Book reviews - Pesticides News No 55

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Having faith
The notion of a toxic threshold for pesticides is deeply ingrained, and is reflected in both the way we live and legal framework surrounding pesticides. Such a belief promises protection from harm, as long as exposures to a particular poison remains below the calculated limit, risk should be negligible. But Sandra Steingraber demonstrates that this is a flawed belief. Threshold regulations are generally calculated as a mean level over time. Unfortunately the foetus does not respect these regulations, with the result that children conceived in spring, when levels of pesticide are at their peak, suffer abnormally high levels of birth deformities and other problems associated with parental pesticide exposure. The situation is made more serious because the foetus is particularly vulnerable to toxic harm, yet in the US over three quarters of the three thousand most abundantly produced chemicals are not screened for their effects on developing embryos.
    The susceptibility of the foetus is due to the sensitivity of developing organs to long-term damage, because the levels of toxic substance can be concentrated in the placenta, and because fat-soluble toxins, instead of being stored in adipose tissue are stored in the brain. The brain is 50% fat by dry weight, and because the foetus is until the last month of pregnancy a very lean animal, the brain tends to become concentrated with toxic chemicals.    
    Having Faith looks at all aspects of pregnancy in terms of an intimate ecology of motherhood. Steingraber realised that her own body had become a habitat, and in her book she looks at the astonishing transformation of the mother’s body as it prepares to nourish and protect new life. The book takes the reader through each month of pregnancy, looking at both the beauty of pregnancy and the alarming extent to which environmental hazards – from industrial poisons found in amniotic fluid to the toxic contamination of breast milk – now threaten each crucial stage of infant development.

Having Faith, An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, Sandra Steingraber, The Perseus Press, PO Box 317, Oxford, OX2 9RU, 2001, 342pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

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Chemical calories
In this book, Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton describes the effects of many common pesticides on the body’s metabolism. It is generally acknowledged that like body temperature, there is an approximate ‘ideal weight’ which the body will try to stick to, burning fat in times of plenty and holding onto it times of famine. This weight is determined by the brain, hormones and a good supply of nutrients, a delicate system vulnerable to damage by synthetic chemicals. Organophosphates, cleaning products, antibiotics and hundreds of other synthetic chemicals have far reaching and complicated effects on the body, including slowing metabolism and reducing the breakdown of fat. Many of these products are, or were, used as deliberate growth promoters in the animal industry, allowing higher profits through decreased feed costs. When we eat meat we ingest these chemicals, but being vegetarian will not protect you because many chemicals with similar properties enter our bodies as pesticides on fruits, vegetables, face creams and innumerable other sources.
    After detailed chapters on biology and the chemistry of different chemical calories Baillie-Hamilton goes on to demonstrate how best to avoid future intake of ‘chemical calories’, how to detox from already existing ones and where to go from there.
    This is a well referenced book with many interesting and new ideas about the effects of synthetic chemicals on our bodies.

Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton, Detox Diet: Eliminate Chemical Calories and Restore Your Body’s Natural Slimming System, Penguin Books Ltd, April 2002, 416pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

Agri-environment – a recipe for policy
The 1992 McSharry reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy weakened the link between production and farm income and the 1996 Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act in the US had similar effects. But in spite of these two major trends in both Europe and the US the process of reform is far from complete, and major decisions face policy makers in the next few years.
    Continued reduction in farm income support and associated re-structuring in the UK is expected to lead to losses amongst individual farms which are unable to adjust, among rural economies that are unable to adapt sufficiently quickly, and may reduce the wide range of environmental and amenity goods provided by the agriculture industry. This paper focuses on how increasing payments to farmers for the provision of environmental goods can address these problems.
    The paper firstly gives a conceptual background to different farming systems together with goals of farmers before giving detailed analyses of different agri-environmental schemes in the UK, including the Organic Agriculture Scheme. The report highlights the main weaknesses in the present systems, such as how the piecemeal approach to the funding and technical assistance provisions to organic farming is not cost effective, and also the benefits of recent policy changes. It then looks in detail at the lessons learnt and the issues and challenges brought up, before finally looking at the transatlantic implications.
    Overall it is a very interesting outline to policy, written in a detailed and factual manner and covering a wide range of issues.

Thomas Dobbs and Jules Pretty, Future Directions for Joint Agricultural-Environmental Implications of the United Kingdom Experience for Europe and the United States, University of Essex Centre for Environment and Society Occasional Paper 2001-2005, www2.essex.ac.uk/ces/ResearchProgrammes/CESOcc-asionalPapers/, 2001, 110pp.

