Unwelcome Harvest Agriculture and Pollution

About this book

Originally published in 1991.

Agriculture Pollutes: pesticides can destroy wildlife and some are toxic to humans; some fungicides and herbicides cause cancer. Nitrates result in the contamination of drinking water and produce the risk of the ?blue-baby? syndrome in infants and of stomach cancer in adults. Agriculture produces methane, ammonia, nitrous oxide and the products of burning off, all of which add to the world's problems of acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer and global warming. Unwelcome Harvest, which focuses on the UK, the USA and Third World countries, is the first comprehensive review of agriculture and pollution: it examines the facts and assesses the relative dangers of each pollution problem. It also considers the effects of pollution on agriculture itself – crop yields are depressed and livestock damaged by various forms of pollution from all sources. The authors offer solutions to these apparently overwhelming problems, and describe existing technology which would allow us to deal with them.

Contents

Preface

1. Introduction to Agriculture and Pollution
2. Pesticides and the Environment
3. Pesticides and Human Health
4. Fertilizers and the Environment
5. Fertilizers and Health
6. Farm Wastes
7. Agriculture as a Global Polluter
8. The Impact of Air Pollution on Agriculture
9. The Impact of Land and Water Pollution on Agriculture
10. The Control of Pollution
11. Agriculture without Pollution

Index

Customer Reviews