A 16-year-old girl in the Caribbean was rushed to the hospital vomiting uncontrollably after ingesting the weed killer paraquat. Over the next few days, her condition deteriorated as her liver and lungs failed until she ultimately died of suffocation. The doctor who treated her sees about a case of paraquat poisoning per week, with almost all patients dying. While paraquat is widely used in agriculture around the world, it is also extremely toxic and potentially lethal if ingested, with estimates of worldwide deaths from accidental or intentional ingestion ranging from 600 to many thousands annually.
A spoof article on sailing in the Persian Gulf, including the Straits of Hormuz, by Andy Revkin for the 1984 YAAHTING parody of Yachting magazine.
I actually did transit the Strait in 1984, helping my friend Lon Bubeck deliver a sailboat from Dubai to the Maldives for a British commercial diver. We were stopped by a gunboat, and never quite figured out if it was Omani or Iranian. One way or the other we were allowed to sail on.
A spoof article on sailing in the Persian Gulf, including the Straits of Hormuz, by Andy Revkin for the 1984 YAAHTING parody of Yachting magazine.
I actually did transit the Strait in 1984, helping my friend Lon Bubeck deliver a sailboat from Dubai to the Maldives for a British commercial diver. We were stopped by a gunboat, and never quite figured out if it was Omani or Iranian. One way or the other we were allowed to sail on.
Pesticide Research & the Politics of Poisoning for Profits v2zq
Pesticide Research & the Politics of Poisoning for Profits - Resources for Healthy Children www.scribd.com/doc/254613619 - For more information, Please see Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children www.scribd.com/doc/254613963 - Gardening with Volcanic Rock Dust www.scribd.com/doc/254613846 - Double Food Production from your School Garden with Organic Tech www.scribd.com/doc/254613765 - Free School Gardening Art Posters www.scribd.com/doc/254613694 - Increase Food Production with Companion Planting in your School Garden www.scribd.com/doc/254609890 - Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success www.scribd.com/doc/254613619 - City Chickens for your Organic School Garden www.scribd.com/doc/254613553 - Huerto Ecológico, Tecnologías Sostenibles, Agricultura Organica www.scribd.com/doc/254613494 - Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide www.scribd.com/doc/254613410 - Free Organic Gardening Publications www.scribd.com/doc/254609890 ~ ucsd.edu
6th january,2013 oryza global rice e newsletter by riceplus magazineRiceplus Magazine
Daily Rice Global Rice e-Newsletter shared by Riceplus Magazine
Riceplus Magazine shares daily International RICE News for global Rice Community. We publish daily two newsletters namely Global Rice News & ORYZA EXCLUSIVE News for readers .You can share any development news with us for Global readers.
Dear all guests/Commentators/Researchers/Experts ,You are humbly requested to share One/Two pages write up with Riceplus Magazine .
For more information visit (www.ricepluss.com + http://publishpk.net/index.php/riceplus).
Share /contribute your rice and agriculture related research write up with Riceplus Magazine to riceplus@irp.edu.pk , mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com
For Advertisement & Specs mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com
1 The Next Green Revolution BY TIM FOLGER PHOTOGRAPHS.docxaryan532920
1
The Next Green Revolution
BY TIM FOLGER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CRAIG CUTLER
Modern supercrops will be a big help. But agriculture can’t be fixed by biotech alone.
Something is killing Ramadhani Juma’s cassava crop. “Maybe it’s too much water,” he says, fingering
clusters of withered yellow leaves on a six-foot-high plant. “Or too much sun.” Juma works a small plot,
barely more than an acre, near the town of Bagamoyo, on the Indian Ocean about 40 miles north of Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania. On a rainy March morning, trailed by two of his four young sons, he’s talking with a
technician from the big city, 28-year-old Deogratius Mark of the Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute. Mark tells Juma his problem is neither sun nor rain. The real cassava killers, far too small to see,
are viruses.
Mark breaks off some wet leaves; a few whiteflies dart away. The pinhead-size flies, he explains, transmit
two viruses. One ravages cassava leaves, and a second, called brown streak virus, destroys the starchy,
edible root—a catastrophe that usually isn’t discovered until harvest time. Juma is typical of the farmers
Mark meets—most have never heard of the viral diseases. “Can you imagine how he’ll feel if I tell him he
has to uproot all these plants?” Mark says quietly.
Juma is wearing torn blue shorts and a faded green T-shirt with “Would you like to buy a vowel?” printed
on the front. He listens carefully to Mark’s diagnosis. Then he unshoulders his heavy hoe and starts
digging. His oldest son, who is ten, nibbles a cassava leaf. Uncovering a cassava root, Juma splits it open
with one swing of his hoe. He sighs—the creamy white flesh is streaked with brown, rotting starch.
To save enough of the crop to sell and to feed his family, Juma will have to harvest a month early. I ask
how important cassava is to him.
“Mihogo ni kila kitu,” he replies in Swahili. “Cassava is everything.”
Most Tanzanians are subsistence farmers. In Africa small family farms grow more than 90 percent of all
crops, and cassava is a staple for more than 250 million people. It grows even in marginal soils, and it
tolerates heat waves and droughts. It would be the perfect crop for 21st-century Africa—were it not for
the whitefly, whose range is expanding as the climate warms. The same viruses that have invaded Juma’s
field have already spread throughout East Africa.
Before leaving Bagamoyo, we meet one of Juma’s neighbors, Shija Kagembe. His cassava fields have
fared no better. He listens silently as Mark tells him what the viruses have done. “How can you help us?”
he asks
Answering that question will be one of the greatest challenges of this century. Climate change and
population growth will make life increasingly precarious for Juma, Kagembe, and other small farmers in
the developing world—and for the people they feed. For most of the 20th century humanity managed to
stay ahead in the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply. Will w ...
The Plight of the Honeybee- National Geographic Name __.docxssusera34210
The Plight of the Honeybee- National Geographic Name: ____________________________
Reading Comprehension Questions
Vocabulary
1)neonicotinoids
2) colony collapse disorder
3) pollinator
4) carrying capacity
5) parasite
6)immune suppressed
7)biofuel
1) Discuss how the 2012-2013 data cited in the article support the idea of dwindling bee populations.
2) Why are bees important to the food industry?
3) What is the link between disease and compromised immune systems?
4) How has a reduction in optimal environmental conditions affected bee populations?
5) How do pesticides negatively impact honeybees?
6) Do you feel that pesticide companies should disclose both active and inert ingredients?
Why or why not?
+
7) How does biofuel production impact bee survival?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com
The Plight of the Honeybee
Billions of dollars—and a way of life—ride on saving pollinators
Bees are back in the news this spring, if not back in fields pollinating this summer's crops. The European Union (EU)has announced that it will ban,for two years, the use of neonicotinoids, the much-maligned pesticide group often fingered in honeybee declines. The U.S. hasn't followed suit, though this year a group of beekeepersand environmental and consumer groups sued the EPA for not doing enough to protect bees from the pesticide onslaught.
For the last several years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and although research has shed much light on the crisis, those in the bee business—from hive keepers to commercial farmers—say the insects remain in deep trouble as their colonies continue to struggle.
The current crisis arose during the fall of 2006 as beekeepers around the country reported massive losses—more than a third of hives on average and up to 90 percent in some cases. Bees were flying away and simply not coming back; keepers would find boxes empty of adult bees except for a live queen. No bee corpses remained to tell the tale. The losses were unprecedented and fast.
Now it's five years later, and though colony collapse disorder (CCD)—the name given to the mysterious killer condition—has dwindled in the manner of cyclical diseases, bees are still battling for their lives and their colonies are weaker than ever. The latest data, from the 2012-2013 winter, indicate an average loss of 45.1 percent of hives across all U.S. beekeepers, up 78.2 percent from the previous winter, and a total loss of 31.1 percent of commercial hives, on par with the last six years. (Most keepers now consider a 15 percent loss "acceptable.")
Unprecedented Pollinator Crisis
Why keep worrying over the fate of a bunch of pesky stinging insects? Bees in their crucial role as pollinators are paramount. Western nations rely heavily on managed honeybees—the "moveable force" of bees that ride in trucks from farm to farm—to keep commercial agriculture productive. About a third of our foods (some 100 key crops) rely on these insects, in ...
Harmful pesticides and how smallholder women farmers can doDonald ofoegbu
A presentation delivered at the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) Annual National Forum 29th - 30th November 2021. Raising awareness on Harmful Pesticides and how smallholder women farmers can protect themselves - shift away
Here is small ppt on pesticide safety
I am seeing a weakness in training workers on handling pesticides.
I try to avoid food where the pesticide is sprayed directly on the part you are eating.
Thank Rachel Allshiny for the work on this.
Christina Leonard, Director of Reynolds Business Reporting Bureau at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication shared 30 Agriculture stories at this year's Ag Media Summit. Take a look at these 30 examples of unique agriculture coverage to help end your writer's block!
Andrew Revkin's 1994 profile of the masterful luthier Linda Manzer. Blending spruce, sweat and sawdust, Linda Manzer builds guitars that
dazzle.
