More worrying still, Friends of the Earth research has shown that over a third of UK baby food contains residues 10 times that of European Union limits. This is a particularly risky experiment as babies consume much more food in proportion to their body weight than adults. In fact the Department of Health advises parents to peel apples before giving them to children because the build-up of pesticides on our food has become so bad. The environmental cost Fifty years on from the start of the revolution in agrochemicals, many farmers continue to believe they can't survive economically without applying chemicals. But there is a high price to pay.
Pesticides wash out into nearby streams and rivers, contaminating the water.
In 1997 eight per cent of English rivers and lakes were polluted with levels of pesticides above government recommended maximum levels. The cost of cleaning up this pollution is around 1 billion a year. We all pay for this in our water bills. The cost to our wildlife is also enormous. Chemical farming destroys wildlife habitats in turn damaging populations of birds and other wildlife.