The United States allows the use of 85 pesticides that have been banned or are being phased out in the European Union, China or Brazil, according to a peer-reviewed study published today by the academic journal Environmental Health.
In 2016 the United States used 322 million pounds of pesticides that are banned in the E.U., accounting for more than one-quarter of all agricultural pesticide use in this country, according to the study. U.S. applicators also used 40 million pounds of pesticides that are banned or being phased out in China and 26 million pounds of pesticides that are banned or being phased out in Brazil.
“It’s appalling the U.S. lags so far behind these major agricultural powers in banning harmful pesticides,” said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the study. “The fact that we’re still using hundreds of millions of pounds of poisons other nations have wisely rejected as too risky spotlights our dangerously lax approach to phasing out hazardous pesticides.”
The study compared the approval status of more than 500 pesticides used […]
I am appalled when I enter a Lowe’s store and the first thing I see is bottles of Roundup stacked in a prominent place where people cannot miss seeing them. I have complained to Lowe’s about the harmful effects of this toxic substance, but to no avail; they will not stop selling it or at least move it to a less conspicuous area. It shows their lack of intelligence about the effects of the substance for which the company is now being sued for selling because of these horrible effects.
Our society is dominated by corporations with the ethics of the greediest sociopaths and more money than any human. It’s called capitalism.