Dear HMF members I am writing to ask for everybody's help. Everybody who enjoys growing things (especially roses) that is.
Now, I know this can be a very sensitive subject and it is becoming more and more of a moral issue. Chemicals. Do we really need to be using them? What did we do before the chemical explosion of the 60's? Have we really become that stupid that at the first sign of any trouble in the garden we reach for the chemical can?
It's not all of us who work in this way I know, but those of us who refuse to spray poison on our plants are very much in the minority. The shameless companies sell to the majority and are very happy in the knowledge that we, the customers, have no idea as to what damage we are doing to ourselves and more importantly to our children. They continue to create and sell new wonder products that save us all a bit of work because we continue to buy them and don’t question these people's motives. I really don’t think they're producing these poisons just out of the goodness of their hearts to save us all from getting bad backs, but then putting it that way, given the choice I'd rather have aching bones than any type of cancer thank you. This is the moral issue, we have the choice, our children don’t.
In this modern day it is an outrage that this is being allowed to continue. It has recently been proved that this generation of children will for the first time in history be less healthy than us, this is very wrong and we don't have to look too far to see the facts and reasons for this demise in our society.
In Europe alone 100 000 children die every year due to diseases caused by the environment. In Europe 70% of cancers are linked to the environment. 30% to pollution and 40% to food. Yes , that’s right, our food. We are literally poisoning ourselves due to the fact that the chemicals we treat with stay in the produce we eat and the water we drink.
In Europe cases of cancer in children have been increasing at 1.1% yearly for the last 30 years. In France, where I live, the number of cancers in males has shockingly increased by 93% in the last 25 years.
Ask yourself the question do you have friends or family whose lives have been affected by cancer or diabetes or infertility problems. Unfortunately I can imagine that a lot of people answer yes to at least one of these questions.
I love living in France but the French along with the Americans are amongst the world leaders of agricultural chemical use. Every year we are exposed to over 76, 000 tonnes of pesticides. How many illnesses, tumors, disabilities and human tragedies are occurring without anyone taking any effective action?
Personally I'm very scared for our children and what it is they will accuse us of when we look back in history and see that we had a chance to rectify our mistakes, to really change our thinking, the facts are all here now, we have no excuses. So could I just ask everybody to carry out one small gesture this Christmas. Have a quick look in your garage or garden shed and look at what garden chemicals you have there. Ask yourself if you know what the ingredients in these concoctions actually do, to your plants and to you. Is there not another solution to mildew, blackspot, aphids or caterpillars and do you really need one? Is the problem that bad?
I realise that this is nothing new, we've known about the dangers of chemicals for a long time now yet little has changed. We cannot afford to wait for our governments to ban chemical use in agriculture, that will never happen completely, there's far too much money at stake there. No, we have to start to demand an alternative choice now.
Keep on asking in your local garden shops for organic solutions. Better still do your own research into how our ancestors combated problems in the garden, it's a lot more interesting than simply spraying a poison of which you've no idea how it works or what damage it will ultimately do to you, your family and your friends.
So there you go, I'm very sorry to have babbled on a bit here but this is something that affects me directly as I work in the grape vines in the south of France where we are surrounded by people treating with chemicals every year. We've started to change a few attitudes around here and I'm sure one day we will get there it's just going to take a lot of time, a lot of talking and a lot of action.
I'd much rather our children thank us for the decisions we made and don’t accuse us of complete selfishness and greed when they grow older wouldn't you?
Thanks for your time.