this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
198 points (90.2% liked)
science
14709 readers
112 users here now
just science related topics. please contribute
note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry
Rule 1) Be kind.
lemmy.world rules: https://mastodon.world/about
I don't screen everything, lrn2scroll
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
F’real. I’d like to know what alternate timeline has more deaths: the one where, going forward, we continue our modern farming practices as-is; the other, we ban them and revert to only organic farming.
I’d bet cancer deaths per calorie of food produced would be roughly the same…organic farming being both less efficient and not a guarantee in itself that pesticides/herbicides are safer for humans. And l, being less efficient, I’d wager we’d hit famine simply by not having enough good farming land to meet dietary needs.
And who is getting cancer? Mostly farmers that are too lazy/proud to don PPE, and migrant workers who aren’t provided it. In either case it takes a lot of intentional, repeated, unprotected direct exposure. Joe Public isn’t gonna get cancer spraying his poison ivy or even his tomato’s.