Part four
by Dr. J. Gordon Edwards
Starvation - The Cruelest Fate
What motivation drives those wealthy activist to prevent the streaming masses of humanity elsewhere from obtaining the chemicals that would reduce their misery and save millions of lives? Do they simply want to attract large donations from the people on their huge mailing lists by terrorizing them with false claims and outlandish implications? Or do they simply desire to wield greater power in the United States and around the world? Or are they deliberately intent upon crippling American agriculture and ruining the industries that now employ so many American workers? Or is their long-range goal the worldwide decimation of human population that they think are reproducing too rapidly? Or are most of those anti-pesticide activist simply naive, uninformed or misin- formed “groupies” who have never really given serious thought to the effects of their irresponsible actions on other human beings? I submit that the reasons are not as important as the results, and that greater efforts must be made to educate those individuals who are in the latter category and to thwart those whose true goal is wide-spread genocide.
What is the death toll resulting from pesticide restriction here in the United States and around the world? It is impossible to calculate with any great accuracy. Right now 15 to 20 million people are dying of direct starvation each year, while at least that many more are succumbing to the indirect effect associated with malnutrition and protein-calories deficiency. The knowledge and ability to reduce those figures is available now...but not without pesticides and other agrichemicals, and with stronger, healthier workers in the fields. At least 10 million people die annually from malaria alone, Millions more perish from the side-effects of malaria and other diseases, and additional millions are killed by various other preventable and treatable maladies.
It would appear reasonable to conclude that, directly or indirectly, between 60 and 100 million people are dying every year as a result of the anti-pesticide campaigns which have resulted in restriction or bans on the pesticides that could prevent such deaths.
How many more human lives must be sacrificed on the altar of pseudo-environmentalist extremism? Only time can tell!
Dr. Edwards, a Counselor of the National Council for Environmental Balance, is a professor of entomology at San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. A ranger, naturalist-botanist, he has written for many publications on bio-logy, ecology, entomology, mountain climbing, ornithology and zoology.
Reprint permission given by AgAir Update, P.O. Box 850, Perry, GA 31069 - an international agricultural aviation publication.
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