Photos by Peter Sibbald https://petersibbald.visura.co
Linda Manzer:
https://manzer.com
Andy Revkin:
http://j.mp/revkinlinks
Pesticide Research & the Politics of Poisoning for Profits v2zq
Pesticide Research & the Politics of Poisoning for Profits - Resources for Healthy Children www.scribd.com/doc/254613619 - For more information, Please see Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children www.scribd.com/doc/254613963 - Gardening with Volcanic Rock Dust www.scribd.com/doc/254613846 - Double Food Production from your School Garden with Organic Tech www.scribd.com/doc/254613765 - Free School Gardening Art Posters www.scribd.com/doc/254613694 - Increase Food Production with Companion Planting in your School Garden www.scribd.com/doc/254609890 - Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success www.scribd.com/doc/254613619 - City Chickens for your Organic School Garden www.scribd.com/doc/254613553 - Huerto Ecológico, Tecnologías Sostenibles, Agricultura Organica www.scribd.com/doc/254613494 - Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide www.scribd.com/doc/254613410 - Free Organic Gardening Publications www.scribd.com/doc/254609890 ~ ucsd.edu
6th january,2013 oryza global rice e newsletter by riceplus magazineRiceplus Magazine
Daily Rice Global Rice e-Newsletter shared by Riceplus Magazine
Riceplus Magazine shares daily International RICE News for global Rice Community. We publish daily two newsletters namely Global Rice News & ORYZA EXCLUSIVE News for readers .You can share any development news with us for Global readers.
Dear all guests/Commentators/Researchers/Experts ,You are humbly requested to share One/Two pages write up with Riceplus Magazine .
For more information visit (www.ricepluss.com + http://publishpk.net/index.php/riceplus).
Share /contribute your rice and agriculture related research write up with Riceplus Magazine to riceplus@irp.edu.pk , mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com
For Advertisement & Specs mujahid.riceplus@gmail.com
1 The Next Green Revolution BY TIM FOLGER PHOTOGRAPHS.docxaryan532920
1
The Next Green Revolution
BY TIM FOLGER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CRAIG CUTLER
Modern supercrops will be a big help. But agriculture can’t be fixed by biotech alone.
Something is killing Ramadhani Juma’s cassava crop. “Maybe it’s too much water,” he says, fingering
clusters of withered yellow leaves on a six-foot-high plant. “Or too much sun.” Juma works a small plot,
barely more than an acre, near the town of Bagamoyo, on the Indian Ocean about 40 miles north of Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania. On a rainy March morning, trailed by two of his four young sons, he’s talking with a
technician from the big city, 28-year-old Deogratius Mark of the Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute. Mark tells Juma his problem is neither sun nor rain. The real cassava killers, far too small to see,
are viruses.
Mark breaks off some wet leaves; a few whiteflies dart away. The pinhead-size flies, he explains, transmit
two viruses. One ravages cassava leaves, and a second, called brown streak virus, destroys the starchy,
edible root—a catastrophe that usually isn’t discovered until harvest time. Juma is typical of the farmers
Mark meets—most have never heard of the viral diseases. “Can you imagine how he’ll feel if I tell him he
has to uproot all these plants?” Mark says quietly.
Juma is wearing torn blue shorts and a faded green T-shirt with “Would you like to buy a vowel?” printed
on the front. He listens carefully to Mark’s diagnosis. Then he unshoulders his heavy hoe and starts
digging. His oldest son, who is ten, nibbles a cassava leaf. Uncovering a cassava root, Juma splits it open
with one swing of his hoe. He sighs—the creamy white flesh is streaked with brown, rotting starch.
To save enough of the crop to sell and to feed his family, Juma will have to harvest a month early. I ask
how important cassava is to him.
“Mihogo ni kila kitu,” he replies in Swahili. “Cassava is everything.”
Most Tanzanians are subsistence farmers. In Africa small family farms grow more than 90 percent of all
crops, and cassava is a staple for more than 250 million people. It grows even in marginal soils, and it
tolerates heat waves and droughts. It would be the perfect crop for 21st-century Africa—were it not for
the whitefly, whose range is expanding as the climate warms. The same viruses that have invaded Juma’s
field have already spread throughout East Africa.
Before leaving Bagamoyo, we meet one of Juma’s neighbors, Shija Kagembe. His cassava fields have
fared no better. He listens silently as Mark tells him what the viruses have done. “How can you help us?”
he asks
Answering that question will be one of the greatest challenges of this century. Climate change and
population growth will make life increasingly precarious for Juma, Kagembe, and other small farmers in
the developing world—and for the people they feed. For most of the 20th century humanity managed to
stay ahead in the Malthusian race between population growth and food supply. Will w ...
The Plight of the Honeybee- National Geographic Name __.docxssusera34210
The Plight of the Honeybee- National Geographic Name: ____________________________
Reading Comprehension Questions
Vocabulary
1)neonicotinoids
2) colony collapse disorder
3) pollinator
4) carrying capacity
5) parasite
6)immune suppressed
7)biofuel
1) Discuss how the 2012-2013 data cited in the article support the idea of dwindling bee populations.
2) Why are bees important to the food industry?
3) What is the link between disease and compromised immune systems?
4) How has a reduction in optimal environmental conditions affected bee populations?
5) How do pesticides negatively impact honeybees?
6) Do you feel that pesticide companies should disclose both active and inert ingredients?
Why or why not?
+
7) How does biofuel production impact bee survival?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com
The Plight of the Honeybee
Billions of dollars—and a way of life—ride on saving pollinators
Bees are back in the news this spring, if not back in fields pollinating this summer's crops. The European Union (EU)has announced that it will ban,for two years, the use of neonicotinoids, the much-maligned pesticide group often fingered in honeybee declines. The U.S. hasn't followed suit, though this year a group of beekeepersand environmental and consumer groups sued the EPA for not doing enough to protect bees from the pesticide onslaught.
For the last several years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and although research has shed much light on the crisis, those in the bee business—from hive keepers to commercial farmers—say the insects remain in deep trouble as their colonies continue to struggle.
The current crisis arose during the fall of 2006 as beekeepers around the country reported massive losses—more than a third of hives on average and up to 90 percent in some cases. Bees were flying away and simply not coming back; keepers would find boxes empty of adult bees except for a live queen. No bee corpses remained to tell the tale. The losses were unprecedented and fast.
Now it's five years later, and though colony collapse disorder (CCD)—the name given to the mysterious killer condition—has dwindled in the manner of cyclical diseases, bees are still battling for their lives and their colonies are weaker than ever. The latest data, from the 2012-2013 winter, indicate an average loss of 45.1 percent of hives across all U.S. beekeepers, up 78.2 percent from the previous winter, and a total loss of 31.1 percent of commercial hives, on par with the last six years. (Most keepers now consider a 15 percent loss "acceptable.")
Unprecedented Pollinator Crisis
Why keep worrying over the fate of a bunch of pesky stinging insects? Bees in their crucial role as pollinators are paramount. Western nations rely heavily on managed honeybees—the "moveable force" of bees that ride in trucks from farm to farm—to keep commercial agriculture productive. About a third of our foods (some 100 key crops) rely on these insects, in ...
Harmful pesticides and how smallholder women farmers can doDonald ofoegbu
A presentation delivered at the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) Annual National Forum 29th - 30th November 2021. Raising awareness on Harmful Pesticides and how smallholder women farmers can protect themselves - shift away
Here is small ppt on pesticide safety
I am seeing a weakness in training workers on handling pesticides.
I try to avoid food where the pesticide is sprayed directly on the part you are eating.
Thank Rachel Allshiny for the work on this.
Christina Leonard, Director of Reynolds Business Reporting Bureau at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication shared 30 Agriculture stories at this year's Ag Media Summit. Take a look at these 30 examples of unique agriculture coverage to help end your writer's block!
Andrew Revkin's 1994 profile of the masterful luthier Linda Manzer. Blending spruce, sweat and sawdust, Linda Manzer builds guitars that
dazzle.
Photos by Peter Sibbald https://petersibbald.visura.co
Linda Manzer:
https://manzer.com
Andy Revkin:
http://j.mp/revkinlinks
In 1985, my editor, Scott DeGarmo, asked me to write a cover story on the future of the automobile - when the future was the Ford Taurus. It's now kind of a museum artifact and I hope you enjoy it and offer feedback.
This is the core of a webinar Andy Revkin conducted with folks at Columbia Climate School to explore how scientists, scholars and others seeking to craft a better human journey can make the most of Twitter even as Elon Musk's purchase disrupts things. We also talked about alternatives, none of which Revkin sees as remotely competing with the capacities Twitter offers for a long time. (It took a decade of relentless programming, regulatory and other work to build the Twitter we know.)
Subscribe to Revkin's Sustain What newsletter and webcasts to engage and drive the conversation further:
https://revkin.substack.com/subscribe #socialmedia #sustainability #climate
This is a fantastic case study and overview showing how businesses can prepare for the hazards around them to cut the scope of impacts - preventing a natural hazard from becoming an unnatural disaster.
It centers on the experience and work of Parsons Manufacturing, a company that suffered a direct hit from an EF-4 tornado in 2004 but avoided any deaths.
Learn more at the company website:
https://www.parsonscompany.com/about/
A #COP26 presentation by Zainab Usman of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Katie Auth of Energy for Development, building on this paper: September 28, 2021
REFRAMING CLIMATE JUSTICE FOR DEVELOPMENT: SIX PRINCIPLES FOR SUPPORTING INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE ENERGY TRANSITIONS IN LOW-EMITTING ENERGY-POOR AFRICAN COUNTRIES
By Mimi Alemayehou, Katie Auth, Murefu Barasa, Morgan Bazilian, Brad Handler, Uzo Iweala, Todd Moss, Rose Mutiso, Zainab Usman
Advancing inclusive and equitable energy transitions is one of this century’s most vital global challenges, and one in which development finance will play a crucial role. References to justice and equity are widespread in international climate policy, and are increasingly being used by development organizations to guide their own work, including support for energy transitions.
But prevailing definitions of climate justice rarely fully capture the priorities, challenges and perspectives of low-emitting energy-poor countries, the vast majority of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. When applied to development policy, this gap risks prioritizing near-term emissions reductions over broader support for economic development and energy transformation, with comparatively little climate benefit. This could severely hinder poverty alleviation, development, and climate resilience — the very opposite of justice. We need energy transitions that are truly ‘just and inclusive.’ What does this mean for development funders and financiers, and how should it drive their approach to supporting energy transitions in the lowest-income countries?
