According to Shadow on the Land, 99.99 percent of all pesticides ultimately fail to reach the pest. Less than a decade ago, ground water supplies were considered invulnerable to pollution because experts claimed that pesticides would break down and become harmless. In 1979, however, the pesticide aldicarb was discovered in the groundwater of Long Island and later in the groundwater of Florida, Wisconsin and other states. The contamination was initially blamed on mishandling, but it soon became clear that everyday use of pesticides threatens ground water. The latest EPA figures indicate that groundwater in 24 states is tainted by one or more of 22 different pesticides.
Pesticides also contaminate food.
Nearly every American unknowingly consumes fruits, milk and vegetables tainted with potentially dangerous pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals, some of which cannot be removed by washing. This figure, which translates into 1.46 million additional cases of cancer in the United States over the next 70 years, makes pesticides as great a cancer threat as asbestos or radon. According to the NAS report, the main cancer danger comes from 15 foods which are treated by a few highly toxic pesticides and which form a large part of the average American's diet. Tomatoes alone account for 15 percent of the total dietary risk from pesticide residues because they are treated with four of the most dangerous chemicals. It is no wonder, then, that the EPA considers pesticides in food one of the most pressing health and environmental problems facing Americans today.