4 ms·
Of course the future is uncertain. I don't know that if my going to work tomorrow is not going to rip a hole in the space time continuum, but I'll risk it anyw
by gravelc 7y ago
Of course the future is uncertain. I don't know that if my going to work tomorrow is not going to rip a hole in the space time continuum, but I'll risk it anyway. I know that's being facetious, but the point remains. There are clear and obvious dangers with current practices. They are not sustainable. One can never say for certainty that any change may not have unintended consequences, but in this case, they are being actively identified and mitigated so a repeat of issues associated with synthetic and organic pesticide is less likely.
For me (and this is only my opinion), a highly targeted dsRNA, which is completely organic (it's not synthesised), has no synthetic modifications, is present in massive quantities in nature, is consumed every day by every person on earth if they're had fruit or vegetables, does not persist in the environment, is likely much safer than any existing pesticide, synthetic or organic.
As for selective pressure, current broad spectrum pesticides, synthetic or organic, would cause greater ecological disruption I would think. Again, my point is that this is an attempt to remove that pressure, not add to it.
Saying it's all too hard to predict, so let's do nothing, just doesn't seem sensible to me. The risks of not acting seem clear and obvious. Have a look at the talks in the OECD link I provided, and you'll see there's a pretty precautionary approach being taken. It's not a case of 'let's have a go and see if it works. What could go wrong?'
- superpermutat0r 7y agoNot that we do nothing. We can ban pesticides, return back to heuristic based agriculture where mistakes are localized and inventions are robust and of limited scale. Pesticides are mostly used for crops that humans do not eat directly. Food safety was never about beans or sweet potato or other efficient plant sources of protein and calories, it was about wheat, soybean and corn. Their introduction, just like the introduction of GMOs is a result of a livestock agriculture lobbyists that made sure to increase yield of meat and other animal based products by promoting the use of aggressive compounds. These products are not a strategy for food safety but for luxurious and wasteful eating.
- gravelc 7y agoBan all pesticides? Every single one of them, synthetic and organic alike? That would be interesting. Pretending that biotic stresses simply don't exist is....umm..novel.
- slips 7y agoLike the article touched on, there are regenerative practices that do not require pesticides. Frankly, pesticides are a human convenience. Utterly unnecessary for survival. If we weren't focusing on mass producing food, largely unused to directly feed people, we wouldn't need to spray everything with poison to keep things easy and profitable. Trying to find a "smarter" way to poison things is exactly the status quo and it will lead nowhere good.
- avip 7y agoI think OP is right suggesting this could be possible. But (my addition) only within scope of deconstructing the entire agriculture system as-is (and was for decades), and replacing it with something else. IMO this will be forced upon us (read: our children) anyhow. So better start early.
- danmaz74 7y agoActually, wheat has been the staple for peoples living near the Mediterranean for thousands of years.
- superpermutat0r 7y agoInterestingly, they have raised it without pesticides for that many years too.
- bryanlarsen 7y agoThey have used pest control measures for that entire time. Primarily tillage which contributed heavily to the desertification of the area.
- superpermutat0r 7y agoYeah, of course there are going to be pests. They used trial and error and the errors were local.
- hoseja 7y agoMost of China, India and Africa will then starve.
- petre 7y agoMonocultures are the problem, not your work. Your work will eventually impove current issues that we have with chemical intensive monocultures, yet it will be business as usual. https://grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-04-13-big-ag-washing-away-midwest-topsoil/ https://grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-04-13-big-ag-w...