Rene Dubos was a masterful biologist, Pulitzer-winning essayist and humanist. Read the story behind this essay in Andy Revkin's homage to Dubos here: http://j.mp/despairingoptimist
This is a summary of the three-week international survey of the vaquita refuge in heavily fished waters of the northern Gulf of California of the coast of Mexico's Baja California state. It shows what can be accomplished with a fresh effort in the fall of 2021.
The expedition included scientists and conservationists from Mexico, the United States and Canada.
This chapter on climate change as news, by Andrew Revkin is from "Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren" - edited by Joseph F. C. DiMento and Pamela Doughman
MIT Press 2007, updated edition, 2014
https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=xsxkAlEAAAAJ&citation_for_view=xsxkAlEAAAAJ:edDO8Oi4QzsC
Alice Bell's new book on the history of climate change knowledge and inaction is fantastic. Some have missed what is NOT in the CIA's 1974 assessment of climate change and security risk. There's no mention of global warming from carbon dioxide. Here's a Guardian excerpt from Alice's book: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/05/sixty-years-of-climate-change-warnings-the-signs-that-were-missed-and-ignored
Here's the original CIA document without text recognition: https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=725433
A deep early look at how supercomputer security became a prime concern of the Reagan administration - with climate science in the mix.
More context in Andrew Revkin's prize-winning March 1985 Science Digest article on nuclear winter:
https://www.slideshare.net/Revkin/hard-facts-about-nuclear-winter-1985
And Revkin's investigative report on the vanishing of Vladimir Alexandrov, a high-profile Soviet atmospheric scientist who'd become a fan of American cars and cuisine while visiting NCAR, a mountainside supercomputer lab in Colorado:
http://j.mp/alexandrovmissing
Here are emails showing exchanges between Dr. Will Happer, a senior Trump Administration science and security adviser, and the Heartland Institute -- which has long sought to cast doubt on the enormous body of science pointing to rising dangers from human emissions of climate-warming gases.
The emails were released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Defense Fund: http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/files/2019/03/Climate-Review-FOIA-CEQ.pdf
Here's an Associated Press story:
https://www.apnews.com/4ec9affd55a345d582a4cc810686137e
EDF provided this copy to Andrew Revkin.
Here's an excerpt from a 2017 interview Revkin did with Happer for ProPublica: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSpL5dziylo
A Physicist and Possible Adviser to Trump Describes His Love of Science, and CO2
https://www.propublica.org/article/a-physicist-and-possible-adviser-to-trump-describes-his-love-of-science-co2
More on Happer in National Geographic:
Does the U.S. need a ‘presidential climate security committee’?
A Trump adviser who sees rising CO2 as a good thing wants a panel to review government findings that climate change is a security threat.... https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/trump-presidential-climate-security-committee/
This was the document leaked to the press this week ahead of a White House meeting assessing whether President Trump should create a committee to assess conclusions about links between global warming and national security.
Some Globo coverage in 1990 from the trial of the Alves family members and associates charged with the assassination of Chico Mendes in December 1988, including an interview with Andrew Revkin, who'd just published The Burning Season, a book chronicling Mendes's life, death and legacy. More: http://bit.ly/revkinmendes
An Island Magazine feature by Andy Revkin provided an intimate look at changes in a Polynesian family and village as modern life intruded in the 1980s.
This cover story on climate change by Andrew Revkin was published in Discover Magazine in October, 1988. For more on the article visit this Dot Earth post: 1988-2008: Climate Then and Now http://nyti.ms/WIvLbH via @dotearth
Make sure to click to the last page, which was the back-cover advertisement that month - for cigarettes.
Shows things can change, sometimes slowly.
And read Andy's reflection on lessons learned in 30 years of climate coverage:
http://j.mp/revkin30yearsclimate
Enhancing LPG Use During Pregnancya collaboration between KEM Health Research Center, Sri Ramachanda University, and University of California, Berkeley
An explanatory presentation provided to ProPublica.org
Lewis Reznik, who spent his adult life as a dentist in Westchester County, New York, had a very different adolescence - on the run between Nazis and Russian troops in Poland as the Holocaust unfolded. This is is remarkable memoir. Lew died in 2013.
I edited the manuscript and helped Lew publish the book.
Please purchase a copy at j.mp/boysholocaust
Share and discuss the book on Facebook: j.mp/boysholocaustFB
Context:
"Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria: Where Do Responsibilities End?" Journal of Business Ethics, 2015
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-014-2142-7
Shell's plans for Nigeria (SPDC subsidiary), 2013: http://www.shell.com/media/news-and-media-releases/2013/spdc-sets-out-its-future-intent-for-nigeria.html
Business & Human Rights Resource Center on two landmark lawsuits:
https://business-humanrights.org/en/shell-lawsuit-re-nigeria-kiobel-wiwa
More from Earth Institute of Columbia University (20)
Seminar of U.V. Spectroscopy by SAMIR PANDASAMIR PANDA
Spectroscopy is a branch of science dealing the study of interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter.
Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy refers to absorption spectroscopy or reflect spectroscopy in the UV-VIS spectral region.
Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy is an analytical method that can measure the amount of light received by the analyte.
Multi-source connectivity as the driver of solar wind variability in the heli...Sérgio Sacani
The ambient solar wind that flls the heliosphere originates from multiple
sources in the solar corona and is highly structured. It is often described
as high-speed, relatively homogeneous, plasma streams from coronal
holes and slow-speed, highly variable, streams whose source regions are
under debate. A key goal of ESA/NASA’s Solar Orbiter mission is to identify
solar wind sources and understand what drives the complexity seen in the
heliosphere. By combining magnetic feld modelling and spectroscopic
techniques with high-resolution observations and measurements, we show
that the solar wind variability detected in situ by Solar Orbiter in March
2022 is driven by spatio-temporal changes in the magnetic connectivity to
multiple sources in the solar atmosphere. The magnetic feld footpoints
connected to the spacecraft moved from the boundaries of a coronal hole
to one active region (12961) and then across to another region (12957). This
is refected in the in situ measurements, which show the transition from fast
to highly Alfvénic then to slow solar wind that is disrupted by the arrival of
a coronal mass ejection. Our results describe solar wind variability at 0.5 au
but are applicable to near-Earth observatories.
Richard's aventures in two entangled wonderlandsRichard Gill
Since the loophole-free Bell experiments of 2020 and the Nobel prizes in physics of 2022, critics of Bell's work have retreated to the fortress of super-determinism. Now, super-determinism is a derogatory word - it just means "determinism". Palmer, Hance and Hossenfelder argue that quantum mechanics and determinism are not incompatible, using a sophisticated mathematical construction based on a subtle thinning of allowed states and measurements in quantum mechanics, such that what is left appears to make Bell's argument fail, without altering the empirical predictions of quantum mechanics. I think however that it is a smoke screen, and the slogan "lost in math" comes to my mind. I will discuss some other recent disproofs of Bell's theorem using the language of causality based on causal graphs. Causal thinking is also central to law and justice. I will mention surprising connections to my work on serial killer nurse cases, in particular the Dutch case of Lucia de Berk and the current UK case of Lucy Letby.
Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic ...Sérgio Sacani
We characterize the earliest galaxy population in the JADES Origins Field (JOF), the deepest
imaging field observed with JWST. We make use of the ancillary Hubble optical images (5 filters
spanning 0.4−0.9µm) and novel JWST images with 14 filters spanning 0.8−5µm, including 7 mediumband filters, and reaching total exposure times of up to 46 hours per filter. We combine all our data
at > 2.3µm to construct an ultradeep image, reaching as deep as ≈ 31.4 AB mag in the stack and
30.3-31.0 AB mag (5σ, r = 0.1” circular aperture) in individual filters. We measure photometric
redshifts and use robust selection criteria to identify a sample of eight galaxy candidates at redshifts
z = 11.5 − 15. These objects show compact half-light radii of R1/2 ∼ 50 − 200pc, stellar masses of
M⋆ ∼ 107−108M⊙, and star-formation rates of SFR ∼ 0.1−1 M⊙ yr−1
. Our search finds no candidates
at 15 < z < 20, placing upper limits at these redshifts. We develop a forward modeling approach to
infer the properties of the evolving luminosity function without binning in redshift or luminosity that
marginalizes over the photometric redshift uncertainty of our candidate galaxies and incorporates the
impact of non-detections. We find a z = 12 luminosity function in good agreement with prior results,
and that the luminosity function normalization and UV luminosity density decline by a factor of ∼ 2.5
from z = 12 to z = 14. We discuss the possible implications of our results in the context of theoretical
models for evolution of the dark matter halo mass function.
Introduction:
RNA interference (RNAi) or Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing (PTGS) is an important biological process for modulating eukaryotic gene expression.
It is highly conserved process of posttranscriptional gene silencing by which double stranded RNA (dsRNA) causes sequence-specific degradation of mRNA sequences.
dsRNA-induced gene silencing (RNAi) is reported in a wide range of eukaryotes ranging from worms, insects, mammals and plants.
This process mediates resistance to both endogenous parasitic and exogenous pathogenic nucleic acids, and regulates the expression of protein-coding genes.
What are small ncRNAs?
micro RNA (miRNA)
short interfering RNA (siRNA)
Properties of small non-coding RNA:
Involved in silencing mRNA transcripts.
Called “small” because they are usually only about 21-24 nucleotides long.
Synthesized by first cutting up longer precursor sequences (like the 61nt one that Lee discovered).
Silence an mRNA by base pairing with some sequence on the mRNA.
