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Consumers Are Underestimating Just How Dependent We Are on Pesticides

A new report released by the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) found some pretty jarringly contradictory attitudes when it comes the use of pesticides.
Photo via Flickr user Peter Daniel

The time may be upon us to get real about pesticides. While railing against the likes of Monsanto for using chemicals deemed "probably carcinogenic" may be tempting, it appears that many consumers do not practice, or at least fully understand, what they preach.

A new report released by the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) found some pretty jarringly contradictory attitudes when it comes the use of pesticides.

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READ: The UK's Most Widely Used Weed Killer Could Be Making Bread Toxic

For starters, the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization has already stated that global food production must increase by 60 percent by 2050, as there will be almost "a third more mouths to feed" by then. Yet, only 4 percent of those surveyed by the ECPA were able to correctly estimate the magnitude of this looming problem.

The report, undertaken by internet-based market research firm YouGov Plc, also found that consumers appear to have underestimated just how dependent the current world food supply is on pesticides. Only 31 percent of the 5,631 adult Europeans questioned thought that crop disease and infestation were linked to the global rise of food costs.

READ: Germany's Most Popular Beers All Contain Weed Killer

For some, this is a dangerous assumption. "If farmers cannot protect their crops, cost will inevitably increase," Graeme Taylor, a spokesperson for the pesticides industry, said in a press release. "Consumers expect—and deserve—to have access to safe and affordable food of good quality. To continue to be able to produce sufficient quantities of quality crops requires sustainable use of pesticides. This research shows however that consumers do not appreciate the magnitude of what is at stake if farmers don't have access to innovative solutions like pesticides to protect their crops."

In other words, we're already very reliant on pesticides and phasing them will only lead to costlier produce and food scarcity, which is the last thing consumers want. All of which begs the question of what consumers really want; affordable food or pesticides on their food? The answer, at least as framed by the ECPA, is both.

Trace amounts of potentially harmful weed killers like glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, have already been found in British bread and German beer, leading for calls to ban it.

And as a well-intentioned as these calls are, the ECPA's report, combined with the ticking timebomb of a rapidly growing world population, are a stark reminder that, like it or not, we are already on the hook.