[ExI] pest - aside: RE: Universal basic income

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf
Of Adrian Tymes
...

>...I'd need to see the specifics, but it's possible the peaches were
treated with pesticides such that they'd kill the pickers if (as would
surely happen) the pickers ate them without washing and other measures the
retail-grade peaches got...



A side note on pesticide: the ones used on fruit are not toxic to humans.
They use saponifiers and surfactants.  These coat the bug and slay them,
because it causes liquid to coat their surfaces.  You and I do that every
day in the shower with the soap.  It doesn't harm us because we do not
breathe through our skin.

A powerful demonstration was when a guy took a glass of alar (used to slay
apple moths) on live TV and drank it.  He demonstrated that is it chemically
not much different from any other kind of soap.  You can wash your dishes in
alar if you wish; it won't hurt you, unless you are an insect.

Paradoxically, this introduces new risks to farmers, because it makes them
careless in handling some classes of pesticides, a few of which damn sure
are a problem if the concentration is sufficiently high.  It isn't toxic,
but is thought to be related to some forms of cancer.  That's why you have
never heard of anyone perishing from devouring unwashed fruit.

spike