Discovery of siRNA?
The first small RNA:
In 1993 Rosalind Lee (Victor Ambros lab) was studying a non- coding gene in C. elegans, lin-4, that was involved in silencing of another gene, lin-14, at the appropriate time in the
development of the worm C. elegans.
Two small transcripts of lin-4 (22nt and 61nt) were found to be complementary to a sequence in the 3' UTR of lin-14.
Because lin-4 encoded no protein, she deduced that it must be these transcripts that are causing the silencing by RNA-RNA interactions.
Types of RNAi ( non coding RNA)
MiRNA
Length (23-25 nt)
Trans acting
Binds with target MRNA in mismatch
Translation inhibition
Si RNA
Length 21 nt.
Cis acting
Bind with target Mrna in perfect complementary sequence
Piwi-RNA
Length ; 25 to 36 nt.
Expressed in Germ Cells
Regulates trnasposomes activity
MECHANISM OF RNAI:
First the double-stranded RNA teams up with a protein complex named Dicer, which cuts the long RNA into short pieces.
Then another protein complex called RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex) discards one of the two RNA strands.
The RISC-docked, single-stranded RNA then pairs with the homologous mRNA and destroys it.
THE RISC COMPLEX:
RISC is large(>500kD) RNA multi- protein Binding complex which triggers MRNA degradation in response to MRNA
Unwinding of double stranded Si RNA by ATP independent Helicase
Active component of RISC is Ago proteins( ENDONUCLEASE) which cleave target MRNA.
DICER: endonuclease (RNase Family III)
Argonaute: Central Component of the RNA-Induced Silencing Complex (RISC)
One strand of the dsRNA produced by Dicer is retained in the RISC complex in association with Argonaute
ARGONAUTE PROTEIN :
1.PAZ(PIWI/Argonaute/ Zwille)- Recognition of target MRNA
2.PIWI (p-element induced wimpy Testis)- breaks Phosphodiester bond of mRNA.)RNAse H activity.
MiRNA:
The Double-stranded RNAs are naturally produced in eukaryotic cells during development, and they have a key role in regulating gene expression .
Nutraceutical market, scope and growth: Herbal drug technologyLokesh Patil
As consumer awareness of health and wellness rises, the nutraceutical market—which includes goods like functional meals, drinks, and dietary supplements that provide health advantages beyond basic nutrition—is growing significantly. As healthcare expenses rise, the population ages, and people want natural and preventative health solutions more and more, this industry is increasing quickly. Further driving market expansion are product formulation innovations and the use of cutting-edge technology for customized nutrition. With its worldwide reach, the nutraceutical industry is expected to keep growing and provide significant chances for research and investment in a number of categories, including vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and herbal supplements.
Deep Behavioral Phenotyping in Systems Neuroscience for Functional Atlasing a...Ana Luísa Pinho
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) provides means to characterize brain activations in response to behavior. However, cognitive neuroscience has been limited to group-level effects referring to the performance of specific tasks. To obtain the functional profile of elementary cognitive mechanisms, the combination of brain responses to many tasks is required. Yet, to date, both structural atlases and parcellation-based activations do not fully account for cognitive function and still present several limitations. Further, they do not adapt overall to individual characteristics. In this talk, I will give an account of deep-behavioral phenotyping strategies, namely data-driven methods in large task-fMRI datasets, to optimize functional brain-data collection and improve inference of effects-of-interest related to mental processes. Key to this approach is the employment of fast multi-functional paradigms rich on features that can be well parametrized and, consequently, facilitate the creation of psycho-physiological constructs to be modelled with imaging data. Particular emphasis will be given to music stimuli when studying high-order cognitive mechanisms, due to their ecological nature and quality to enable complex behavior compounded by discrete entities. I will also discuss how deep-behavioral phenotyping and individualized models applied to neuroimaging data can better account for the subject-specific organization of domain-general cognitive systems in the human brain. Finally, the accumulation of functional brain signatures brings the possibility to clarify relationships among tasks and create a univocal link between brain systems and mental functions through: (1) the development of ontologies proposing an organization of cognitive processes; and (2) brain-network taxonomies describing functional specialization. To this end, tools to improve commensurability in cognitive science are necessary, such as public repositories, ontology-based platforms and automated meta-analysis tools. I will thus discuss some brain-atlasing resources currently under development, and their applicability in cognitive as well as clinical neuroscience.
Observation of Io’s Resurfacing via Plume Deposition Using Ground-based Adapt...Sérgio Sacani
Since volcanic activity was first discovered on Io from Voyager images in 1979, changes
on Io’s surface have been monitored from both spacecraft and ground-based telescopes.
Here, we present the highest spatial resolution images of Io ever obtained from a groundbased telescope. These images, acquired by the SHARK-VIS instrument on the Large
Binocular Telescope, show evidence of a major resurfacing event on Io’s trailing hemisphere. When compared to the most recent spacecraft images, the SHARK-VIS images
show that a plume deposit from a powerful eruption at Pillan Patera has covered part
of the long-lived Pele plume deposit. Although this type of resurfacing event may be common on Io, few have been detected due to the rarity of spacecraft visits and the previously low spatial resolution available from Earth-based telescopes. The SHARK-VIS instrument ushers in a new era of high resolution imaging of Io’s surface using adaptive
optics at visible wavelengths.
In silico drugs analogue design: novobiocin analogues.pptx
Paraquat - A Potent Weedkiller is Killing People (1983, Science Digest)
1. A POTENT WEED KILLER
ISKILLING PEOPLE
A typical case: The girl is about 16,
thin, weak and very sick. She is rushed
down the hospital corridor, beneath the
whirling ceiling fans that do nothing but
push the hot, steamy Caribbean air
around and around. She has been vomit-
ing for hours, her hysterical mother says.
The doctors search and probe and test.
The father arrives and pulls out a bottle
half full of a brown liquid that clings like
syrup to the glass. Paraquat.
The course of the girl's poisoning is
textbook, says her doctor-just like the
150 he's seen before. For 40 more hours
she vomits. Her yellowing eyes say her
liver is failing. Her mouth and throat fill
with lacerations and sores, and she can no
longer swallow. The doctors hear rum-
bling in her chest. Her urine is brown.
Then, for a couple of days, things look
better. She sits up in bed, eats and can
talk. But the doctors aren't fooled by her
progress, just frustrated. The next day,
her breathing becomes labored, her chest
heaves. The doctors stand by helpless,
able only to kill the pain with morphine.
She finally dies of suffocation-her lungs
useless sacks of scar tissue.
Against his will, Dr. Rabid Rahaman,
at San Fernando General Hospital on the
fertile island of Trinidad, is becoming the
world's expert on paraquat poisoning. He
sees almost a case a week, and almost ev-
ery patient dies.
There are many sides to paraquat. To
most Americans, it is the controversial
weed killer used to destroy marijuana
fields-first in Mexico, then in Florida
and soon, the State Department hopes, in
South America.
Farmers know it as one ofthe most ver-
satile tools in agriculture. Paraquat is
used to control weeds and speed the har-
vest on more than 10 million acres of
American crops-everything from soy-
36 Science Digest-June 1983
BY ANDREW C. REVKIN
beans to sunflowers, cotton, wheat and
com. But that is just the beginning.
Paraquat is replacing the plow-the
centerpiece of agricultural technology
since the Bronze Age-as the standard
means of preparing a field for planting.
By the tum of the century, paraquat, and
what is called no-till farming, will have
made the plow obsolete on more than half
of America's farmland.
And more new uses are promoted ev-
ery year by paraquat's British manufac-
turer, Imperial Chemical Industries, and
its American partner, Chevron Chemical
Company. In fact, an ICI spokesman con-
fidently predicts that there is a use for
paraquat "on every hectare of agricultur-
al land in the world."
Paraquat is a paradox: "Paraquat is
probably the most effective herbicide that
exists right now on the Earth," says Dr.
Edward Block, a University of Florida
lung specialist who has treated five para-
quat victims. But, he is quick to add, "it is
also one of the world's worst poisons."
Although the lethal doses have not been
accurately determined, paraquat can kill
if only small amounts are swallowed, in-
haled or spilled on the skin.
When asked how many people have
died from paraquat poisoning, most med-
ical experts and industry spokesmen re-
cite figures between 600 and 1,000. And
about halfofthose are suicides. Consider-
ing the worldwide popularity ofthe herbi-
cide and its 20-year history, the experts
say that is a very small number.
But a review of the available medical
literature and personal interviews with
physicians and government scientists
around the world indicate that the report-
ed death rate is a drastic underestimate.
In Trinidad-with a population of 1.2
million--officials report two deaths a
month from paraquat poisoning. (Given a
similar death rate, the United States
would lose close to 5,000 people a year.)
But Dr. Rahaman's month-by-month tal-
ly of deaths at just one hospital, San Fer-
nando, far exceeds the government esti-
mate. And in Western Samoa, in the
Pacific, the paraquat death rate for 1980
was four times higher than Trinidad's.
A list of cases reveals a grim picture of
this popular pesticide:
A farmer's wife in England made salad
dressing, mistakenly using paraquat her
husband had stored in an unmarked jar.
After several tastes, she decided the salad
was no good. Three weeks later she died.
In Papua New Guinea, a plantation
worker spraying paraquat slipped and
fell. Some of the herbicide spilled out of
his backpack canister, saturating his
clothing. By afternoon his skin had begun
to blister. After a week, he developed a
cough. Thirteen days later, he died.
The owner of a citrus grove in Florida
borrowed some paraquat from a friend
because he was not licensed to buy it him-
self. He later sipped some from a contain-
er he thought held water. Although he
told his doctor he had spit it out before
swallowing any, he soon died.
