The ‘Pesticide Atlas’ is something everyone should read, but probably not just before bedtime. The result of a huge amount of research by EU-based environmental organisations, it tells of dangerous substances, corporate profits, severe consequences and ecological armageddon, covering a raft of topics with useful infographics. It warns of a poisoned, famine-filled future if nothing is done. But these warnings have been sounded for three generations now and, despite this, global pesticide use has grown by 80% since 1990, and the resulting effects on populations of birds, butterflies and bees has been devastating.
In beer and in honey, on fruit and on vegetables, on playgrounds’ grass, in urine and even in the air – traces of pesticides used in agriculture can be found everywhere. That pesticides deteriorate human health, biodiversity, water, and soil is not a new insight by any means.
Foreword | The Pesticide Atlas
As early as 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published her globally acclaimed book “Silent Spring” in which she described the harmful effects of pesticide use. Her work has been groundbreaking for the environmental movement and led to the ban of highly toxic chemicals such as DDT. But today, sixty years after Carson’s book was released, greater amounts of pesticides are being used worldwide than ever before despite stricter approval regulations…