<  A good example is most
pesticides, which now are conceded to usually be less dangerous than the
pests
they kill.>


when i read this i get worried that the idea of pests is persisting , i need
to confirm  there is a different way at looking at things . this view of the
world imply it is a world of scarcity where there is not enough for all
beings to enjoy life .i recognise it is an 'EDUCATED" and so superficial
perception of life . behind those belief there is the harmony of all beings
into a functional whole . the science of ecology and modern physic is
starting to  confirm that .
the denial of interdepency of all beings  can lead us to accepting
artificial molecules as a "solution" to ''Problems " while the integrated
view of the world will see them as merelly useless . my experience of
natural farmer will confirm that . nature is complete as it is and can
satisfy needs of all being as no needs can be created out of thin air but
out of the appartenance of the dance of life .

in more pragmatic terms there is many observations that lead even  some
medically educated minds to question the assumption that pesticide are
harmless ....
jean-claude
> Environmental Estrogens Act at Very Low Concentrations
>
> 05 Dec 2004
> http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=17346
>
> Scientists have discovered that even extremely small amounts of
> environmental estrogens - chemical compounds found in pesticides,
> plastics
> and detergents, as well as phytoestrogens from sunflower seeds, soybeans
> and alfalfa sprouts - can cause major changes in endocrine cells,
> possibly
> leading to disruption of vital chemical messenger systems in humans and
> animals.
>
> Researchers have become increasingly concerned about environmental
> estrogens over the last ten years in the face of evidence linking the
> chemicals to everything from deformed sexual organs in alligators to
> damaged fish and human sperm to increased proliferation of breast cancer
> cells. But lab experiments that aimed to measure the danger posed by
> environmental estrogens seemed to show that unrealistically high
> concentrations of the compounds would be needed to produce the observed
> effects.
>
> The new study, described in a paper published in the November
> Environmental
> Health Perspectives and authored by University of Texas Medical Branch at
> Galveston (UTMB) research scientist Nataliya Bulayeva and UTMB human
> biological chemistry and genetics professor Cheryl Watson, looked at a
> different mechanism than the one traditionally believed responsible for
> cellular reactions to external signals. Instead of measuring the
> responses
> of the relatively slow-acting genetic machinery in the cells' nuclei,
> they
> focused on the much faster chemical responses set in motion by receptors
> in
> the cell membranes, the border between the interior and exterior of the
> cells. (These "membrane-initiated" reactions have only recently begun to
> receive substantial attention from scientists, although their involvement
> in cellular responses was first hypothesized in the 1970s.)
>
> "When people were looking for these responses before, they were focused
> on
> these macromolecular synthetic events that take long periods of time, 24
> to
> 48 hours, and for the most part they saw very large concentrations being
> needed," said Watson. "We were looking at seconds to minutes to hours,
> and
> seeing responses at concentrations as much as a thousand to a million
> times
> lower than that. These things are just as potent as physiological
> estrogens
> like estradiol if you look at this mechanism."
>
> Physiological estrogens are steroid hormones made by humans and animals
> to
> control their own endocrine systems and thus guide the growth and
> development of different systems in their bodies. Xenoestrogens-including
> both man-made environmental estrogens and phytoestrogens from plants-are
> chemicals from outside the body that can inappropriately activate or
> interfere with endocrine signaling.
>
> Watson and Bulayeva measured the responses of signaling molecules known
> as
> extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERKs) in rat pituitary
> cells to representatives of three major classes of environmental
> estrogens:
> those found in organochlorine pesticides (endosulfan, dieldrin, and the
> DDT
> breakdown product DDE), detergents used in making plastics (p-nonylphenol
> and bisphenol A) and a compound found in alfalfa sprouts, soybeans, and
> sunflower seeds (coumestrol).
>
> ERK responses are known to be involved in cell proliferation as well as
> the
> release of hormones, which affect many tissues of the body and have a
> particularly powerful effect on those associated with reproduction. "Most
> of these reproductive hormones coordinate the whole animal, coordinating
> behavior with all the different tissues that have to participate in
> reproduction," Watson said. "If you upset that cascade of signals, then
> you've got big problems, systemically. So you can imagine a lot of
> scenarios that result in bad news for the animal that's affected-or maybe
> the people that are affected."
>
> University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
> 301 University Blvd.
> Galveston, TX 77555-0144
> United States
> Phone 409-772-2618
> Fax 409-772-6216
> http://www2.utmb.edu/utmb/news/htm