15
Apr
Beyond Pesticides Makes Science-based Case that It Is Imperative to Phase Out Pesticides in a Decade
The organic solutions to problems highlighted in the latest issue of Pesticides and You—based on the importance of healthy ecosystems and public health protection—are within reach, and the data creates an imperative for action now that phases out pesticides within a decade, while ensuring food productivity, resilient land management, and safe food, air, and water.
(Beyond Pesticides, April 15, 2022) The current issue of Pesticides and You, RETROSPECTIVE 2021: A Call to Urgent Action, is a look at a year of science, policy, and advocacy that informs both the existential problems that the U.S. and the world are facing due to toxic pesticide dependency, and solutions that can be adopted now. The information in this issue captures the body of science that empowers action at the local, state, and federal level, and provides a framework for challenging toxic pesticide use and putting alternatives in place. The issue finds that 2021 was a pivotal year in both defining the problem and advancing the solution.
This year in review is divided into nine sections that provide an accounting of scientific findings documenting serious pesticide-induced health and environmental effects, disproportionate risk to people of color and those with preexisting conditions, regulatory failures, at the same time it provides documentation on the viability of organic practices that offer a solution. Dependency on toxic, fossil fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers contributes to the existential crises of human pesticide induced or exacerbated illness, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency, and calls for urgent action to eliminate their use.
With the April 4 release of the United Nation’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres said that the lack of action puts us “firmly on track towards an unlivable world. We are on a fast track to climate disaster.” The science in this issue of Pesticides and You identifies the contribution of fossil fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers to the climate emergency, human and ecosystem health threats, and biodiversity collapse.
According to Beyond Pesticides Executive Director Jay Feldman, “This issue of Pesticides and You is both a jarring documentation of the threats that we face from toxic, fossil fuel-based pesticides and the uplifting opportunities that we have to transition society to sustainable practices. This recounting of one year provides a framework for moving ahead—given existing scientific analyses of the problem, identified regulatory failure to address the seriousness of the threats, and effective action now available to us for a livable future.”
RETROSPECTIVE 2021: A Call to Urgent Action can be accessed here. For more details, see Beyond Pesticides website.
