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Comment by throwawayjun4 | Hacker News Reader

Sorry for the naive question, and I'm truly asking it honestly -- food grown organically (i.e. abiding by the recognized norms to be recognized as organic) would not be affected by this issue, correct? Using a weedkiller such as paraquat specifically makes food grown this way not organic, right?

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Not certain but I remember looking into this and finding out that organic or not doesn’t matter as much because the chemical gets in the soil and water, or in the wind, and eventually contaminated nearby fields not using it.

It’s interesting to note that the chemical is banned in most of the world (EU, UK, Switzerland…) but not in the US because of course.

The organic certification process does include consideration for "Buffer Zones" to help prevent contamination from neighboring farms.

https://tilth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BigQAnswered_Bu...

It's a mischaracterization to say "organic doesn't matter" - it's not perfect, but it does work to drive pesticides out of the food supply. It's not just a cynical marketing ploy.

One of the main reasons why CETA (Canada / EU trade agreement) was so heavily contested. In the end though, as you said it's really all just one big eco system of eco systems: same as with climate change, even "us rich people" will always feel the effects of these kinds of systemic issues at least to some extent. Even so, I also mostly buy organic if I can..

So a moral issue then - it's really about time to ban Roundup & co, globally.

Side note: I remember StrangeLoop - of all conferences - at least at one time being sponsored by Monsanto (pre Bayer acquisition). It's a St. Louis company and running a conference is very expensive I get it, but come on what a let down... the science on "Roundup" & co had already been out there for ages at that point.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/organic-standards

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