NEW Series "Logic Ain't Logicking" - Part 1: Active Ingredients vs. Inactive Ingredients

By now, my one Blog reader knows that myself and several other Floyd residents become suddenly sick when we walk on the parts of our properties that got sprayed by VDOT's contractors. We can only deduce that certain ingredients in the herbicide persist and continue to pollute our public roadsides long after the pesticide application itself.

After my umpteenth attempt to walk my dogs on the road resulted in another migraine and nausea attack, I wondered if Poison Control could hold any answers to this mystery.

If a shower reliably makes us feel instantly better, and is the only thing that can halt and reverse our sickness, then it is logical to hypothesize that we are dealing a poison on our body and clothes.

According to the Poison Control helpline, the only safety data on file for Escort XP (the pesticide VDOT uses) are limited to the product's Active Ingredients. The data for Escort XP say that the product only poses health risks for a matter of hours or days after the spraying has occurred. There are no safety data available for the long-term effects of the spraying, simply because the relatively small amount of active ingredients will oxidize or degrade, ostensibly no longer present to cause any harm.

Does this necessarily mean that the spraying cannot harm people weeks, months, or years after the fact?

The inactive or Inert Ingredients in pesticides consist of surfactants, additives, dilutants, solvents, anti-caking agents, anti-foaming agents, preservatives, and whatever else might enhance the performance of the product.

According to the EPA website: "Under federal law, the identity of inert ingredients is confidential business information. The law does not require manufacturers to identify inert ingredients by name or percentage on product labels."

This means that we have no idea what is really in these pesticides, to what degree these ingredients will biopersist, or whether there are long-term effects on soils or human health.

It's honestly a convenient setup for a perfect crime.

Firstly, let's never forget that DuPont -- the company that manufactures Escort XP and other pesticides -- are owned by our corporate overlords, who walk hand-in-hand with pharmaceutical companies. The corruption of these industries is a different Blog post all on its own, but it's common knowledge that these chemical companies share several common stakeholders with the pharmaceutical companies.

If I were sitting on the boards of these companies -- and if I were the right amount of evil -- I would say that what we have here is a golden opportunity to generate a lot of profit through a feedback loop of our own making:

If we get to spray whatever we want on all the roadsides and on the food supply, then wouldn't it just be so convenient if we spray something that makes everyone sick, so that they seek relief in our pharmaceutical products?

Why is everyone so sick now? Why do only 4% of Americans have no health complaints? Why are chronic illness patients increasing by 9% each year?

These are actually the very successful statistics of something nefarious that is happening. The system allows the pesticide manufacturers to spray whatever they want all over our everyday public environments without disclosure, and then to subsequently profit from the medicines and doctor visits of anyone seeking relief.

The active ingredients in pesticides may not pose long-term health risks as Poison Control explained, but how can we tell whether the Inert Ingredients do, if we don't even know what they are.

Is it so outlandish to suggest that we are literally surrounded by toxins that subtly make us sick at all times until they are decontaminated off with a shower?

No, it's not.

Not when the logic is logicking.

:)