Risk assessment is based on adult consumption, assuming exposure to only one pesticide at a time. IT does not take into consideration our multiple exposures to chemicals in water, rug shampoos, common household cleaners, flea powders and dozens of substances common in our modern environment. Reducing the number of exposures to all toxic chemicals should be everyone's goal. By building healthy soil, plants are better able to resist disease and insects. Each small piece of living soil contains thousands of microorganisms which help retain water and provide nutrients to the plants.
Organic farmers foster soil fertility through proper tillage and crop rotation.
Chemical-intensive agricultural practices result in farms with deal soil so lacking in nutrients it requires large amounts of fertilizer. Reduced organic matter diminishes the soil's ability to retain moisture. The result is expensive irrigation using ever larger amounts of water. The resulting runoff takes the soil and chemicals with it. We're facing the worst topsoil erosion in history due to our current agricultural practice of chemical intensive, mono-crop farming.