Humans and pests have been fighting for the same space since the dawn of man.
Back as far as the time of the Great Pyramids, cedar boughs were buried with the Kings so that the bugs would stay away.
Fast forward to today and each lawn and garden supplier, every hardware store, even grocery and drug stores have a myriad of products to kill every pest imaginable.
And that is just for the homeowner - commercial agriculture is altogether different.
The mindset of many is having vegetables without a pest has become our right.
Our flowers are perfect, our shrubs pristine and our food supply devoid of anything offensive that could remotely indicate pests.
Seems like progress, right? But is it? Most pesticides in use today are leftover nerve gas technology from World War II.
These are neuro-toxins which means they affect the central nervous system.
That would be merely the basic life functions of insects but in the scope of humans, the central nervous system is the brain.
So seems pretty obvious that the poisoning of the brain would certainly affect those diagnosed with Developmental Disabilities.
These pesticides are not natural products - they are synthetic chemicals that do not exist in nature.
Because they are not natural, our bodies cannot metabolize them.
So every step of the food chain concentrates pesticides that are not able to metabolize out of the previous link in the chains' system of filtration.
The crops we eat are bombarded with pesticides which are absorbed through the roots and leaves to become part of the plant's basic cell structure.
Then these crops are fed to our cattle and chickens which concentrate them more.
Then we eat the crops as well as the meat that has had pesticides used throughout every step and suddenly, we see a marked increase in cases of Autism.
Many diseases are indisputably linked to pesticides including ADHD, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Birth Defects, Learning Disabilities, Cancer, etc.
Pesticides in the body are like plastic in the landfill - they will never go away.
Granted, crop yields are at an all time high as less produce is lost each year to pests - that is a good thing.
But if the harvest provides another layer of synthetic poison, is that a good thing? These are truths about pesticides that are downplayed or dismissed altogether by the groups who profit from their use.
A farmer who wants greater crop yields is understandable but if that farmer is told the only avenue to increase production is through toxic, synthetic neuro-toxins, something is very wrong.
That isn't progress - it is greed at the consumer's expense.
There are safe, natural pest control options.
Natural, green pest control exists that is safe, doesn't bio-accumulate up the food chain, is easily metabolized within human and animal systems and it works.
However, the marketing machine of big chemical business wants consumers to disregard natural solutions and go for the synthetic toxins.
The biggest challenge will be to shift the expectations that perfect produce and plants are unrealistic and achieved only through toxic chemicals.
Understanding that 'naturally grown' means 'healthy' and natural, green pest control is viable will be a slow, but possible process.
It reminds me of a time at a Farmer's Market where a woman was inspecting an ear of corn and discovered a worm.
She shrieked at the farmer about how horribly surprised she was and what did he have to say about it.
His answer was priceless, "I'd say we don't use any pesticides ma'am.
" She stormed off and I bought a dozen.