The list goes on-victims of circum-
stance or ignorance, accidents or suicides.
Moreover, the risk of acute poisonings
has recently been overshadowed by evi-
dence that paraquat may pose a hazard to
the long-term health of farmworkers and
others who are frequently exposed to it.
Continued
A paraquat brochure promotes a d~dly
practice (inset). A page reprinted from
an ICI /~flet shows a barefoot workman
spraying paraquat on a rice paddy--and
on his legs. Used correctly, paraquat may
halt the ravages of erosion (background).
PholocraJ>h by Martin W. Burch, Clinton County. Missouri. District Conservationist; oriJinally appearal ia lflrldmtlttll Ap
2.
3. p A
Physicians from coast to coast insist
that paraquat must be strictly controlled.
Says Sheldon Wagner, a doctor who dealt
with a paraquat triple poisoning in Ore-
gon: "The problem I sec is that you sim-
ply cannot let that chemical be anywhere
except in a locked bin and appropriate
containers. It should certainly not be put
in the hands ofthe general public-ever."
Edward Block agrees, but says we must
make some concessions to practicality:
"This stuff is used in enormous quanti-
ties." Even if it is handled properly, he
says, "there will be a minimum accept-
able number of accidents that will have
incredibly tragic consequences." The risk
is acceptable, he concludes, "only as long
as we continue to exert control as to who
can usc it and under what conditions."
But many claim that paraquat is al-
ready out ofcontrol and that the situation
is rapidly getting worse. There arc strong
indications that the agencies charged with
regulating paraquat and other pesticides
in this country arc impotent: inundated
by the numbers of chemicals and users;
undermined by an ominous lack of basic
data on health effects; too understaffed to
enforce the regulations they make.
And the situation is far worse overseas,
particularly in developing countries
where there arc no regulations; where
paraquat can be bought right off a store
800
600
i
8.
"e5400
l
1974 75 76 77 78
R A Q u
Paraquat sales have
tripled since 1974 in
California, one of the
only states to keep
track of pesticides.
Advertisements for paraquat products, like
this one in Kenya Farmer, often make no
reference to the dangers of the herbicide.
And few countries require such warnings.
79 80 81 82 83
A T
shelf; where workers walk barefoot in
freshly sprayed fields and where a warn-
ing label (if there is one) is <;>ften nothing
more than indecipherable gibberish.
Perhaps most disturbing, much ofwhat
the U.S. government thought it knew
about paraquat has recently been cast
into doubt. Last year, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) published a re-
view of research on the health effects of
this herbicide. In almost every category,
from birth defects to its cancer-causing
potential, the data on paraquat have been
deemed "inadequate." And in certain ar-
eas, where the testing was done by a com-
mcrciallaboratory called IBT, the experi-
ments arc reportedly rife with fraud.
The increasing "chemical dependency"
of world agriculture is producing record
crops and growth now, but may yield a
bitter harvest of unforeseen hazards. ·
Tom Dilworth stands in the mud at the
edge of the southwest Virginia corn-
field his family has farmed since the Rev-
olution. He leans into a cool spring wind,
watching a heavy yellow truck make its
way over the cornstalk stubble and
sprouting green weeds. A white mist of
paraquat flows from nozzles along a 30-
foot boom suspended from the truck.
Within hours, the plant residue and
weeds will begin to droop and shrivel,
compacting down into a layer of protec-
tive mulch. This organic carpet will hold
the soil and reduce evaporation, provid-
ing a fine seedbed and protecting the crop
to come.
This is the essence ofno-till farming. It
takes very little labor, does not disturb
the soil and requires only a couple of op-
erations-spraying and planting. Dil-
worth says almost all ofthe farmers in his
corner of Virginia have put away their
plows in favor of para•tuat.
Paraquat is uniquely suited to no-till
because it is the most effective of the so-
called "hit and run" herbicides. It is im-
mediately deactivated by clay particles in
the soil, with which it forms an almost
unbreakable bond. It thus leaves the soil
safe for the emerging crop.
According to Scott Hagood, a weed sci-
entist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in
Blacksburg, Virginia, no-till farming
caught on first in hilly regions hard-hit by
erosion. Sweeping his large hand along a
map of the Allegheny Mountains, which
separate Virginia and West Virginia, he
says, "Right·in this area are some of the
oldest no-till growers in the world." Any
tool that combats erosion is bound to
Continued on page 42
Chevron and JC[, wan 't release nationwide sales figures for paraquat. But the tripling
of paraquat use in California in the past decade is probably typical of other states. For anote on Andrew C Revkin, turn toJKlge 11.
38 Science Digest- June 1983 Photoaraph court..y o( Oxfam, Oxford, Enalancl; diaaram by a-,e Nicholson
4. p A
Continued from page 38
catch on; last year, a staggering 6 billion
tons oftopsoil washed or blew ofT Ameri-
ca's fields.
The biggest selling point for no-till
now, however, is its potential for saving
fuel. "We've got farmers with two-dollar
[a bushel] com right now who can't even
hope to cover their expenses ofthe crop,"
says Hagood. "And they've got to eat and
they've got kids running around." Taking
a big pinch of Red Man chewing tobacco
from a pouch, he adds, "They're contin-
ually seeking a way they can put some-
thing in their pockets. One way is not to
have to drag that plow across the field
with the oil it consumes. For that reason,
just the economics, you'll continue to see
no-till growth."
It is a long way from the 100-acre
farms of western Virginia to the plains of
the Midwest, where 10,000-acre belts of
com stretch unbroken to the horizon. But
even there, scientists are convinced that
no-till agriculture and paraquat will even-
tually predominate. Jerry Mannering, an
agronomist at Purdue University in Indi-
ana, says that 40 percent of the land in
that state is subject to erosion. Except for
flat, poorly drained areas, he says, "what
we're telling farmers today is that essen-
tially all of our land [planted in] soybeans
is well adapted to no-till. In twenty or
R A Q u
A man spraying paraquat
spilled some on his
skin. After a week, he
began to cough; 13
days later, he died.
Pesticide sprayers rarely wear protective
clothing in hot, humid tropical climates.
'LONG POISON SPRAY'
When a very sick young man was
brought in from a small island planta-
tion, Sister Ancilla Auer, who ran the
medical clinic in that remote part of
Papua New Guinea, was mystified.
All she was told was that the laborer,
named Patrick, had spilled some "long
poison spray" around his groin. The
spray was paraquat.
She described what followed in a
letter to the provincial health officer:
"Patrick wore a laplap. He opened
it, he was suffering from pain round
the scrotum area-from inside
Thighs-terrible hurt and covered
with yellowish smear.
"We sponged the area 2 times daily
till the skin was clean-some parts of
the skin was ofT and bleeding. We
changed the gauze 2 or 3 times daily,
till it was really good healing up.
"On his fourth day staying in our
Medical Centre, Patrick started short
breathing. I was surprised, he was act-
ing like this? I thought he was home-
42 Science Digest-June 1983
sick because nobody from his wantoks
were around him. He refused to eat.
"Patrick started to be restless, went
outside to the beach waiting for a boat
or Kanu to bring him over to the is-
land. We forced him to go to bed.
"On the 27th, we found him laying
on the Cement floor and we put him
back to bed.
"Patrick was quiet the afternoon.
the Pulse a bit lower as usual. I left
the room to look for the Meal for Pat-
rick. During that time, the Doctor had
a good talk with him. He came to me,
ordered the injection for the night and
said: 'Don't worry, Sister-he will be
allright!' He went ofT by Speedboat. I
was looking for Patrick who finished
already half of his meal. 10 Minutes
later I went to dress his wounds-I
was amazed-Patrick was laying with
starring eyes, no response, very low
pulsation-last breath-he passed
away. Oxygen and Circulation Inject,
no success!" -A.C.R.
A T
thirty years, we might easily have as
much as fifty percent or more of all row-
crop acreage no-tilled in the com belt."
What this translates to is a projected
fivefold increase in the demand for para-
quat in the United States in the next 20
years. The trend has already begun. Nei-
ther ICI nor Chevron will release sales
figures, but in California, one of the few
states to keep close track of pesticide use,
paraquat sales have tripled since 1974.
And, according to Wood and Mackenzie,
a Scottish firm that analyzes the agri-
chemical industry, worldwide paraquat
sales have been increasing at around 15
percent a year for the past decade.
30 VARIETIFS
ICI markets more than 30 different
products containing paraquat, from At-
tack Pack to Weedrite. But the mosfcom-
mon form is the 20 percent solution called
Gramoxone. Chevron, which is licensed
to sell its version only in the United
States, calls its product Ortho Paraquat.
Paraquat kills plants within hours by
disrupting photosynthesis and causing in-
dividual cells to collapse like deflating
balloons. It usually takes weeks for hu-
man victims to die.
Late last August, Scott Wilson, a 25-
year-old gardener at a Florida condomin-
ium, accidentally sprayed paraquat on his
face and clothing. He had used the herbi-
cide and others many times in years past
without any trouble. That is why Wilson
simply washed his face and hands. He
went back to work even though his shirt
was still wet with the chemical, and he
had apparently gotten some in his mouth.
Five days later, Wilson was rushed to
the hospital, barely breathing. He under-
went a day and a night of testing. Then
his wife, Lucille, was led into a small
waiting room. "A nurse brought me a Va-
lium and a glass of water, and they told
me that he was going to die," she says. "I
was in a state of shock because it wasn't
'Let's treat him, maybe he can get better.'
It was that cut-and-dried-he was going
to die.''
