Pesticides are good for profits, not for people | Letters

It's time to clean up agriculture and adopt a non-chemical farming policy, says Georgina DownsSo the head of Syngenta, the world's biggest pesticide maker, urges the continued use of pesticides in agriculture (Pesticide maker says curbs would lead to food crisis in 10 years, 18 June). This is hardly breaking news. Can anybody really be surprised at such a stance from any of the companies that produce these chemicals when their primary concern is to protect profits and to keep pesticides being used.Considering sales of pesticides in the UK each year are worth about ?627m and the world pesticides industry has been valued at $58bn, this is very big business with powerful, vested interests. Continue reading...