agricultural sciences

I only rated this 4 stars instead of 5 since Avery could have shortened the book a bit by avoiding repetition. Excellent exposé of the flawed paranoia being peddled by environmentalists, conservationists and others who need something to do and keep discovering new "crises" to spend your money on.....

Actually, the base "-cid" comes from the Latin "cadere" and means "to fall". This term was modified by the Romans to mean "to kill" as in "occedere". Another example of factual misrepresentation on both sides of the environmental debate. Avery trys to answer some of the big questions left unanswered by environmentalists: If our food is being poisoned, why are we healthier and living longer than ever before in the course of human history? If chemicals are polluting the environment, why is it now safe to swim in rivers that have previously been too polluted? Why is the air cleaner than 20 years ago, despite a huge increase in motorized traffic? I would also recommend Peter Huber's "Hard Green".

This is the most bogus piece of propaganda I've had the misfortune of stumbling across in a long time. Makes me wonder which agribusiness is behind this one. I will never cease to be amazed at the shamelessness of some people. Need I remind "mad dog" Avery that -cid (as in pestiCIDe) comes from Latin and means "killing". Somehow this seems a little incongruous in a sentence with words like "saving" , "environmental" and "triumph".