Once paraquat enters the human body,
it becomes concentrated in the lungs,
which rapidly degenerate. In a last-ditch
effort, Wilson was flown by chartered jet
to New York City where, after a week of
waiting for a proper donor, he was given a
lung transplant, only the fortieth ever at-
tempted. But even a small army of spe-
cialists and their armamentarium of ad-
vanced drugs and techniques could not
save him. Two and a half months after the
spraying accident, Wilson died.
Continued on page 100
Photosrapll by Andrew C. Revkin
5. p A
Continued from page 42
The visible effects of acute paraquat
poisoning are grisly. Dr. Stephan Kam-
holz, a pulmonary specialist at Monte-
fiore Medical Center in New York City,
was on the lung transplant team that tried
to save Scott Wilson's life. He says it was
the first time he had seen lungs that had
been poisoned by paraquat; they were un-
like anything he had seen before. Accord-
ing to Kamholz, human lungs are usually
a "pleasant pink." Wilson's were "the
color of calves' liver-brick red to dusky
red, with some yellowish amber patches."
When the surgeons removed Wilson's left
lung to make way for the transplant, they
foUnd that it was heavy-one and a half
times the normal one-pound weight. The
bread-loaf-size organ was riddled with
holes and covered with blisters. And
when Kamholz squeezed it between
thumb and forefinger, the normally
spongy tissue made "a sound like crushed
Rice Krispies."
Paraquat also poisons the liver and kid-
neys, but does so much more slowly. For
reasons largely unknown, says Kamholz,
R A Q u
The lung was full of
holes. When squeezed,
the blistered tissue
made a sound "like
crushed Rice Krispies."
certain cells in the lungs of mammals ac-
tively collect any paraquat molecules that
are floating around in the circulatory sys-
tem. As the rest of the body slowly rids
itself of the poison, these cells, called
type-two pneumocytes, accumulate it in
ever increasing amounts. The paraquat
molecule is apparently similar in struc-
ture to some compound that is needed for
the normal function of pneumocytes-
possibly the vitamin niacin-and the cell
is "fooled" into destroying itself. Once it
is absorbed, paraquat interferes with nor-
mal metabolism, giving rise to deadly by-
products that further disrupt the lungs.
Recent work by Dr. William Ross and
Dr. Block at the University of Florida in-
dicates that DNA damage may also oc-
cur.
Whatever the cause, the effects are
POT·SPRAYING PLANS
The use of paraquat against mari-
juana plants has gone in and out of
style for the past decade. In the mid-
1970s, encouraged and largely funded
by the U.S. Department ofState, Mex-
ico started a spraying operation.
When paraquat residues began
showing up in marijuana north of the
border, "ORML, the National Orga-
nization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, sued to stop the program. Gov-
ernment studies found that heavy
smoking of contaminated marijuana
could cause lung damage. In 1979,
Congress prohibited U.S. funding for
paraquat spraying overseas.
But in 1981 that decision was re-
versed. The Department of State is
now offering to assist any Western
Hemisphere nation that initiates a par-
aquat spraying program. According to
a report issued last December, up ·to
$19 million will be provided to a par-
ticipating country to pay for the equip-
ment, training and personnel.
Colombia is one of the countries
most actively courted by the State De-
partment. Colombian officials, howev-
er, have reportedly indicated that they
would be willing to use paraquat only
after the United States began using it
100 Science Digest-June 1983
on its own marijuana fields.
Indeed, such efforts have begun.
Florida sprayed several fields last
summer.
But there is a difference between do-
mestic efforts and those planned for
the rugged, inaccessible jungles of Co-
lombia. Here, the paraquat was
sprayed from trucks and backpacks.
The marijuana was guarded until it
had withered, then carted away.
The spraying proposed for overseas
will be done from the air, with the risk
of drift, and it will be nearly impossi-
ble to prevent the tainted plants from
being salvaged.
In a letter to the federal Drug En-
forcement Agency last year, a Chev-
ron vice-president protested the use of
paraquat, claiming there is not enough
data on smoking sprayed marijuana.
"The label bears the words 'POISON'
and the skull and crossbones," the let-
ter read. "Terrifying people in order to
modify their social behavior is not a
registered use [of paraquat]. . . . When
used as a weed killer, paraquat is ac-
complishing by chemical means what
can be done with a hoe and bon-
fire. . . . The hoe, in this instance,
would be the preferred means." -A.C.R.
A T
clear. The lungs fill with fibrous tissue,
producing a condition called pulmonary
fibrosis. The passage of oxygen is
blocked. Slow suffocation is inevitable.
According to his doctors, Scott Wilson
would have died within hours without the
lung transplant.
The lethal dose for humans varies, de-
pending on how paraquat enters the
body. The chemical can be absorbed by
inhalation or through the skin, says
Block, but no one knows how much is too
much. Ifswallowed, however, as little as a
teaspoonful of the liquid form can kill.
NO KNOWN ANTIDOTE
There is no known antidote for para-
quat poisoning. The closest thing to one is
a slurry of fine clay-either fuller's earth
or bentonite-a sort of clay milkshake.
As they do in the field, the paraquat mol-
ecules still in the gut form nearly un-
breakable bonds with the clay particles
and cannot be absorbed into the body.
One Chevron promotional brochure,
called "Paraquat CL: facts about its use,"
claims that the clay treatment is an "anti-
dote":
"... Paraquat gained a certain amount
of notoriety as a 'poison without an anti-
dote.' This reputation was probably never
justified, but is certainly no longer the
case," says the pamphlet. "The treatment
for Paraquat poisoning incorporates the
use of an antidote, bentonite clay. . .."
Not one out ofhalfa dozen doctors and
EPA scientists queried agrees with that
use of the term "antidote," and several
say it is misleading. But the EPA does not
routinely monitor promotional literature,
only product labels.
Dr. John Liddle, chief of toxicology of
the environmental health division of the
federal Centers for Disease Control in At-
lanta, says paraquat's affinity for clay
could provide an effective first-aid treat-
ment. "A person who was poisoned in the
field," he says, "could reach over and
grab a handful of dirt and start eating.
You might get salmonella from the dirt,
but it would probably save your life."
Any clay treatment, whether impro-
vised on the spot or applied in a hospital,
is useless once paraquat has entered the
victim's bloodstream. And because tell-
tale symptoms often do not appear for
days, a correct diagnosis-as in Scott
Wilson's case-often comes too late. "It
starts out looking like something totally
different from what it is," Block says.
"First comes gastric distress, then kidney
failure and then the lung pops up. Any
reasonable internist should be thinking
paraquat, but by that time, you're almost
6. p A
week into the illness; you've lost it."
Chevron spokesmen say they are doing
lt'hatever possible to reduce the number
>f poisonings. In this country and En-
pand, there are 24-hour hot lines listed
on each product label. Chevron has its
own analytical laboratory in Richmond,
California-the only laboratory in the
country capable of measuring minute tis-
sue levels ofthe herbicide. And one sales-
man in each of Chevron's sales districts
has a clay treatment package ready to air-
lift to any hospital that reports a case. But
Milt Wilson, Scott's father and a nursery
owner who used to use paraquat, says
that is not enough. "The main thing I
~"he says, "is the doctors being so un-
aware of what to look for with it, how to
treat it, what it is, how bad it is. A run-of-
the-mill doctor just don't even know what
he's looking at." As for Chevron, he says,
"Hell, they niake a lot of money; they
could afford to put pamphlets in every
doctor's hands in this country every three
months if they had to."
Both Chevron and ICI are adding an
emetic-a chemical that induces vomit-
ing-to their American formulas this
year; ICI's British batches already con-
tain the additive. But their effort seems
soured by the fact that it is not an across-
the-board policy. According to Dr. Peter
Slade, product rnailager for paraquat at
ICI, they are assessing the need on a
"country by country" basis. Paraquat
shipped to many Third World nations is
not getting the emetic.
Many doctors consider the emetic use-
less to begin with. An article in the M~di
calJournal ofMalaysia last September re-
viewed 30 cases of paraquat poisoning
R A Q u
For the equivalent of
eight American dollars
I buy enough paraquat
to spray an acre or
kill a hundred people.
Paraquat is oft~n sold in whisluy bottl~s.
reported at one hospital there. Of those,
24 reportedly had vomited within 15 min-
utes of ingesting the paraquat. Yet only 3
D
'ents survived.
irectly across the street from San
Fernando General Hospital in Trini-
dad, I walk into Chunilal Seebaran Agri-
Despit~ th~ dang~rs, aparaquatspray rig is commonplac~ in many Trinidadian ho~holds.
Phocopaphs by And,.....C. Revkin
A T
cultural Service and Supplies, Ltd., a
small open-air shop. On the wall to the
left are shelves lined with old whiskey
bottles filled with Gramoxone. The sim-
ple labels have no warnings. The bottles
are sealed with loose-fitting corks. For
the equivalent ofeight American dollars I
buy one bottle-enough paraquat to
spray an acre or kill a hundred people.
Visits to a variety of hardware and gro-
cery stores on the island tum up para-
quat in bottles with different shapes and
different labels, always freely available.
In fields along the roadside, I see sever-
al workers using backpack sprayers, al-
though clad only in shorts and barefoot.
I meet the Maharaj family, who run a
watermelon stand near the country's only
drive-in theater. One son, Sudeshing,
killed himselfby drinking paraquat sever-
al years ago. His father says Sudeshing
had had a terrible argument with his wife.
It took the 29-year-old man four days to
die. Paraquat is such a popular means of
suicide among Trinidad's large Indian
population that it has acquired the name
"Indian tonic." Dr. Rahaman says that
most of the suicides he sees begin as rash
attempts to gain attention and that fewer
would occur if the paraquat bottle were
not so readily available.
Sudeshing's older brother takes out the
backpack sprayer the family uses around
the house. His naked infant son looks on
as he fills the sprayer with water from a
washtub and demonstrates its use in a
comer of the yard. He also uses paraquat
in his job with the government fisheries
department. The spray men are provided
with boots, but nothing else.
