For readers who do not subscribe to Lancaster Farming, here are two items from the latest issue dated Feb. 2:
Item #1: Leafy greens are the top food poisoning source. Each year approximately 1 in 6 Americans (about 48 million) get food poisoning. About 128,000 are hospitalized, and about 3000 die.
The Center for Disease Control said the largest number of poisonings (about 1 in 5) came from leafy green vegetables. You might want to either wash your spinach or boil the heck out of it. I remember when growers in California fought a requirement that farmworkers have toilets available. Think about that.
Item #2: The makers of atrazine, used for decades as a herbicide, have agreed to a $105 million dollar settlement. The money will go to about 1000 communities that are trying to eliminate atrazine from their water supplies. The company (Syngenta) admits no wrongdoing. The money does not begin to cover the costs that have been incurred removing atrazine from drinking water.
Here are downsides to the settlement. The plaintiffs’ attorneys will get about $35 million in fees, and Roundup is still being used routinely as a weed killer.
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