08-25-2015, 06:32 AM
From the article:
In Kauai, chemical companies Dow, BASF, Syngenta and DuPont spray 17 times more pesticide per acre (mostly herbicides, along with insecticides and fungicides) than on ordinary cornfields in the US mainland
About a fourth of the total are called Restricted Use Pesticides because of their harmfulness. Just in Kauai, 18 tons - mostly atrazine, paraquat (both banned in Europe) and chlorpyrifos - were applied in 2012.
The chemical companies that grow the corn in land previously used for sugar refuse to disclose with any precision which chemicals they use, where and in what amounts, but they insist the pesticides are safe
Think about that for a moment: pesticides banned by other countries, applied at a much higher rate than anywhere else, with the usual "trust us -- it's safe".
... the town's main hospital, which was run until recently by Dow AgroSciences' former chief lobbyist in Honolulu.
The hospital had less-than-zero incentive to investigate any claims that pesticide use might be a problem. GEE I WONDER WHY THERE'S NO STATISTICAL EVIDENCE.
In Kauai, chemical companies Dow, BASF, Syngenta and DuPont spray 17 times more pesticide per acre (mostly herbicides, along with insecticides and fungicides) than on ordinary cornfields in the US mainland
About a fourth of the total are called Restricted Use Pesticides because of their harmfulness. Just in Kauai, 18 tons - mostly atrazine, paraquat (both banned in Europe) and chlorpyrifos - were applied in 2012.
The chemical companies that grow the corn in land previously used for sugar refuse to disclose with any precision which chemicals they use, where and in what amounts, but they insist the pesticides are safe
Think about that for a moment: pesticides banned by other countries, applied at a much higher rate than anywhere else, with the usual "trust us -- it's safe".
... the town's main hospital, which was run until recently by Dow AgroSciences' former chief lobbyist in Honolulu.
The hospital had less-than-zero incentive to investigate any claims that pesticide use might be a problem. GEE I WONDER WHY THERE'S NO STATISTICAL EVIDENCE.