Swiss ask their general public to vote on pesticide referendum

[jackrussell101]

Swiss voters reject key climate change measures

In a shock result, voters narrowly reject a tax on flights and a fuel levy among other policies.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[jackrussell101]

I can see us going like this.

I wonder how well informed the electorate are?

 

[wanton dwarf]

Bleach is a pesticide. In fact Bleach kills everything.

Yet it's used throughout the home.

I bet they don't ban imported food grown using Pesticides, nor stored food where Pesticides have been applied and not vehicles/ships where pesticide is used.

Seen Councils spraying gutters, road verges and motorways ? Massive double standards and hypocrasy.

The general public are ill informed - deliberately.

 

[delilah]

All meaningful change is demand driven. If the Swiss, or the Brits, want to promote organic farming then they should pass a law saying that all Govt institutions will only buy home produced organic food.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Why not, it's their environment?

 

[robs1]

Why not, it's their environment?

Bet they will complain more when their kids are hungry,

 

[jackrussell101]

Why not, it's their environment?

It is, although wont they end up just buying in the food from abroad where pesticides will still be used, if indeed pesticides are even a problem...

 

[Tarw Coch]

Why not, it's their environment?

I don’t really have a problem with any country doing it providing they don’t make themselves into hypocrites by importing from sources that do all the things they ban

 

[melted welly]

Majority of what humans do harms the environment.

easier to vilify something the city dwelling majority have no connection to or knowledge of than “essentials” like make up, fashion, pets, holidays and domestic pesticides and most importantly - hair products.

 

[Northern territory]

Majority of what humans do harms the environment.

easier to vilify something the city dwelling majority have no connection to or knowledge of than “essentials” like make up, fashion, pets, holidays and domestic pesticides and most importantly - hair products.

Dead right, I fear this is the way we are heading in the Uk, there is no balance to any argument now. We are lead by green types who won’t stop at anything. I can see food becoming short in the near future and prices rising further.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It is, although wont they end up just buying in the food from abroad where pesticides will still be used, if indeed pesticides are even a problem...

Precisely .

Export that problem elsewhere - why wouldn't you is the burning question, what's so "good" about pesticides that you want them falling "on home soil" and going into your water..

the obvious is that it's a farmers forum and all that, but from a public perspective it's great.
If you want to buy food with it on, you still can, but the bulk of the problem is removed

 

[GeorgeK]

Precisely .

Export that problem elsewhere - why wouldn't you is the burning question, what's so "good" about pesticides that you want them falling "on home soil" and going into your water..

the obvious is that it's a farmers forum and all that, but from a public perspective it's great.
If you want to buy food with it on, you still can, but the bulk of the problem is removed

Where does it end though? People want power to come out the wall but don't want to live near a power station, wind turbines or solar farm. We want a house but as soon as we've got ours we don't want any more built near us. We want to flush the toilet but never to see or smell sewage treatment. We want our bins collected but not landfill sites or incinerators.
Something's gone badly wrong somewhere, a complete disconnect between what we consume and how it's produced and disposed of. Unless we have an understanding and acceptance of the full life cycle of all the resources we use there's no individual accountability for our impact on the planet and no impetus to meaningfully change our lifestyles which is the only change that will really make a difference.

 

[Yale]

Where does it end though? People want power to come out the wall but don't want to live near a power station, wind turbines or solar farm. We want a house but as soon as we've got ours we don't want any more built near us. We want to flush the toilet but never to see or smell sewage treatment. We want our bins collected but not landfill sites or incinerators.
Something's gone badly wrong somewhere, a complete disconnect between what we consume and how it's produced and disposed of. Unless we have an understanding and acceptance of the full life cycle of all the resources we use there's no individual accountability for our impact on the planet and no impetus to meaningfully change our lifestyles which is the only change that will really make a difference.

Maybe people think by paying tax its the governments responsibility to deal with these issues.

At the end of the day it’s everyone’s responsibility however the human way is to sweep it under the carpet.

 

[curlietailz]

I can also see U.K. doing this
But would the council still spray verges
Would golf courses still use weed killer to keep the greens pretty
Would gardeners still be able to buy little bottles to spray their lawn
What about Household wasp spray, ant powder, dog wormer, flea spray
Even nit shampoo

all synthetic pesticide

 

[DrWazzock]

The only insecticide used on this farm this year was on the cats.
If we can’t use fungicides then wheat and potato production will be decimated.
If we cant use herbicides then we are reduced to grass and maybe spring barley. No herbicides would mean the end of direct drilling and “Conservation Agriculture”.
To ban pesticides completely would be madness and don’t forget the Covid vaccines are essentially pesticides!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Where does it end though? People want power to come out the wall but don't want to live near a power station, wind turbines or solar farm. We want a house but as soon as we've got ours we don't want any more built near us. We want to flush the toilet but never to see or smell sewage treatment. We want our bins collected but not landfill sites or incinerators.
Something's gone badly wrong somewhere, a complete disconnect between what we consume and how it's produced and disposed of. Unless we have an understanding and acceptance of the full life cycle of all the resources we use there's no individual accountability for our impact on the planet and no impetus to meaningfully change our lifestyles which is the only change that will really make a difference.

This one probably ends when the Swiss vote in their referenda - is it somehow much different than voting to allow euthanasia, or legalising medical cannabis (I use these as that's what we voted on last time around, but take your pick of things that aren't everyone's business... but suddenly are)

At least environment is everyone's business

 

[roscoe erf]

Swiss voters reject key climate change measures

In a shock result, voters narrowly reject a tax on flights and a fuel levy among other policies.

www.bbc.co.uk

well they are f**ked then the Swiss like nothing better than to ban things

 

[Hampton]

Syngenta is a Swiss company and a massive employer in Switzerland. It would be interesting to know if they are doing any lobbying/campaigning against this.

 

[2wheels]

whoever decided to call them pesticides? should be crop protection products. talk about making a rod for your back.

 

[Danllan]

All meaningful change is demand driven. If the Swiss, or the Brits, want to promote organic farming then they should pass a law saying that all Govt institutions will only buy home produced organic food.

Yes, and no... if there is to be a 'ban' on pesticide use it has to be total, meaning any and all food produced and imported to the UK must be produced to the same standard following the same rules.

Any government that enacts laws to 'benefit and protect the British consumer' by further controlling British Agriculture, can have no rational reason for not requiring imported food to be equally beneficial and protective of the British consumer.

It would be fascinating hearing any politician try to explain why foreign applied chemicals are less harmful than those applied in this country...

whoever decided to call them pesticides? should be crop protection products. talk about making a rod for your back.

Fair enough, let's have a go at renaming 'spermicides' too...