force someone else to stop using their own methods of farming, just because you disagree with them.