Monday, October 1, 2007

food for thought

this was in Good Magazine:

Pounds of pesticides used to grow the cotton for one pair of non-organic jeans

Number of children examined in an Indiana University study that concluded that children born in spring perform worse in math and English because they were conceived in summer, when pesticide use and exposure is highest

Times greater the incidence of children born with autism to mothers living within 500 meters of California fields sprayed with pesticides than the rate of autism births nationwide

Number of fish killed in 1995 when a heavy rainstorm caused runoff from Alabama cotton fields into a nearby creek

Estimated percentage of pesticides sprayed from a crop duster that blow away rather than reach the ground

Number of the 9 most common pesticides used on cotton that are classified as "known carcinogens" by the EPA

Number of years it takes to develop a new pesticide for use on cotton, at a cost of $100 million
Number of years it takes weevils to become immune to a new pesticide

Number of elementary-school children whose urine revealed the presence of pesticides at the beginning of an Emory University study
Number of those same children whose urine contained any detectable traces of pesticides after four days of eating organic food

Number of people who die in the US each year from cancer related to pesticide exposure
Number of people in the US killed each year by assault rifles

Number of people in the US who routinely drink water contaminated with carcinogenic herbicides

Organic foods and clothing may be more expensive. And we don't have a lot of money. But when we can, we're going to try to stay away from pesticides. It's some pretty scary stuff. We also plan on not conceiving in the summer. Yikes.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey where did you get this info? Just curious.
There is this show on Discovery Health called 'Living Fresh with Sara Snow.' It's really good and it deals with a lot of these issues and gives tips for living organically without going bankrupt. You should check it out!
I love you guys! Hope everything is going well!
Amanda C

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