By Christopher Connolly, University of Dundee

The human population has grown from 1 billion in the 1800’s, to 7 billion in 2012 and is estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050. Feeding this burgeoning population, as cheaply as possible, has driven the global industrialisation of agriculture. Now large monocultures replace a diverse natural habitat. In so doing, the natural ecosystem balance has been damaged and we have opted for the easy solution – chemical warfare against pest species.

Continue reading Environmental pharmacology: how safe is our chemical jungle?