Developing nations have often suffered
from embracing Western technology be-
fore they have the capacity to manage it.
Dr. Rohit Doone, a medical officer with
the Ministry of Health in Trinidad, says
paraquat is totally unregulated in his
country. "In the Caribbean region by far
and large," he says, "the laws are quite
inadequate."
The problem goes far beyond the Ca-
ribbean. On the other side ofthe world, in
Papua New Guinea, Dr. Damien Wohl-
fahrt says there is an endless series ofpoi-
sonings. While working in the isolated
western highlands, he documented more
than a case a month, and he says there
were many more that went unreported.
The reports are often bizarre. Two coffee
plantation workers applied paraquat to
their skin to get rid of lice infestations;
both died. Four people died when para-
quat was somehow mistaken for Commu-
nion wine. A warden at a local prison al-
Continu«i
101
7. p A
Continued from page 101
legedly poisoned an inmate who had
gotten offa murder charge on a technical-
ity. A woman drank paraquat because she
heard it was a potion that could stop the
arguments she had been having with her
husband. In a way, it worked. Wohlfahrt,
who is the medical superintendent of the
largest hospital in Papua New Guinea,
has been lobbying for a pesticides act for
several years, but paraquat can still be
bought over the counter in his country.
SUICIDE THREAT
At one point, he says, "ICI sent up a
rep from Australia to quiet me down. I
found out subsequently that they spread
the story around that I was irresponsible
for publicizing that it was dangerous--
that I would encourage people to commit
suicide with it." Ironically, according to
Wohlfahrt, besides ICI, his main opposi-
tion has been the villagers themselves.
They are convinced that paraquat is cru-
cial to their crops. "I found that the vil-
lagers were very reluctant to give me any
information about poisonings because
they knew I was urging restrictions."
In Papua New Guinea and Malaysia,
the herbicide is commonly sold in what-
ever container is at hand-usually, ac-
cording to a variety of officials, in soft-
drink bottles. In fact, paraquat is so
pervasive in Malaysia that it has acquired
the nickname kopi oh, which means
"black coffee."
In Thailand, the situation is no better.
"Anybody can buy it, even five-year-
olds," says Dr. Prayoon Deema, who di-
rects the Toxic Substances Division ofthe
Thai Department of Agriculture. He says
paraquat is the "number-one herbicide"
in Thailand now, used "for almost every
crop, even in rice paddies."
In January, reports spread in Thailand
that millions of fish were dying in fresh-
water ponds, paddies and streams. Tests
of some of the ponds turned up high con-
centrations of paraquat and another her-
bicide called atrazine. Thai officials spec-
ulate that the herbicides are toxic to the
fish and also lower the oxygen content of
the water by producing rotting vegeta-
tion.
If paraquat is dissolved in water that is
undisturbed, there is evidence that it can
stay active for up to 14 days. Although it
is actively promoted for aquatic weed
control overseas, it cannot be used to
clear waterways or ponds in the United
States.
"I try to get the high authorities in
Thailand to [restrict] paraquat, and the
paraquat people [get] really mad at me,"
102 Science Digest-June 1983
R A Q u
"The paraquat people
think that nobody
should stand up and
fight against a big
giant like them."
Lucille Wilson moved to New York to stay
with her husband, Scott, for his transplant.
Prayoon says. "They think that in these
developing countries nobody should
stand up and fight against a big giant like
them." But, he concludes, "it is my duty
to prevent my people from getting injury
from this kind of thing."
In the United States, the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency has the responsibil-
ity for weighing the agricultural benefits
of toxic chemicals like paraquat against
the human and environmental risks. The
system of registration, review and regula-
tion has grown so complex that even 10-
year veterans ofthe agency complain that
they get "lost and confused."
Paraquat, because of its acute toxicity,
is a so-called "restricted-use" pesticide.
Only one form is available without a per-
mit-an aerosol spray marketed by Chev-
ron called Ortho Spot Weed and Grass
Control. The EPA requires that the users
of all the other varieties be certified and
licensed by the states and that paraquat
be used only for approved purposes.
But officials from Florida to California
concede that these laws are all but unen-
forceable. Technically, the "certified ap-
plicator" does not have to be present dur-
ing application of the pesticide; the
A T
spraying is often done by untrained labor-
ers. Scott Wilson, for example, was not
licensed to use paraquat.
According to Bruce Miller, administra-
tor of pesticide enforcement for the state
of Florida, there is no way he can keep
track of violators. "You try to trace them
back, but you can just do so much," he
says. "There are approximately twenty-
two thousand registered users in Florida;
we have eight people in our enforcement
section here."
And Miller says there appears to be a
black market developing for paraquat and
other restricted-use pesticides: "Some-
times that dollar bill is more important
than a license. Someone tells you, 'Hey,
get some paraquat to put on your pota-
toes, boy, that's the best thing in the
world.' They go out and they'll shop
around until they find someone that'll
give it to them."
Even licensed users often shun the re-
quired protective clothing and face
masks, according to Miller. The liquid is
easily mishandled or spilled, and during
spraying operations, particularly aerial
crop-dusting, the paraquat can drift. The
EPA has listed many such incidents that
resulted in human illness, the death of
cattle and destruction of adjacent crops.
DEADLY DRIFI'
In 1978, wheat growers around Walla
Walla, Washington, switched for the first
time to a no-till system, spraying para-
quat by airplane before planting winter
wheat. Soon, neighboring vegetable farm-
ers began noticing dead, shriveled spots
on spinach leaves, lettuce and turnips. A
study by the Washington State Depart-
ment of Agriculture (WSDA) confirmed
that paraquat had drifted and done dam-
age as far as 1S to 20 miles from the
sprayed fields. "Pretty near every grower
in here has had the problem," says Art
Fanciullo, a farmer whose spinach has
been damaged almost every year. "You
can't escape it." The WSDA study indi-
cated that even with drift-control equip-
ment that sprays larger droplets, the her-
bicide can turn up eight miles away. And
much ofthe spinach still reaches the mar-
ket-sent at a discount to canneries to
which leaf appearance is unimportant.
Dave Pechan was a crop duster for five
years around Stockton, California, before
he quit in 1980. He says paraquat was
particularly difficult to work with: ''That
darned stuff would drift downwind even
in extremely calm winds. I quit using it
because you'd put that stuff on and for
the next two or three days you'd walk
around with an upset stomach, wonder-
Photoaraph by Carol a.n-/Biack Star
8. p A
ing whether you did any damage." Pe-
chan says local weather conditions some-
times made paraquat drift a huge
problem. "We get fog here a lot in this
valley. They were winding up with minor
damage showing all over the whole coun-
ty." Officials put two and two together,
he says. and "realized they were spraying
up there. and it was attaching itself to the
fog. [Paraquat dissolves very easily in wa-
ter.] And sometim~ the fog hangs here
for twenty or thirty days."
As for health problems, Pechan says he
spilled paraquat on his leg once and had
headaches, diarrhea and dizziness. "You
breathe it all the time. In calm air, on
your next pass, you fly through the over-
spray. If you've ever been around crop
dusters, they all stink of chemical." He
says few of the people he worked with
seemed concerned with health effects.
The disregard for unseen effects seems
pervasive. ''The thing that we have the
most problems with," says Bruce Miller
in Florida. "is that people will not read
the labels before they use a pesticide-
and that goes from the most innocuous
compound to the most toxic."
Even a weed scientist at a large univer-
sity, who does not want his name used,
says that he rarely suits up before mixing
paraquat and spraying it on his experi-
mental fields. "Now just being drenched
in paraquat solution, running down your
leg or your stomach, isn't going to hurt
you," he says, shrugging. "I've never had
any problems. Of course, I'm only thirty.
I may not make it to thirty-one."
LONG-TERM EFFECI'S
Recent work in South Africa, however,
indicates that working with paraquat reg-
ularly may have cumulative effects that
can lead to death. A team of researchers
at the University of Cape Town reported
in the journal Thorax that upon investi-
gating the death of a vineyard worker,
they found that he had died of paraquat
poisoning and that six of his co-workers
had difficulty breathing. Tissue samples
were taken from the lungs ofthe two who
were most ill; their lungs were rife with
small blood clots, and the small pulmo-
nary arteries had thickened walls and
constricted passages. According to Leslie
K.laff, one of the doctors who worked on
the study, the researchers tried to repro-
duce in rats the conditions to which the
men had been exposed. Rats' backs were
painted with paraquat over a nine-week
span. ''The effects at the end of the peri-
od," says K.laff, "looked very similar to
those found in the human subjects."
The study was cited in a landmark
R A Q u
Two transplanted lungs
were not enough to save
James Franzen; the
paraquat still in his
body poisoned them.
Jam~s Franz~n'sfath~r. Ralph. at work in
his nurs~ry. Th~ family may su~ Ch~vran.
court case in Washington, D.C. Last No-
vember, a jury awarded $137,500 to the
family of an agricultural worker who
used paraquat frequently at the Beltsville
Agricultural Research Center in Mary-
land. Richard Ferebee was 52 when he
died of pulmonary fibrosis, several years
after retiring on disability with chronic
severe chest congestion. Dr. Ronald
Crystal, chief of the pulmonary branch of
the National Heart, Lung and Blood In-
stitute, ha'ti testified that Ferebee's death
was almost certainly caused by paraquat.
Chevron has appealed the case. "Our
side of the story," says Gerald Doppelt,
general counsel for Chevron, "was that
paraquat could not have caused the ill-
ness that Mr. Ferebee died from."
