39 points

You know what I hate about this? In the past, you could very easily vote with your wallet by spending it on organic food, instead of this poison laden crap.

But these days, food is so expensive that very few have that option, so we pay a premium to these companies who really don’t give a damn about us, the planet, or biodiversity.

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28 points

You know what I hate about this? Somewhere someone is getting paid to allow the ag industry to slide on requirements, with the end result of people being poisoned. And we have zero say or representation.

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9 points

The only say we have anymore is to do something about it.

Then they call those people eco-terrorists.

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4 points

Well in the land of the fee, you might have about 50 000 say in total to be divided up to what you need (a bunch of that going straight to your landlord or mortgage company anyway), while big agriculture firms have 10 000 000s of say dedicated to the policy initiatives they want.

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6 points

That’s a really long way to call me poor 😂

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1 point

Well done. 👏

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Also there are plenty of organic pesticides fwiw

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5 points

Yes, if they are even used. Many organic farms don’t use anything and/or use considerably less toxic versions to control pests.

When i was able to afford organic produce on a regular basis , i was getting them from a place that sourced from local farms, and none used pesticides at the time. Sure, you find the occasional bug in your lettuce here and there, but nothing that a good wash couldn’t fix. 😂

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3 points

Local farmers, sure. But from what I know, industrial farmers all use pesticides unless if it’s grown indoors. And a lot of the organic pesticides are more dangerous than artificial ones. Especially since the farmers need to use more.

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1 point

It seems like you can still vote with your wallet. It just takes harder voting.

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-1 points

…instead of this poison laden crap.

The dose makes the poison. They’re taking a science-based process to update the maximum residue limit.

…don’t give a damn about us, the planet, or biodiversity.

Significantly more land would have to be allocated to agriculture to produce the same amount of food without pesticides. That’s not good for the planet or biodiversity.

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8 points

Yeah but what if by increasing its usage, it means that you get more into the underground water supply and you end up with elevated concentration in drinking water because of this?

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-3 points

If it’s dangerous then obviously stop doing it. But use science to test your hypothesis

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2 points

Stop saying “science-based process,” Greg.

“Safe Food Matters president Mary Lou McDonald agreed. Accessing the health and safety data the PMRA uses to determine MRLs is challenging due to stringent limits on what data can be seen — and shared — by the public to protect pesticide companies’ intellectual property. She noted issues with the accuracy and relevance of the data used by the government in its assessment process.

Moreover, she noted the PMRA and pesticide manufacturers have a close working relationship — an issue also flagged by Lanphear.“

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-1 points

The term “science-based process” is directly from the “Government of Canada moves forward on commitments to strengthen the pesticide review process” press release. I don’t believe in anti-science conspiracy theories. If there are issues with the data being used to make these decisions then that should be addressed but there is no evidence of that. You quoted the opinion of a trained lawyer from an anti pesticide charity, not a scientist.

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22 points

I understand to a degree allowing an increase in pesticide use (though that’ll seriously impact the water quality due to runoff), the only thing that the industry needs to do to reduce pesticide residue is to just spray the produce with water.

It’s just a way to cheapen out the process at the expense of people’s health. And I don’t just mean the end shoppers’, but also all the industry workers along the way. While I imagine the amount isn’t a lot, but an increase in pesticide residue that makes it all the way through the supply chain increases how much the workers are exposed to as they handle the produce.

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4 points

That’s a very good point. Wasn’t there a study somewhere that found out that there were levels beyond what’s accepted in mothers’ breast milk of the pesticide called Roundup? And the reason was that the water supply was completely contaminated?

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7 points

I seem to recall something like that.

Frankly speaking, I don’t think there’s any actively used pesticide that is particularly fine to ingest on a regular basis, even at extremely low levels. That stuff circulates throughout your entire body, and is particularly harmful to both fetuses and breastfeeding infants. And I imagine that pregnant/breastfeeding women are the group that is most conscious about eating healthily, which means tons of fresh fruits and vegetables.

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7 points

We don’t know the full impacts of the majority of our industrialized food system. Emulsifiers, perservatives, flavouring agents and pesticides all are relatively new and their effects, impacts, build ups, and mixtures in the human body are not fully studied or understood yet.

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2 points
*

the only thing that the industry needs to do to reduce pesticide residue is to just spray the produce with water.

Water is often the enemy you are applying the pesticide to combat; a practice known as desiccation. Granted, it seems everyone’s favourite desiccant is no longer on the table for modification here.

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3 points

They might just mean wash the final product before shipping it out to the grocery stores.

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2 points
*

I see you’ve never worked with flour before. Once it meets water there is no turning back.

Granted, if you catch it earlier, wheat berries aren’t that hard to run through the dryer, assuming you accept the environmental and financial cost. Get into beans, though… Good luck.

If you just mean something like Apples, which don’t need to be dry, who doesn’t already wash it before consumption already?

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1 point
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Deleted by creator
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21 points

Why settle for being slightly better than America when you could be just as bad?

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17 points

I don’t want more pesticides in my food. But more importantly we wanna keep the bees and other insects alive. If they disappear, we disappear. Simple as that

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11 points

The guy in the photo can’t even be bothered to wear his respirator correctly.

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