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by chabes 2799 days ago
Organic farmers don’t use organophosphates

There is a big difference between organic and conventional pesticides.

1 comments

They are different, but not necessarily less toxic to the environment.

Rotenone is a powerful insecticide that was used to control insects (LD50: 132 mg/kg). Despite the high toxicity of Rotenone to aquatic life and some links to Parkinson disease the compound is still allowed in organic farming as it is a naturally occurring compound

Yes, there are things allowed in certified organic agriculture that are poisonous and harmful. That’s a whole separate discussion. I could go on forever about the organic program here in the US, and the standards board being a small group of individuals that mostly represent big-ag at this point (more than half of the board members), and all of the exceptions and rule changes they’ve made to the program.

My point was that organic farmers don’t use organophosphates, which was a response to “Organophosphates are like the primary insecticide used worldwide. How do you replace it? I don't see anywhere where they propose an alternative.”