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Tobacco production requires the use of a large amount of [[pesticide]]s to fight various [[list of tobacco diseases|pests and diseases]]. Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field.<ref name="Taylor, Peter 1994">Taylor, Peter, "Smoke Ring: The Politics of Tobacco", Panos Briefing Paper, September 1994, London</ref> Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce bigger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, the waterway and the food chain.<ref>FAO Yearbook, Production, Volume 48, 1995</ref> Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat. Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk as well as harm his or her nervous and immune systems.<ref>National Research Council, 1995, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, National Academy Press.</ref>
Tobacco is often heavily [[fertilizer|fertilized]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moore|first1=J. M.|last2=Harris|first2=G. H.|title=Fertilization|url=http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fieldcrops/tobacco/guide/documents2013/5Fertilization2013.pdf|website=www.caes.uga.edu|access-date=26 July 2014}}</ref> Some of the mineral [[apatite]] in Florida used to produce phosphate for American tobacco crops contains uranium, radium, lead-210
==References==
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