PESTICIDES AND FARMERS: LIFE AFTER NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL OF AMERICA V. EPA

摘要

Farmers currently benefit from exemptions in numerous environmental laws. However, Rachel Carson did not exempt farmers from her poetic assault against pesticides—all pesticides have consequences regardless of the applicator's choice of livelihood. She apparently did not see a reason to exempt the farmer who sprays his crops with harmful pesticides. Costs associated with environmental harms are often ignored when assessing the benefit of pesticides. Furthermore, farmers and farm workers are at a very high risk of pesticide poisoning and serious illness because they directly handle seventy to eighty percent of all pesticidesused. So while farmers think they are prospering from exemptions, they are actually suffering, and they are not suffering alone. They are suffering along with their families, especially their children, their community, and their environment.