Poison in the Fields: Agriculture as Chemical Warfare

http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/22/poison-in-the-fields-agriculture-as-chemical-warfare/
Date Written:  2017-09-22
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21414

Highly poisonous chemicals ( that were originally designed as weapons of war) have been allowed for many decades, under successive Government policies, to be sprayed on crop fields all over the UK, and with literally no protection at all for the many millions of rural citizens living or attending schools in the locality of such chemically treated areas. (In fact, there is actually no protection for rural residents and communities in the majority of other countries around the world either!)

Abstract: 
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Except:

This chemical warfare in the countryside – or as it is more commonly known 'conventional farming' – has resulted in thousands of residents suffering devastating, even fatal, consequences on their health and lives.

This can be seen in the truly horrific testimonies from affected residents in an ongoing petition which calls on the Prime Minister Theresa May, and DEFRA Secretary Michael Gove, to urgently secure the protection of rural residents and communities by banning all crop spraying and use of any pesticides near residents' homes, schools, and children's playgrounds.

The petition has been signed by a number of prominent figures including Hillsborough QC Michael Mansfield, Jonathon Porritt, Gordon Roddick, Ben Goldsmith, and politicians Caroline Lucas and Jenny Jones, among others.