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TODAY Wednesday 1 October 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: Pesticides in California

The world capital of organic produce is the State of California. Acreage tilled organically is up; gross sales are up; profits are up.

Some of this growth can be ascribed to the expansion of direct-marketing schemes that link organic farmer to health-conscious consumer. But not much. The demand for organics has increasingly been met through large vertically-integrated operations (like Bread & Circus) that offer shoppers the convenience of supermarkets and the savings of economies of scale. According to Marty Strange, organics occupy a profitable but limited "premium niche" in an overall food production system; ownership of wholesale and retail systems increasingly are being and will be consolidated under the control of conventional food giants. This was not the social arrangement that many organic farmers had in mind when they entered the life of the soil, but what can you do?

The niche-ness of organics was dramatized two weeks ago, when the Pesticide Action Network released a report that showed that pesticide use in California has skyrocketed in recent years. During the same period (1991 through 1995) that witnessed the takeoff of the organic market, California farmers increased their use by 129% of a list of cancer-linked chemicals that PAN considers to be particularly bad actors. State statisticians agreed with the figures but disputed the implication that anyone's health had been endangered in the process. Besides, they pointed out, the rise in pesticide use best can be understood in the context of expanded acreage, unusual weather patterns, and some particularly rough pest visitations.

No one certifiably knows about the health implications of such an increase, but anyone would be excused to wonder if there might not be some links between the growth in the use of agriculture chemicals and the growth in the incidences of certain cancers, particularly childhood cancers and cancers of the adult reproductive system. Is it just fatty diets and sedentary habits? Maybe, but a 129% pesticide increase in less than five years is troubling until we learn confidently that it's not. It also makes one realize that, for the foreseeable future at least, organics will remain a welcome but relatively small elite fraction of the overall national -- and global -- system by which urban populations keep together body and soul.

 

TODAY ON THE SITE:

For a thoroughgoing exploration of some of the most worrisome of ag chemicals, turn to Carolyn Strange's coverage of endocrine disrupters in our In The Trenches section.

 

Recent "Today" columns:

9/30: Climate Policy: No Pain, No Gain
9/29: Climate Policy: No Pain, Much Gain
9/26: Darwin and Bug Spray
9/25: The Cooling of Los Angeles
9/24: The Boy Who Stalks California
9/23: Fire!
9/22: More Logging and Fishing
9/19: "Here, Sir, the People Rule"
9/18: Dr. Pangloss and the Land Mine Treaty
9/17: Outsourcing Pollution

To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.