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From: andrew@lemming.gwd.tek.com (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,sci.bio,sci.misc
Subject: Re: pesticides
Message-ID: <8997@tekecs.TEK.COM>
Date: Sat, 15-Aug-87 19:17:45 EDT
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Posted: Sat Aug 15 19:17:45 1987
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	"So now he's back on the family farm without chemicals, still
	producing as much per acre as his neighbors, but making more
	money.  This suggests that dropping some use of pesticides/weed
	killers might not be as bad as one would think."

An analogous situation from epidemiology suggests itself.  With regard
to vaccinations, most of which have a small but non-zero chance of
doing you harm, the ideal for you is for everyone else in the world
except you to be vaccinated.

Weeds come from weed seeds; insects come from other insects.  Perhaps
this farmer's chemically soaked neighbors formed a weed-free,
insect-free buffer around his farm which kept the invaders at bay.

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew)       [UUCP]
                        (andrew%tekecs.tek.com@relay.cs.net)   [ARPA]