Pesticide pollution

Fifteen midwestern towns and cities are suing a weedkiller manufacturer over drinking water contamination.

The weedkiller, Atrazine, is a hormone-disruptor. Studies show that it can turn male frogs into females.

It has been banned in Europe, but about 80 million pounds are used in the U.S. each year, mainly in cornfields, according to a report on Democracy Now.

The lawsuit was filed by towns and cities in the cornbelt states of Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa. They are concerned that the run-off from the cornfields will have harmful long-term effects on residents.

Last week I posted a list of fruit and vegetables that Environmental Working Group has found to be safe to consume even if not organic. These items might be safe to eat, but they are not good for the earth.

Eating organic is not just about keeping our bodies healthy. It’s also about keeping our communities healthy. The chemical pesticides and fertilizers used on non-organic crops get into the groundwater. They move through the ecosystem, doing damage like distorting the sexual characteristics of wildlife, or killing honeybees and other beneficial insects.

I wonder what long-term effect they have on the farmworkers who apply the chemicals and then harvest the produce. (Don't forget, we've only been using chemical fertilizers and pesticides since chemical weapons were banned after World War I. The weapons manufacturers needed to find other uses for their poisons, so chemical warfare in the vegetable patch began.)

This is another reason I eat organic. I don’t want to be responsible for any of these chemicals harming people or the earth.