Fearing Food
：Risk, Health and Environment
Publication subTitle ：Risk, Health and Environment
Author： Morris Julian;Bate Roger
Publisher： Elsevier Science
Publication year： 2012
E-ISBN: 9780080984902
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780750642224
P-ISBN(Hardback): 9780750642224
Subject： X592 agricultural chemicals, toxic chemical pollution and its prevention
Language： ENG
Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.
Description
Environmental and consumer activists have for a long time blamed pesticides, fertilizers and other aspects of intensive farming for causing environmental degradation and human disease. Yet, as the authors in this book show, intensive farming has enabled growth in food production at a rate greater than population growth, thereby ensuring that people are better fed than ever before, whilst simultaneously limiting the effect of farming on the environment.
The authors debunk numerous pervasive myths, including:
Myth: Pesticides are bad for the environment and bad for human health
Fact: Synthetic pesticides enable the production of large quantities of fresh fruit and vegetables, which means that people are better protected against cancer. In addition, the synthetic pesticides themselves are often less toxic than natural pesticides. Overall, synthetic pesticides present a net gain in health terms.
Myth: Antibiotic resistance in animals is spreading to humans.
Fact: The use of antibiotics in young animals keeps meat prices low and does not materially contribute to antibiotic resistance in humans.
Myth: Nitrate fertilizers are a threat to human health.
Fact: Nitrate fertilizers are probably beneficial to human health.
Myth: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are bad for the environment and bad for our health.
Fact: Many environmental problems associated with agriculture can be reduced by using GMOs, which have the potential t
Chapter