As a scientist and as someone who spent many years in Jewish day school I am going to have to respond to this one. The Nazis used Zyklon-B, a trade name for hydrogen cyanide (HCN), to murder Jews, gypsies, and others in the gas chambers. HCN was not used for agricultural fumigation because of its extreme toxicity. While Nazi Germany did develop organophosphate-based chemical warfare agents, those were more for battlefield use and weren't used for the majority of killing (though I am sure they murdered a fair share of people testing it). During and after WWII and thereafter the majority of pesticides utilized DDT, considered relatively nontoxic to humans. However, studies showed that DDT could harm endangered birds, including bald eagles, so their use was phased out in developed countries. Currently the most common pesticides in use are organophosphate-based and are in the same chemical class as nerve gas agents, and these are harmful to humans- recent studies have attributed ADHD to pesticide use, and I am apt to believe such studies as organophosphates disrupt neural functions.
Best regards, Guy On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 6:20 PM, Ken Hargesheimer <[email protected]> wrote: > I realized one time that after WWII, the German chemical companies had > products used to kill Jews and gypsies and had lost their market. They > found a market. I actually read that a few years ago. > There is no reason to ever use a chemical in the home, in the garden or on > the farm. There is always an organic solution if one wants it. > www.dirtdoctor.com and http://invisiblegardener.com/ The best solution > to gardening problems is healthy soil. > Ken Hargesheimer > > > > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
