Taxpayers Fund Pro-Pesticide PR Campaign

Submitted by Anne Landman on

Mixing Lasso, a Monsanto herbicideA California group that represents large produce growers, marketers and the suppliers who sell them pesticides and fertilizer, is getting $180,000 in federal funds for a PR campaign to combat critics of the pesticide industry. The recipient of the funds, the Alliance for Food and Farming, is a front group for pro-pesticide interests. The grant is from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (via the U.S. Department of Agriculture) to help "correct misconceptions about pesticide residues" on food, and "generate more balanced media reporting and change public perception of the safety of produce when it comes to pesticide residues." AFF recently launched an attack on the Environmental Working Group's Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which keeps people informed about the levels of pesticide residues found on various types of commonly-purchased produce. The Shoppers Guide contains a wallet-sized list of the "Clean 15" -- the top 15 types of produce that are lowest in pesticides, and the "Dirty Dozen" -- twelve types that are better bought organic. The Guide has been credited with increasing sales of organic produce. AFF counters the Guide by arguing that the real problem is that a fear of pesticides is making Americans eat less produce. AFF even started a new Web site, SafeFruitsAndVeggies.com, that argues directly against the value of what AFF calls the "Dirty Dozen List."

Main Source: 
Huffington Post, September 28, 2010
Topics: 
Food Safety
Corporate Campaigns
Health

Comments

Lisa Graves replied on

If you posted a comment in the past 24 hours, please accept my sincere apology that it has not been posted. They were accidentally deleted due to a typing error on my part. I'm sorry folks! Lisa

sakib mirza replied on

wow.. actually i have been sffering a great loss due to this pesticides and i have been changed diffrent things to get rid of them but i could not get..can any one explains me how to use a correct pesticides?

khim cole replied on

hi,
I'm an environmentalist. Pesticide can really damage human and environmental health. With regards to human beings, health is greatly affected with the effects of residues. These effect may vary from cancer, chronic and acute diseases because of the compounds that were added to the pesticides. We might not feel the effects immediately because some compounds may be safe for certain levels, however continuous exposure can harm us already because some compounds are capable of bio-accumulation or bioconcentration. This process occurs when our body accumulates toxic substances that can be found on pesticides, from time to time, your body will suffer from chronic poisoning. That's why concerned institutions monitor the levels so consumers won't be affected. This is only one effect of pesticides to human beings.

Another component that can be affected is our environment. Pesticides can leave residues such as salts to the soil or to our farms. This process is called salinization. Salinization can affect plant growth which eventually contribute to lower yield.

Nowadays, there are alternative ways in order to reduce or mitigate the impacts of pesticides to both human beings and to the environment. Instead of using pesticides, effective pesticide management can be implemented, this includes proper timing of pesticide application, using proper amount of pesticides to avoid immunity development of pests or the use of natural pesticides such as planting of allelophatic plants or beneficial insects that target pests not your crops and other practices. Using these practices can mitigate or control the detrimental effects of pesticides to human beings as well as the environment.

I only included here some practices, there are still a lot more practices that can be more effective and even localized.

Anonymous replied on

can you provide where this picture was taken? Is the person a monsanto employee and what type of crop were they spraying with the herbicide?
Thank you