Humans are not adapted to these natural chemicals, in which the margin of safety is about tenfold compared with traces in synthetic pesticides (some 10, 000-fold higher).

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Worried specifically about synthetic chemical pesticides?

FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch

This approach, which has been repeatedly condemned by the scientific community, has discouraged the development of new pest-resistant crops, encouraged greater use of synthetic chemical pesticides, and limited the use of the newest genetic engineering technology mainly to larger developers who can pay the inflated regulatory costs.

FORBES: EPA Biotech Regulation Bucks The Scientific Consensus

As that report predicted when the regulation was proposed more than a decade ago, it discourages the development of new pest-resistant crops and prolongs and increases the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, limits the use of the technology mainly to larger developers who can pay the inflated regulatory costs, and handicaps the U.S. in competition for international markets.

FORBES: Wrongheaded regulation will prolong the recession.

Cotton crops require huge amounts of water, and the farms that grow them use lots of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

FORBES: Paper Or Plastic?

Some maintained that many of the natural pesticides produced by plants were potentially more of a risk than the synthetic ones used in conventional agriculture.

BBC: Organic food 'proven' healthier