Integrated farming – not far enough
Trying to set up a ‘third way’ between organic and conventional farming, this booklet puts forward the case for integrated arable farming, defining it as ‘a system of agriculture which is more sustainable for the environment and profitable over the long term, encourages biodiversity and which produces safe, affordable food’. Using data from experimental studies, it suggests that integrated farms can be economically viable, with lower output compensated for by decrease in costs.
    It covers eight aspects of farming: rotation, soil, crop establishment, nutrition, weeds, pests, diseases and the environment. After a brief introduction to each, it integrates each practice with others and goes some way towards demonstrating the necessity of looking at the farm from a holistic perspective. For example, it explains that having high residual soil fertility can change the weed spectrum and encourages the more competitive and aggressive weeds such as cleavers to proliferate.
    While the booklet covers interesting material it has very little detail and although it appears to be aimed at farmers it is more appropriate as introductory reading to the subject. It finishes with two case studies where integrated systems which have been tested; they are interesting but only summary information is given.

Arable Cropping and the Environment – a guide. HGCA, Caledonia House, 223 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9HY, 2002, Tel +44(0)2075203920, Fax +44 (0)2075203958, 2002, 35pp.

Buffer zones 
In this very brief guide for farmers the Local Environment Risk Assessment for Pesticides (LERAP) determines the width of aquatic buffer zones when using horizontal boom sprayers. The width is determined through the variety and rate of pesticide to be sprayed, the quality of spray equipment and the width of the watercourse, resulting in buffer zones for approved pesticides of between one and five metres from a bank. For instance, the wider the watercourse or the higher quality of the sprayer then the narrower the necessary buffer strip. It also briefly covers the legal aspects concerning record keeping.

Horizontal Boom Sprayers, a step-by-step guide to reducing aquatic buffer zones in the arable sector, DEFRA Publications, ADMAIL 6000, London SW1A 2XX, Tel +44 (0)8459 556000, Fax +44 (0)20 8957 5012, 2002, 8pp.

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The state of pesticides
Adjusted for inflation, the world now spends approximately 17 times more on pesticides than in the 1950’s, yet the effectiveness of these chemicals has plummeted, while the share of the harvest lost to pests has hardly changed. And although the North uses the majority of these pesticides, it is in the South that they have the worst results, as older more toxic varieties are used with less regulation and less safety equipment. The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately three million people suffering severe pesticide poisoning annually, and millions more suffer milder conditions such as skin rashes, nausea, and nosebleeds. The State of the World 2002 goes into detail about developments to reduce the worst pesticides such as the Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm, 2001), and developments in organic farming around the globe. Also included are chapters on climate change, farming, toxic chemicals, sustainable tourism, population, resource conflicts and global governance, with a special focus on the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in August/September 2002.

Christopher Flavin, Hilary French and Gary Gardner. State of the World 2002, The Worldwatch Institute, W. W. Norton and Company, Ltd., Castle House, 75/6 Wells Street, London, WIT 3QT, 2002, 266pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

Halving hunger – prospects and barriers
In 1996 around 840 million people (or nearly one in seven of the world’s population) were estimated to lack access to the food they need for adequate and regular nourishment. During that year, 186 governments pledged to reduce the number of under-nourished people in the world by 2015.
    This target is far from being met, it is estimated that the number of hungry people is falling by about 8 million a year, compared to the 20 million a year needed to achieve the goal. The report Food for All: Can Hunger Be Halved?, looks at barriers to providing enough food for each person in the world. It points out that although food production overall has risen in the past few decades, the rate of increase is levelling off and growing the extra food that is needed over the coming years will be a severe challenge as there is little additional land or water available. There is increasing consensus that poverty and hunger are intrinsically linked; hunger is a cause as well as a result of poverty and the report asks whether trade liberalisation is helping or hindering efforts to feed the world.
    The report looks at how much food is needed, and examines the policies and practices surrounding farming, from environmental constraints to international agreements such as TRIPS and TRIMS.

