2 Unexpected Consequences
manufacturer Dow Agrosciences led the effort, saying it was “committed
to the production and marketing of products that will help American
farmers feed the world, and do so with full respect for human health
and the environment.” Against a backdrop of White House friendships
and allegations of influence-buying, the EPA reversed course, reject-
ing its own science and suspending further action. Sales of chlorpyrifos
would not have missed a beat, and EPA’s next review would not have
occurred until 2 2 . The suspension was appealed to the Ninth Circuit
Court, which in August 2 gave the agency sixty days to “revoke all
tolerances” and “cancel all registrations.” Whether or not vested interests
will once again triumph over the body of science-based evidence is still
being contested.
You might think that Dow’s “respect for human health and the
environment” would compel the company to take a precautionary
approach to pesticides, particularly in light of peer-reviewed scientific
studies about irreversible brain damage. Instead, like most manufacturers,
Dow continues to tout its products’ safety notwithstanding mount-
ing evidence otherwise. It can do so because studies showing definitive
long-term health effects are much more difficult to carry out than those
showing the absence of acute, immediate harm.
In an environment where thousands of synthetic chemicals abound,
teasing out the long-term confounding effects is complex, time con-
suming, and expensive. Such are the challenges of regulating pesticides
in the United States. Though DDT was banned in 2 , almost two
generations ago, its residues live on in the environment and in human
blood samples. While levels are lower, the long-term effects remain
unknown.
In 66 , the richest man in the world launched a scheme that most
people have never heard about. Daniel Ludwig set his mind to turn-
ing four million acres of the Amazon rain forest into food and wood
products. This self-made billionaire abhorred publicity, as it stole from
his mercenary drive to make more money, however and wherever pos-
sible. His business empire, operating in twenty-three countries scattered
around the world, included mining, dredging, ship building, oil and
cargo transportation, banking and financial services, land development,