Al Jazeera English, 18 November 2016

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2016/11/circle-poison-pesticides-developing-world-161115084547144.html — Filmmakers: Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post

“What I have found in my 25 years of working with biodiversity, working to build ecological agriculture systems, is that chemical-free, poison-free agriculture systems, which intensify ecological processes, which intensify biodiversity, produce more food per acre and more nutrition per acre: that’s the way we must go.” — Vandana Shiva, activist and author of Poison in our Food

In recent decades, harmful pesticides spread around the world’s less developed nations have caused immeasurable damage to populations and ecosystems.

In 2013, data from the US Environmental Protection Agency showed that pesticides, which are banned, restricted or unregistered in the United States, were manufactured in 23 states for export to other countries.

Used for growing coffee, fruit, tea and other products, these pesticides are likely to make their way back to the US as residue on imported food.

Only about 2 percent of imported produce is inspected by the Food and Drug Administration. It is a circle of poison.

“The environment doesn’t know any boundaries. You know, dust and pollution from China settles in the US … nuclear radiation from Chernobyl went over Iceland. What goes up into the environment goes around the world,” says David Weir, a journalist and co-author of Circle of Poison: Pesticides and People in a Hungry World.

The documentary Circle of Poison examines how pesticides proliferated after World War II, the legal loopholes which allow the manufacture of insecticides – deemed unsafe for the American people – for export to developing countries, and the devastation caused by these toxic substances […]

[…] Circle of Poison spans the US, India, Argentina, Mexico and Bhutan, with a wide range of interviews with activists in these countries, the people affected by crop-spraying, and experts and key figures who have led the fight againt pesticides, including former US President Jimmy Carter, Patrick Leahy, Noam Chomsky and Vandana Shiva. The documentary is an important look at how dangerous pesticides have been imposed on developing countries and how people are now fighting back.

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