🚀 go-pugleaf

	"So now he's back on the family farm without chemicals, still
	producing as much per acre as his neighbors, but making more
	money.  This suggests that dropping some use of pesticides/weed
	killers might not be as bad as one would think."

An analogous situation from epidemiology suggests itself.  With regard
to vaccinations, most of which have a small but non-zero chance of
doing you harm, the ideal for you is for everyone else in the world
except you to be vaccinated.

Weeds come from weed seeds; insects come from other insects.  Perhaps
this farmer's chemically soaked neighbors formed a weed-free,
insect-free buffer around his farm which kept the invaders at bay.

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew)       [UUCP]
                        (andrew%tekecs.tek.com@relay.cs.net)   [ARPA]