The New Dark Age

Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found. Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year. Based on a worldwide farming population of 934 million, this means approximately 46% of farmers are being poisoned every year. The greatest estimated number of poisonings was in southern Asia, followed by south-east Asia and east Africa. The highest national incidence of poisoning was in Burkina Faso in west Africa, where nearly 84% of farmers and farm workers were reported to have experienced poisoning. The Guardian

The Global Justice Ecology Project released the following statement regarding the announcement by the USDA of the decision to deregulate the genetically engineered (GE) Darling 54 American chestnut tree: “Given the current trend toward the disregard of science and concern for the environment by US environmental agencies, the USDA decision to deregulate the GE American chestnut is not a surprise. But it is disappointing to those who care about forest health and the return of the wild American chestnut. This decision marks the beginning of an unprecedented, dangerous and irreversible experiment with our wild forests. Never before has a GE plant been released into the wild with the intent to contaminate its natural relatives with GE traits.” TAKE ACTION here. Global Justice Ecology Project via GMWatch