But more lawsuits are piling up. Lucille
Wilson has sued Chevron for a total of
$25 million, claiming that the company
was aware of the skin-exposure hazard
and did nothing to warn of it. The survi-
vors ofJames Franzen, a young Georgian
whose case is remarkably similar to Scott
Wilson's, are considering filing suit, ac-
cording to his father, Ralph. Franzen had
been poisoned by paraquat while applying
it on a tree farm in Tennessee. He under-
A T
went a lung transplant in Toronto just
two weeks before Wilson's New York op-
eration. But residual paraquat in his mus-
cles poisoned the transplanted lung. He
then had an unprecedented second lung
transplant, but his body had been so se-
verely poisoned that he couldn't breathe
on his own. He died 90 days after the first
transplant.
Chevron spokesmen cite flaws in all the
cases. But regardless of whether the com-
pany is legally liable, the medical evi-
dence weighs against paraquat. Dr. Block
in Florida, Dr. Kamholz in New York
and a host of lung specialists all agree
with Dr. Crystal: Paraquat can cause
lung damage if sufficient amounts are in-
haled or applied to the skin, and it can
cause long-term damage. They also agree
on another point: There has not been
enough research on the subject.
The EPA has traditionally required
that the company applying to register a
new pesticide must come up with the
health data to support that product. Most
of what is known about paraquat comes
from data produced by Chevron and ICI
and by commercial laboratories that have
performed tests under contract to these
companies.
FAULTY RESEARCH
Several long-term studies of paraquat's
health effects were performed in the
1960s by Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories
(IBT) of Northbrook, Illinois, which was
then the largest commercial laboratory in
the country, having run more than 22,000
tests on hundreds of pesticides and drugs.
In 1976, several government audits of
IBT research opened up a Pandora's box
of possible fraud. All of IBT's tests were
invalidated, including those done on par-
aquat.
Government scientists found fictitious
data, such as a mouse dying and springing
back to life (actually replaced by a new
mouse). Results had been shredded, sam-
ples .improperly preserved, experiments
poorly conceived. IBT is now out of busi-
ness, and its top executives and scientists
are on trial in· federal court in Chicago.
The legacy of IBT persists: A mountain
of bad data has provided the basis for
dozens of EPA regulatory decisions. But
paraquat will remain on the market. Ac-
cording to David Gettman, until recently
a spokesman for the EPA's office of pesti-
cide programs, "Under our law, once a
pesticide is registered, the burden of proof
is on the agency to come up with a posi-
tive indication ofunreasonable adverse ef-
fects."
Continued
103
9. ~···········-.
' ·s k ~I & pea I
I ~ish I
I likea II I
I diplomat! II I
I What sort of people need to learn a I
I foreign language as quickly and effec- I
tively as possible? Foreign service per- I
I sonnet, that's who. Members of
I America's diplomatic corps are assigned 1
I
to U.S. embassies abroad, where they I
must be able to converse fluently in
1 every situation. 1
I
Now you can learn to speak Spanish I
just as these diplomatic personnel do-
I with the Foreign Service Institute's Pro- I
I grammatic Spanish Course. You'll learn 1
I
Lat!n American Spanish recorded by I
natrve speakers.
1 The U.S. Department of State has 1
I
spent thousands of dollars developing I
this course. It's by far the most effective
I way to learn Spanish at your own con- I
I venience and at your own pace. 1
I
The course consists of a series of cas- I
settes and accompanying textbook.
1 Simply follow the spoken and written 1
I
instructions, listening and repeating. By I
the end of the course, you'll be learning
1 and speaking entirely in Spanish! I
I This course turns your cassette player 1
into a "teaching machine." With its
I unique "programmatic" learning method, I
1 you set your own pace- testing your- 1
I
self, correcting errors, reinforcing I
accurate responses.
I The FSI's Programmatic Spanish I
I Course comes in two volumes, each 1
I
shipped in a handsome library binder- I
You may order one or both:
I . I
I DVolumel: Bas1c. 12 cassettes (17 hr.), 1
manual, and 464-p. text, $125.
I 0 Volume II: Intermediate. 8 cassettes I
1 (1 1'Ia hr.), manual, and 614-p. text.$110. 1
I (Conn. and N.Y. residents add sales tax) I
I TO ORDER BY PHONE, PLEASE CALL I
I TOLL-FREE NUMBER: 1-800-243-1234. I
I To order by mail, clip this ad and send 1
1I with your name and address, and a
1 check or money order - or charge to I
your credit card (AmEx, VISA, Master- I
I Card, Diners) by enclosing card number,
1 expiration date, and your signature. I
1 The Foreign Service Institute's Span- 1
I
ish course Is unconditionally guaran- I
teed. Try it for three weeks. If you're not
I convinced it's the fastest. easiest, most I
I
painless way to learn Spanish, return it 1
and we'll refund every penny you paid. I
I Order today!
1 81 courses in 26 other languages also 1
I
available. Write us for free I
catalog. Our 10th year.
I I
1 Audio-Forum I
I Suite17H 1
On-the-Green,
I Guilford, CT 06437 I
1 12031 453-9794 I
I I
I • ....,,_aiume I
~................'104 Science Digest-June 1983
PARAQUAT
Continued from page 97
The EPA released a report last fall that
summarized the data on paraquat:
e Teratogenicity (the tendency to
cause birth defects): Research in the med-
ical literature is "inadequate."
e Mutagenicity (the tendency to cause
gene mutations): "The Agency could not
come to any conclusion."
e Reproductive effects: "The Agency
[found] that the available studies relating
to reproductive effects are inadequate."
e Oncogenicity (potential for causing
cancer): Tests were inadequate and inval-
id. Of the four tests reviewed, one per-
formed by ICI in 1972 was found to be
deficient. The remaining three were per-
formed by IBT.
Despite the data gaps, a pesticide on
the market is innocent until proved
guilty. Until paraquat is clearly shown to
be a danger to humans or the environ-
ment, its use will persist.
BUDGET CUTS
Budget cuts have reduced the EPA's
ability to study paraquat. Ralph Wright,
who coordinated the review of paraquat
data published last year, says his section,
the special pesticides review division, has
been cut from 140 to 36 people. He says
most of the hundreds of pesticides that
came on the market in the 1960s, like par-
aquat, were poorly tested. And all have
been slated for a systematic review like
the one just completed for paraquat. But
EPA has run out of money.
The IBT scandal, the jury decision
against Chevron and a recent wave ofbad
publicity following the use of paraquat on
domestic marijuana fields don't sit well
with proponents of paraquat. "Every time
something like that happens, it gives you
a very significant black eye,'' says Jack
Early, president of the National Agricul-
tural Chemicals Association. According
to Scott Hagood at Virginia Polytechnic,
"The loss of paraquat would eliminate
practical no-till corn production." And
that could eliminate a lot of farmers. Ha-
good says there is no suitable replacement
for paraquat.
There is another "hit and run" herbi-
cide called Roundup on the market that
reportedly can do everything paraquat
can do-and do it more safely. But, ac-
cording to industry experts, it is three to
four times more expensive. (Incidentally,
almost all of the toxicity testing in sup-
port of Roundup was done by IBT.)
"There's a lot of people that literally
believe that we can do this organically,''
Hagood says. "Unh-unh! Not and eat.
There has to be a core ofthese products to
maintain the level ofproductivity we have
now."
In the past decade, agriculture has be-
come agribusiness. The high cost of rent-
ed land (today, more than half of Ameri-
ca's farmland is rented) and the price of
new technology are both creating an un-
precedented push for productivity-and
for new tools like paraquat.
According to Norman Berg, the former
head of the U.S. Soil Conservation Ser-
vice, the higher productivity (eeds a self-
destructive cycle: By depressing prices,
overproduction forces farmers with big
debts to produce even more-or perish.
SAFETY VS. SURVIVAL
And in the less developed countries,
the pressures for using pesticides are even
more immediate. There, says Dr. James
Boland, a health scientist with the EPA
pesticide hazard evaluation division,
"you're dealing with a mind set that is
based on subsistence and survival. It's
hard to convince a guy who's worried
about producing maybe five hundred
pounds of rice that he ought to wear a
respirator and not get exposed to this
stuff, when he says, 'Well, if I don't get
the rice, I die and everybody dies.' "
"Everything that's being utilized on
these very intensively cultivated acres is
being pushed to the maximum,'' says
Berg. "And that's a fragile operation that
we do not fully understand." He warns
that this vicious cycle can break down.
"We are in an increasingly unnatural type
of production. We have moved hea-.ily
with the chemicals. So many of the deci-
sions that we make are very short range.
We're looking into a very cloudy crystal
ball. In this work, you need to look be-
yond this century and even fifty years into
the future."
Scott Hagood sees problems that are a
good deal less than 50 years away: "If we
get too much pressure from the environ-
mental groups, and we start to lose too
many of these [pesticides], you're going to
see a backlash in the agricultural indus-
try. Now we could go back to having your
little twenty-acre patch ofcorn and plow-
ing it with your tractor and you could
keep it weed-free. But we couldn't feed
ourselves doing that anymore." Leaning
back with a sigh, he says, "When it gets to
where people are hungry, they're not go-
ing to care."
•A sea breeze pushes in over the searing
hot tin roofs ofTrinidad's capital, Port of
Spain. The sweat on my neck chills as I
step from the balcony into my air-condi-
tioned hotel room.
I stare at the dark bottle of paraquat
that sits impassively on the Formica-
topped dresser. Having purchased it so
simply, I now wonder what the hell to do
with it. Then I think of the similar bottles
and jars and cans of paraquat that sit in
homes and farms from Trinidad to Texas
to Thailand-some labeled, some not,
some in knowledgeable hands, some
not-and I wonder who will be the next
victim of this blessed-cursed chemical
age. •