Dear Orkney News,
We read with interest in this weeks Orcadian that Alistair Carmichael has written to Michael Gove requesting that he forgoes banning Chloropyrifos. This insecticide is harmful to humans (especially children) and the wider environment. The invertebrate life in a number of rivers has been killed off due to accidental spillages of very small amounts of this chemical.
Lead was once included in paint and petrol, and DDT was once used with gay abandon, but we no longer do these things because they are harmful to humans and the environment.
Mr Carmichael claims that there may not be a viable alternative to this product, but surely it is up to the agricultural industry to find ways to use smart technology to protect plants and animals from attack by invertebrate life. The sooner we abandon the use of nonspecific chemicals the better.
Yours J&K Southerington, Orkney
Categories: Letters
The fact that there isn’t seen to be a viable alternative ( if that is a fact) still doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to use something.
Somehow – farmers and gardeners managed for centuries without using this kind of ……….