A Few More Numbers
Yesterday I spoke about the way that numbers are changing my world. Let me mention a few more numbers today, numbers that are changing your world too, whether you want them to or not. I'm talking about organic versus conventional agriculture, here in North America.
You have to go back to the late 40's to see the real beginnings of this. It was then that pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic chemical fertilizers became widely available to farmers. Pesticide use increased 1000% (yup, that's one thousand) between 1945 and 1989, and there are currently 9,700 "approved" agricultural toxins in use. No-one mentioned that damn near every one of those pesticides and herbicides was brought into use without any long term testing being done on them first, or that chronic diseases associated with some pesticides may not manifest for DECADES after the exposure.
The chemicals did do some of what they were supposed to, it is true. For instance, per acre corn yields rose from 26 bushels in 1926 to 127 bushels in 1996. The only problem is that they have also done a great deal of what they were not supposed to do. Some of those agri-toxins were found to be super efficient killers. They even "kill" the soil. Countless toxins are making their way to our tables every day. that's right, our tables. You see, they don't stay nicely put in the fields. They wash down into our groundwater, and then, there's no stopping them. Some of the U.S. Geological Survey data released in 1998 revealed that nearly every stream they studied contained one or more pesticides. A study of groundwater wells in 45 states found pesticide levels in 16,000 of them. What do you think? Could there be pesticides in your glass of drinking water?
The part I get a laugh out of is the "federal limits" nonsense. Foods are studied and assigned an upper limit for safety. Pesticide content in the food is not supposed to go beyond that limit, and supposedly, if it doesn't, we'll all be safe. What seems to have been forgotten here is the fact that these poisons are in such widespread use, you can't just check the content in any one food at a time and feel safe. You have to get out a calculator and add up all the residues in all the foods you ingest during a day, and then watch that ephemeral safety fly out the window.
Now before you dismiss that last statement as alarmist mumbo-jumbo, know this. The National Research Council came to the same conclusion in 1993. They declared that it was probable "children were ingesting enough pesticides to harm them, even though their food was within Federal limits." Our future, our precious children being exposed to god knows what? Hold on a minute! Who says this threat will limit itself to the children? (Read my entry from January 15th.) Multisystem atrophy is a "syndrome" as yet, meaning that medical science knows far too little about it. One thing that has been suggested about it is there may be a tie-in to environmental toxins.
Now, having said all that, I have just one last question to ask. Are "certified organic" foods beginning to look better and better to you? They are to me.
You have to go back to the late 40's to see the real beginnings of this. It was then that pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic chemical fertilizers became widely available to farmers. Pesticide use increased 1000% (yup, that's one thousand) between 1945 and 1989, and there are currently 9,700 "approved" agricultural toxins in use. No-one mentioned that damn near every one of those pesticides and herbicides was brought into use without any long term testing being done on them first, or that chronic diseases associated with some pesticides may not manifest for DECADES after the exposure.
The chemicals did do some of what they were supposed to, it is true. For instance, per acre corn yields rose from 26 bushels in 1926 to 127 bushels in 1996. The only problem is that they have also done a great deal of what they were not supposed to do. Some of those agri-toxins were found to be super efficient killers. They even "kill" the soil. Countless toxins are making their way to our tables every day. that's right, our tables. You see, they don't stay nicely put in the fields. They wash down into our groundwater, and then, there's no stopping them. Some of the U.S. Geological Survey data released in 1998 revealed that nearly every stream they studied contained one or more pesticides. A study of groundwater wells in 45 states found pesticide levels in 16,000 of them. What do you think? Could there be pesticides in your glass of drinking water?
The part I get a laugh out of is the "federal limits" nonsense. Foods are studied and assigned an upper limit for safety. Pesticide content in the food is not supposed to go beyond that limit, and supposedly, if it doesn't, we'll all be safe. What seems to have been forgotten here is the fact that these poisons are in such widespread use, you can't just check the content in any one food at a time and feel safe. You have to get out a calculator and add up all the residues in all the foods you ingest during a day, and then watch that ephemeral safety fly out the window.
Now before you dismiss that last statement as alarmist mumbo-jumbo, know this. The National Research Council came to the same conclusion in 1993. They declared that it was probable "children were ingesting enough pesticides to harm them, even though their food was within Federal limits." Our future, our precious children being exposed to god knows what? Hold on a minute! Who says this threat will limit itself to the children? (Read my entry from January 15th.) Multisystem atrophy is a "syndrome" as yet, meaning that medical science knows far too little about it. One thing that has been suggested about it is there may be a tie-in to environmental toxins.
Now, having said all that, I have just one last question to ask. Are "certified organic" foods beginning to look better and better to you? They are to me.
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