by Anthea Torr
There is a vast array of pesticides used in intensive agriculture, many of which are extremely toxic, causing cancers as well as other illnesses. They are used in monoculture farming methods where large tracts of the same plant type are grown. Intensive agricultural methods cause high levels of pesticides and nitrates to filter through into our drinking water via water courses and then into the sea where they affect sea life.
The food we eat is sprayed with pesticides, and fertilisers and poisons are added to the soil, which is then taken up into the plant. So even if you wash a non-organically grown plant you will be eating the residues in the flesh of the plant. Animals are dosed with an array of chemicals, hormones and antibiotics to make them grow faster and keep diseases under control. This presents serious health risks to our people and our planet. There is also little knowledge of the long-term effects of these compounds or of the ‘cocktail’ effect (the way in which their toxicity may be increased by mixing them together).
What is organic?
‘Organic farming delivers the highest quality, best-tasting food, produced without artificial chemicals or genetic modification, and with respect for animal welfare and the environment, while helping to maintain the landscape and rural communities’ Source: http://www.soilassociation.org/
Reproduced with kind permission from Natural Collection and dotguides: http://www.naturalcollection.com/
Why go organic?
Pesticide Farming:
Organic living is becoming an increasingly obvious choice. People today are more aware of the damage caused by the pesticides used in agriculture. Whilst pesticides are initially very effective, soon the pests can become resistant and stronger pesticides are required to achieve the same results. The unnaturally high yields can also strip the soil of its nutrients, until eventually the soil even becomes barren and uneconomical to farm. The developing world faces an agricultural crisis in the face of this vicious circle; the use of pesticides in these countries is unregulated, and with no governmental price support, the increasing yields achieved using pesticides have forced prices down, forcing other farmers to use these chemicals too. Now there are farmers who are heavily indebted to pesticide suppliers and landlords, often with little hope for a way out.
Pesticides and the Planet:
Many pesticides are known irritants and suspected or known carcinogens. Two of the most prevalent chemicals used on cotton include tribufos, a defoliant that can cause respiratory problems and considered a likely human carcinogen by the Environment Protection Agency, and methyl parathion, (one of the pesticides which flowed into the Big Nance Creek, Alabama, in 1995, contaminating the water supply and killing over 245,000 fish). 1 Pesticides have been shown to enter the food chain and disrupt the natural balance of the ecosystem. They can be carried through the atmosphere too, and traces of the pesticide DDT (banned in the 1970s) have been found in the fat of arctic penguins.
Notes:
1. From the Pesticide Action Network North America website (www.panna.org).
© Dotguides 2001
Pesticides and you
Pesticides don’t only harm the earth. By eating or absorbing pesticides you are exposing your body to its effects. The chemicals used do not always fully wash out, so any non-organic foods you eat place traces of these chemicals directly into your system. Some sources report that 60% of field workers in the cotton industry show symptoms of permanent poisoning. Equally worrying is that these pesticides have not only been linked to declining sperm counts, they have also been found in the milk of animals and nursing mothers.
For a detailed list of individual pesticides and their impact on human health, please visit http://www.sustainablecotton.org/
In contrast, organically produced foods and clothing are grown by working more in harmony with nature. Living an organic life is most certainly about being healthy, but it is also very much about re-creating a healthy planet for the future.
Organic gardening
Organic gardening is often seen as a new, ‘alternative’ way to care for your garden, but organic gardening is an effective, sustainable form of cultivation used since man began to harvest the land. Organic gardening utilises the fact that all living things are inter-dependent – there is no place in organic gardening for synthetic treatments or the ’speed and greed’ based attitude that so frequently accompanies them.
Organic gardeners recognise that the evolution of our planet has brought with it natural cycles and biological rhythms of ebb and flow and that organic gardening attempts to understand and foster these systems, so that they can encourage the natural cycles of growth and restraint. Many people believe that organic gardening will involve far more time and effort, but in fact the basic philosophy behind organic gardening is that you let the garden do the hard work for you: feed the plant and that plant will become dependent on you and your food, but help nourish the soil and that same plant will develop a natural strength and resilience against diseases or pests. It is an interesting point that organic gardens and farms are usually filled with bird-song and wildlife, suggesting just how subtle and complex our ecosystems are.
It is the norm these days to douse your garden with a vast array of chemical sprays and synthetic composts and throw out any waste. This waste could easily be turned into nutrient-rich natural compost which would save the expense of buying composts as well as reduce the space required for landfill. But, far worse is the impact of the pesticides we use. To assume that pesticides are really an agricultural concern, and not a threat to a home gardener would be way off the mark; in fact, suburban areas in America have been found to receive up to six times the rate of pesticides per acre as farmland. 1
Bob Flowerdew, the well known organic gardener and writer, gave us this five-step plan to organic gardening – it’s easier than you think!
1. Recycle all garden and household wastes for compost and reuse. A household and garden that puts valuable material into the dustbin is throwing away hard won fertility. Anything that has ever lived can be converted back into fertility with a compost heap and using this to grow crops ensures their health, and that of the household.
2. Stop using soluble fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides! These are not at all necessary anyway; most crops and flowers need no such treatments at all. (To dispose of chemicals you no longer wish to use, contact your local council for advice, please don’t pour them down drains.)
3. Consume wisely and save nature. Stop using peat, which comes from important wildlife sites and avoid plastic products wherever natural alternatives are available.
4. Grow healthy crops and flowers with companion plants, and encourage wildlife to outmanoeuvre pests and diseases. Maximise your natural ecosystem checks and balances by growing a wider variety of plants, especially more trees and shrubs. This helps create more habitats, especially if water is supplied with ponds and pools. Make nest boxes and nest sites to bring in more helpful little friends.
5. And remember; seeds want to come up and plants want to grow, it’s what they do naturally. We simply ensure they get the right conditions and then they do everything else for us!
Notes:
1. Ogden, Shep. Straight Ahead Organic, pp6. Totnes: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1999.
© Dotguides 2001
