How pesticides impair our senses
Long article but worth reading
BBC Future
By Claudia Lee
15th February 2023
Fifteen years ago, Tim Parton, a farm manager at Brewood Park Farm in Staffordshire in the UK, decided to take a leap and start to experiment with biological farming. Instead of using synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, he applies self-brewed biologically active natural inputs, such as trichoderma, a type of fungus, onto his crops, to help them both grow and fix nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil.
Parton is part of a growing farming community practising regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that prioritises soil and environmental health by minimising synthetic inputs.
He switched to using biologically active inputs after experiencing headaches and skin rashes from using pesticides. After sheep dipping, which involves immersing sheep in insecticide and pesticide mixtures to eliminate parasites, lumps would often show up on his arms. The reaction would stay for several days. "I would be a mess, but if I went to the doctors, they would say 'you've just had a reaction' and would not take it seriously," he says.
Since adopting a biological farming method, Parton has not experienced any negative health impacts. He has not had to use any phosphorus and potassium fertilisers on his crops for over 10 years. "I try to keep the plant as nutritionally balanced as I can, and if the plant has got all the correct nutrition, it doesn't get ill," he says.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230215-how-pesticides-harm-human-health
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