Dave1949; What concerns me is now they are saying some of these so called "safe" chemicals{of the past} may be the cause of some disorders, autism, retardation etc... My question to myself is allways the same..........Is it worth it and can we really trust the powers to be???? I have children and some day may have grand children. Is their health worth the risk of getting rid of weeds with chemicals? In a perfect world maybe certain plants will only grow in their proper place{according to humans}. I quess as long as I'm hanging out on mother earth her rules are in play. Besides a little work never hurt anyone, just look around at all the fast food joints today.
Well put. I feel much the same way. Is it really worth applying poison for the sake of a weed or a few too many cattails. It isn't like I'm not going to eat if I leave them be. Plus, what the real risk is isn't known, or those who know aren't telling. Its a story that has repeats itself, tobacco, asbestos, etc. You can't drink a glass of water from many public water supplies without ingesting some extra hormones. It's doing funny things to the fish's sexual organs.
It gets tougher with large scale agriculture. It's a big, risky and costly effort to transition to organic growing techniques. I think a person trying to do that has to rethink about everything they have learned. What farmer these days can take a financial hit for 2-4 years while they convert over?
It has to be a regional effort to work well. I saw small (2 acres) vineyards in Germany that were organic, but surrounded by non-organic vineyards for miles up and down the Mosel River valley. It wasn't pretty. Those vines had lots of problems. They studied it there and came to the conclusion it works a lot better if an entire area participates. That's the only way to get nature back in balance. Otherwise the organic vines look like a free lunch to everything around.
Of course, Monsanto has sued farms for patent infringement regarding Roundup Ready GMO seed technology. These efforts also work against farmers wanting to get off the chemicals.
Goliath and David: Monsanto's Legal Battles against Farmers - SourceWatch
Monsanto sued a local Maine dairy for having a label on their milk carton stating the milk came from cows raised without artificial hormones. Guess who the world's largest supplier of agricultural artificial hormones is? Talk about loss of freedoms.
Monsanto is not a good corporate citizen, I don't believe a word they say.
Dave.