> ...consider how long we have know that tobacco is
> seriously deleterious to our health -- yet it hasn't been banned (yet).
> I readily admit a major difference exists between tobacco and pesticide
> residues
Tobacco won´t be banned, but lawsuits will drive it out of business. The
precedent has now been set, and eventually toxic agrochemicals will face the same
music. At some point, the risk of financial loss will become greater for the
user of toxic agrochemicals than the for those who use prefer more sane methods,
although at present the odds for greater monetary rewards are found on the
reverse side. I suppose if governments provide the forum and mechanisms for
seeking redress, that may be enough if enough of the right people act in enough
right ways.
> ...ultimately, some sort of tradeoff must be
> made. If you think the harm will fall on your family, you will insist on
> more stringent criteria for approval; if you stand to benefit (or, at least,
> not to suffer harm) you will be less likely to insist on the most stringent
> criteria.
> Government is ripped and torn between these conflicting viewpoints all
> the time. The big companies can marshall the resources to lobby for
> approval of the substances that give them their profits. The recent
> fiasco with the organic rules shows, however, that the voice of the
> public can carry weight, too -- the trick is to mobilize enough folks and
> get the opinion to the right place. Just remember that, while the
> Monsantos of the world may have a lot of $$$, USDA saw 200,000
> voters saying they didn't like the proposed oganic rule. I heard
> somewhere that legislators often assume that each individual letter they
> get (barring the form-letter types), represents an opinion of 10 other
> constituents who didn't get fired up enough to write.
> The moral of the story is: don't give up; keep the pressure on; progress
> may seem slow and there will be setbacks, but those politicians
> want to get re-elected, so they will listen if we speak loudly enough. The
> bureacracy, in the end, has to do what its political masters mandate.
>
> BOB
--Douglas M. Hinds, Director General Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural A.C. (CeDeCoR) (Center for Community and Rural Development) - (non profit) Petronilo Lopez No. 73 (Street Address) Apdo. Postal No. 61 (Mailing Address) Cd. Guzman, Jalisco 49000 MEXICO U.S. Voice Mailbox: 1 630 300 0550 (e-mail linked) U.S. Fax Mailbox: 1 630 300 0555 (e-mail linked) Tel. & Fax: 011 523 412 6308 (direct) e-mail: cedecor@ipnet.com.mx, dmhinds@acnet.net, dhinds@ucol.mx
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