The Pesticide Question Environment, Economics and Ethics [Paperback]

Pesticides have contributed impressively to our present-day agricultural productivity, but at the same time they are at the center of serious concerns about safety, health, and the environment. Increasingly, the public wonders whether the benefits of pesticides - `the perfect red apple' - outweigh the costs of environmental pollution, human illness, and the destruction of animals and our habitat. Scientists and government officials are suspected of promoting commercial interests rather than protecting human welfare.Pesticides have contributed impressively to our present-day agricultural productivity, but at the same time they are at the center of serious concerns about safety, health, and the environment. Increasingly, the public wonders whether the benefits of pesticides - `the perfect red apple' - outweigh the costs of environmental pollution, human illness, and the destruction of animals and our habitat. Scientists and government officials are suspected of promoting commercial interests rather than protecting human welfare.Contributors. Preface. Introduction: 1. New directions for pesticide use; H. Lehman. I: Social and environmental effects of pesticides: 2. The impact of pesticides on the environment; C.A. Edwards. 3. Assessment of environmental and economic impacts of pesticide use; D. Pimentel, H. Acquay, M. Biltonen, P. Rice, M. Silva, J. Nelson, V. Lipner, S. Giordano, A. Horowitz, M. D'Amore. 4. The relationship between `cosmetic standards' for foods and pesticide use; D. Pimentel, C. Kirby, A. Shroff. 5. Risk of pesticide-related health effects: an epidemiologic approach; S. Schuman. 6. Pesticides and natural toxicants in foods; T. Culliney, D. Pimentel, M.H. Pimentel. II: Methods and effects of reducing pesticide use: 7. Socioeconomic impacts and social implications of reducing pesticide and agricultural chemical use in the United States; F.H. Buttel. 8. Swedish pesticide policy in a changing environment; O. Pettersson. 9. Rl“'