Whole Foods is now my favourite shop. And when did Stoke Newington become so trendy?

[Pat Vegas]

I haven't been there for years.

[Monty91]

Hipsterism with a liberal sprinkling of sanctimony

Doesn’t a packet of crisps cost about 5 quid?

[Classic Jorge]

Now those same friends all f**king live there

[Berni]

It has literally no health benefits and virtually no environmental benefits. It is, in short, bull****.

[Classic Jorge]

And pesticides are incredibly harmful

[Pat Vegas]

Pickled up some Conchiglioni.

Ace Eggs. though large and tasted of eggs. The yolks where orange colour :cloud9:

[Berni]

For the rest of us, they're an absolute godsend that have eliminated starvation in the developed world.

Seriously, if you want a good example of organic agriculture, try the Irish Potato Famine, which, from an environmental point of view, was absolutely impeccable.

[Classic Jorge]

Yes, obviously they're beneficial to disease resistance and yields but they're also harmful to the environment.

Just was well the companies that sell them are completely on the up and up and dont suppress any of the evidence that support these environMENTALIST claims.

[redgunamo]

[Berni]

much from Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' onwards. Indeed, that now utterly discredited book had such a negative effect on the use of DDT that it is estimated to have cost millions of lives worldwide.

wd the environmentalists. Anti-science, anti-human and Luddite from first to last.

[7evens]

as Fort Apache ( the Bronx ).
I'm sure Dalston's still a bit of a ****hole

[Classic Jorge]

Call me crazy but I imagine there's some sort of sensible course to chart in between the two camps.

[Luis Anaconda]

[Berni]

trials, peer review and all that other good ****. :shrug:

People like my sister are employed at great expense by the agrochemical industry to guide new products through the minefields of standards, legislation and regulation they need to go through. She is not telling great big porkies and neither is she covering up the dangers or otherwise of these products.

A basic rule of toxicology is that the dose makes the poison and, however nasty the effects of some of these chemicals might be in large doses, in the doses in which they may be ingested through pesticide use, they are largely harmless. This is something the environmental movement has deliberately chosen to ignore in favour of scare stories that have nothing to do with large-scale data.

[Classic Jorge]

...or are they against making sure they comply with the law just enough?

Also, are the massive amounts of lobbying money spent on moulding the legislation or just ensuring the government employees are well fed and wined?

There is such a thing as healthy scepticism, you know.

[Brentwood]

a company should and shouldn't do

[Berni]

balance between commerce, science and risk. Is it perfect? Of course not. However, neither is it notably corrupt or mendacious. After all, it is not actually in the companies' interests to poison people or ravage the environment, since doing so would be extremely bad for business.

There is such a thing as enlightened self-interest, you know?

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

the computer you're using, the car you drive, the games console you enjoy, the films and TV you watch, the drugs that cure you when you're ill and the food and drink you consume came to you by virtue of competition, big business and the profit motive. The ingenuity and self-interest of a few creates widespread comfort, safety, pleasure and happiness for the many. That is the virtuous circle of capitalism.

[Classic Jorge]

Let's ignore that arts, sciences, culture, commerce, manufacturing and everything else happen under all sorts of governmental systems, shall we?

[Berni]

as "experiencing pleasure and lack of pain". Those things you mention all go to make up this 'happiness' and are all most effectively achieved where there is a profit motive involved. Ask yourself why it is that nations such as Britain, the USA, Germany and France innovated to such an extent while countries like The Soviet Union and China were and are largely reduced to stealing and copying innovations?

Compare the lists of scientific innovations in capitalist countries (or at least countries where innovators can profit from their innovations) compared to those where that is not the case and you will see a huge imbalance because the possibility of becoming rich is a great motivator to innovation and - where it doesn't exist - innovation atrophies.

[Classic Jorge]

You arent seriously suggesting that the only system where people can profit from innovation is capitalism, are you? It might overlook great leap forward like the rennaisance and the enlightenment.

In fact even in Russia people like Korolev benefited hugely from their innovations in the space program, stuff that the whole world stole and assimilated by the way, not to mention Gagarin, who was an international celebrity before he unfortunately fell out of the sky.