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Old 29-08-2004, 06:37 PM
paghat
 
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In article , Larry Blanchard
wrote:


I'm more concerned about the antibiotic-resistant bacteria we're
breeding with all the "antibacterial" products on the market today than
I am about killing a few thousand insects - there's no shortage.


Medical issues unrelated to gardening are important but less important for
On Topic discussion here.

As for no shortage of beneficial insects, you need to update your
knowledge on the pollinator population in North America, the alarming
decline of both wild & domestic bee populations, the extinctions of
butterflies, to the point that in large wild expanses native plants are
having trouble fruiting & reproducing, while in some suburban settings,
due mainly to pesticides, pollinators are frequently too few for garden
fruit production to occur at all.

And it turns out the the only insects for which there is not now nor ever
will be a shortage are the harmful ones that are all that remain when
predator insects & pollinator insects are eradicated. And it just never
had to happen, since all the field studies show that correct organic
principles have better outcomes for gardening & fruit production.

Though as you imply, it is also true the coming world-wide tuberculosis
outbreak is going to make any concern about deadly agricultural practices,
extinction of all wildlife & destruction of forests & waterways, &
unhealthy gardens, all appear rather inconsequentle if most of us start
coughing up bits of our lungs & gasping to death. Then again, it was our
misguided belief that we could pick & choose what on the planet was
permitted to continue to exist that pretty much guarantees we won't exist.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com