Dangerous Pesticides Are Everywhere: New Movie Exposes Shocking US Pesticide Practice

Impact

Imagine discovering a product that you've been using is causing serious damage to your health and the environment. But instead of safely disposing of that toxic product, you decide to go next door and sell it to your neighbor. Hard to imagine, right? This scenario isn't entirely unimaginable. In the United States, once a pesticide is pulled off the market because it is shown to have dangerous effects on peoples' health and the environment, we allow corporations to continue manufacturing and exporting that pesticide to other countries -- even just a few feet across our borders.

Who gets affected most by this U.S. policy? Those living in the Global South who are applying these banned and unregistered pesticides and suffering serious health effects as a result. Countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America use 25% of the world's pesticides, yet account for 99% of deaths caused by these toxins. Some 25 million farmers and agricultural workers across the globe are poisoned by pesticides each year, and poorly educated and impoverished laborers are most at risk, often applying pesticides without any training or protective clothing.

A new documentary film in the making, Toxic Profits, will highlight the lives of those being most severely affected by this U.S. policy and it will document alternative, sustainable farming solutions to corporate-controlled, pesticide-intensive agriculture. Because the global pesticide market is increasing by billions of dollars every year, the film will highlight alternative farming methods that have proven more effective and even more profitable than the industry standard. You can watch a trailer for the film on Kickstarter here: http://kck.st/NnkagZ.

Dangerous Pesticides Are Everywhere: New Movie Exposes Shocking US Pesticide Practice