Pro-Pesticide Group Criticizes First Lady’s Organic Garden
And First Lady Michelle Obama is coming under criticism from a pro-pesticide industry group for deciding to plant an organic garden at the White House. The Mid America CropLife Association recently wrote to the First Lady to urge her to consider using pesticides, or what they call "crop protection products.” One official with the pro-pesticide group said, “While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder.” Mid America CropLife represents agribusinesses like Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont.
Monsanto is the company that invented the chemical Agent Orange used during the Vietnam war. Currently, they (contractually) sell farmers genetically modified seeds that can't be replanted every year, requiring farmers to re-purchase each year. In the past, farmers save their seeds and replant. Now, farmers aren't able to pay the exorbent, and growing, price of seeds yearly, causing small farms to shut down, allowing industrialized farming to thrive.
If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective? ~Ymber Delecto
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