s to increase production of produce sold in the U.S. every winter. Unfortunately, studies that were preformed by the Government Accounting office in Mexico showed that at least six pesticides that are illegal in the U.S. were still on the produce when it was exported. Moving on to South America, in Chile there are no clear guidelines governing the use of agricultural chemicals on produce crops. In the city of Rancaga, a large fruit growing region, a study was done to check the risks that rural workers face, and what they found was astounding. Dr. Maria Mella found that there is an alarming amount of sterility and birth defects due to exposure to chemical pesticides in agricultural workers. Congenial deformities were five times higher, and multiple deformities were a shocking four times higher than normal in this part of South America. These studies were conducted by the Women's Institute and were based on ten thousand infants born in this region. Dr. Mella insists that these chemicals cause deformities in infants, sterility in workers, and induced miscarriages. Horribly, she approximates that up to sixty percent of pesticides used on wheat in South America are still present on the bread when it is consumed. Seeing how harmful pesticides can be to the workers who create the produce, one must wonder how much it can affect the consumer, maybe it depends on the strength and the harmfulness of the chemicals. In Chile, many pesticides are derived from Thalidomide, a sleeping pill used in the 1950's, but it was removed from the United States when it was found to be responsible for severe deformities in infants, infants born without limbs. Other pesticides that are used in Chile are parathon, paraquat, and lindane. They have already been banned in most other countries. Chile is among the countries with the weakest and least restrictive legislation on the control of pesticides. They also use products like pentachlophenal, which is a highly toxic...