John Madeley, Food for All: Can Hunger Be Halved, The Panos Institute, London, 9 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PD, Tel: +44 (0)20 7278 1111, 2001, 48 pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk. 192 pages (April 2002)

Coffee production 
Coffee is one of the most economically important crops for developing countries, and about 70% of production is from smallholders. Coffee also has the possibility to be produced in an environmentally sensitive manner. In the wild, coffee is a forest plant, tolerant of heavy shade from forest canopy. Early coffee production systems mimicked this environment, with a high proportion of trees left standing when planting in an area, resulting in a high level of biodiversity. Yet with the Green Revolution and the industrialisation of the coffee market, shade has been removed and plants that respond well to high levels of fertilisers have been favoured. Along with the loss of shade, the environmental and health advantages of the traditional system have disappeared. Crop diseases are increasing, and there is evidence that this is due to the decrease in soil organic matter, the lack of shade increases weed growth, and reduced biodiversity decreases numbers of natural predators, resulting in increased use of pesticides together with their associated environmental and health effects. 
    Traditional farming methods are further under pressure as world coffee prices continue to plummet, crippling many smallholding farmers in the south. Many problems can be addressed through conversion to organic production that concentrates on maintaining soil fertility and imitating the original habitat for coffee, ideally together with the development of fair trade programmes. Coffee Futures explores some of the critical issues facing the international coffee industry including the health effects of coffee consumption, mechanisation of coffee production and GM coffee. It is an interesting collection of papers each outlining the latest thinking and written by leading authorities.

Dr. P.S. Baker (ed), Coffee Futures, A source book of some critical issues confronting the coffee industry, Peter Baker, Coffee Projects Coordinator, CABI Commodities, Bakeham Lane, Egham, TW20 9TY, England, Tel: +44 1491 829 031, Fax: +44 1491 829 100, p.baker@cabi.org, 2001, 111pp.

What is biodiversity?
The role of biodiversity in agriculture is a huge and complicated issue. At what point should biodiversity be sacrificed for wealth gain in a developing area, and what is the relationship between biodiversity and wealth? There is evidence that agricultural biodiversity is concentrated in areas of poverty, and this has led to a view that development and agricultural biodiversity are in opposition. Some suggest that economic development should involve the conversion of diverse areas to more productive areas, but this is an oversimplification as, amongst other reasons, the relationship between agricultural biodiversity and poverty at the micro level is not clear-cut.
    This book explores the role of biodiversity in developing sustainable livelihoods for everyone, attempting to identify possibilities for mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into different natural resource sectors but without compromising livelihoods in the process. 
    It advocates leveraging incremental change within the existing natural resource sectors through research, policy change, development and demonstration of alternative approaches. There are six chapters that discuss these issues in the forestry, agricultural, livestock and fisheries sectors and within rangelands. A discussion on insect diversity and livelihoods also constitutes a separate chapter. The whole book is framed by an introduction and macro-economic perspectives on how to resolve the conflicts between conservation and development.

Koziell I, Saunders J (Editors), Living Off Biodiversity: Exploring Livelihoods and Biodiversity Issues in Natural Resources Management, IIED Biodiversity Group IIED Bookshop, 3 Endsleigh St., LONDON, WC1 0DD, Tel: +44(0)20 7388 2117, Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826, 2001, 269pp.

Organic farming in developing countries 
Organic agriculture has a fundamental role to play in tackling world hunger. Evidence for this is shown by a new study The Real Green Revolution produced by Greenpeace together with IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements). The study reveals that in developing countries today organic farming is already producing yields far in excess of those achieved by conventional agriculture. Especially in regions where resources are low and farmland is managed traditionally without chemicals or genetic engineering, farmers are reporting very successful harvests.
    The study cites numerous examples demonstrating the success of organic farming in developing countries. For example, the cotton harvest of the farmers in Madhya Pradesh in India is, on average, 20 percent higher than that of their neighbours practicing conventional cotton production. In Madagascar, the rice harvest was actually doubled by using the organic SRI (System of Rice Intensification) method. 
    More than one-quarter of the world’s land area is used for agriculture. But in the past 50 years, two-thirds of this area has been degraded. The principal causes are erosion, salination and nutrient depletion. A significant part has also been played by the ‘Green Revolution’. According to some people, this would tackle famine in developing countries with large-scale use of high-yielding varieties, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and, more recently, the use of genetic engineering. This book suggests that industrial agriculture has failed to feed the majority of the world’s starving and that the whole basis of our food production, that is fertile soils, clean water and a multitude of animal and plant species, is being destroyed.
    Contrary to widespread opinion, the study proves that organic agriculture works very well in developing countries. The report concludes that the problem of world hunger cannot be tackled with genetically modified crops, but by promoting a form of agriculture which takes account of a region’s local, social and cultural structures and the farmers’ traditional knowledge. 

The Real Green Revolution, IFOAM Head Office, Fax: +49-6853-919899, Email: headoffice@ifoam.org. 

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 55, March 2002, page 22]