The Myths of Safe Pesticides

The new book The Myths of Safe Pesticides was written by André Leu (see picture below). It takes the readers through nearly a century of using pesticides, from their introduction as poisons to kill humans to their more recent function of killing pests in industrial chemical agriculture. The Myths of Safe Pesticides builds up a compelling body of evidence against pesticides based on hundreds of published scientific studies that seriously question the safety issues around the regulation of toxic chemicals and proposes that much of the criteria used to underpin the current pesticide use in food and environment are based on outdated methodologies rather than on the latest published science.
 

Mr. Leu makes a strong case against pesticides and fungicides including those that are labeled as "safe." As an organic agriculturist and IFOAM President, Leu has weeded through a wealth of respected scientific journals to present peer-reviewed evidence proving the claims of chemical companies and pesticide regulators are not all they seem. He translates technical jargon into layman’s terms to break down the five most-repeated myths about pesticide safety, refuting them using scientific data.
 

The book reveals the truth behind:
The Rigorously Tested Myth. Are pesticides tested for safety before going on the market?
The Very Small Amount Myth. Can even a small amount of chemical residue be harmful?
The Breakdown Myth. Do pesticides rapidly biodegrade, and are the breakdown products truly harmless?
The Reliable Regulatory Authority Myth. Do the regulatory authorities review unbiased evidence before declaring a product safe?
The Pesticides Are Essential to Farming Myth. Are pesticides the only thing keeping our planet from starvation?
 

“The pesticide industry argues that agriculture, and the global population itself, cannot survive without its products,” adds Leu, “but we are at risk unless we break free of their toxic hold and turn to more natural methods of pest and weed regulation.” The Myths of Safe Pesticides is available through AcresUSA and Amazon.