Organic farmer Will Allen, PhD, author of The War on Bugs discusses the hidden history of how the use of chemicals in food production has been a triumph of manipulation and a failure of science.

Also available for listening online or download at Radio on Demand.

SHOW INTRODUCTION Ever notice how expensive and hard to find organic almond butter is? Since Trader Joe’s has organic almonds I thought I’d see why not organic almond butter, AND I thought they might be able to tell me if almonds with their hull and shell are protected from pesticide sprays. Well! I got quite the run around. Finally, after several messages, I got their spokesperson who reassured me that everyone at Trader Joe’s feels comfortable eating their non-organic almond butter and that they stand by their products. Nothing came close to answering my actual question about pesticide residues. She sent me an email statement that said they aren’t worried and suggested I call the Almond Board. I had slightly better luck there. A very kind and concerned woman who works there sent me on to their pesticide expert, another woman who said she had read ALL the research. She told me that almonds are sprayed in the field and then shelled and hulled and then gassed. This is, she said, because organic nuts have aflotoxin from bugs. I mentioned that if nuts are affected in the field, gassing them shelled and hulled afterwards seemed odd. She gave me the long name of the chemical gas. I looked it up. It was horrifying and I’m never eating another non-organic nut again! She thought it was an acceptable risk considering the dangers of aflotoxin. Now, many companies test their nuts for this mold and....I’ve never heard of any nut butters being recalled for it. Oh well. It did lead me to today’s guest. Will Allen and his book The War On Bugs. Hang on for a bumpy ride through the politics of pesticides!