Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Pesticides A Risks to Us ALL


Pesticides: Now More Than Ever by Mark Bittman The New York Times 12/11/2012 http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/pesticides-now-more-than-ever/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121212

Excerpted: recent studies showing that routine, casual, continuing — what you might call chronic — exposure to pesticides is damaging not only to flora but to all creatures, including the one that habitually considers itself above it all: us. 

a statement by the American Association of Pediatrics — not exactly a radical organization — warning parents of the dangers of pesticide and recommending that they try to reduce contact with them. The accompanying report calls the evidence “robust” for associations between pesticide exposure and cancer (specifically brain tumors and leukemia) and “adverse” neurodevelopment, including lowered I.Q., autism, and attention disorders and hyperactivity. (Alzheimer’s, obviously not a pediatric concern, has also been linked to pesticide exposure.) 

This reminded me of recently disclosed evidence showing that pesticide exposure in pregnant women may be obesogenic — that is, it may cause their children to tend to become obese.  

...Charles Benbrook, in his excellent 2008 report “Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option” estimates that organic food production would reduce our overall exposure to pesticides by 97 percent; that is, all but eliminate it.[5]

... every human tested is found to have pesticides in his or her body fat. And because pesticides are found in nearly every stream in the United States, over 90 percent of wells....


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