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by OutOfHere 8 days ago
> Many of the "organic" pesticides, copper sulfate, rotenone, and nicicotine sulfate

That's highly misleading:

1. Copper sulfate is required to be used such that copper accumulation is limited in the soil. [1]

2. Rotenone [2][3] and nicotine sulfate [3] are not allowed as USDA Organic pesticides.

Really, superkuh, for a user like you, your comment is embarrassing.

[1] https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/pesticide-articles/mat...

[2] https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/national-organic-...

[3] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-I/su...
2 comments
utternerd 8 days ago
"Organic means better" is the embarrassing and misleading talking point here though, not being against having toxic chemicals in our food sold as "organic". I don't want added copper compounds and residue in my food, and copper sulfate used in organic farming empirically does that.

"The most frequently quantified [organic] pesticide was copper." https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/5570...

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OutOfHere 8 days ago
Your own reference says:

> Analysis of these articles revealed no significant difference in ..., zinc, and copper.

> restrictions limit the use of copper salts.

I see a theoretical risk but not a practical problem here. At best you've identified a place where the regulations might need tightening.

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jraph 8 days ago
This doesn't say that conventional cultures are better on that front.
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superkuh 7 days ago
That https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-I/su... specifically does not allow "(f) Rotenone (CAS # 83-79-4)" and "nicotine sulfate" is a huge red flag. I guess the article writer might be talking of non-US jurisdictions but it does undercut my belief in their statements.

Given these two really bad, even disengenuous, examples the true bit about the copper sulfate use is probably misleading too. I wouldn't say it's embarassing not to know this off the top of my head but I do appreciate that I won't embarass myself in the future by repeating the falsehoods (re: USDA regs). Thanks.

I do wonder how this works with a large amount of the produce I buy in the USA being grown in other countries though.

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