Pesticide Chemical Spill Kills Tens of Thousands of Fish in Virginia

File photo via Jason Mintzner/Shutterstock, via Alternet.org

The agricultural industry’s chemical purveyors, Monsanto included, pride themselves on being “sustainable,” but time and time again we see that these promises don’t exactly hold water. Case in point: the latest incident of large-scale ecological harm caused by agricultural chemicals, this time involving a relatively modest leak of over 165 gallons that caused an immense amount of damage to wildlife in one of Virginia’s most beautiful natural areas.

While Monsanto and other chemical companies scramble to defend their products from accusations of tampering with scientific and health-related evidence, the United Nations recently said (to little fanfare) that synthetic pesticides are not needed to “feed the world” after all. And now, what happened in Virginia could cause even more people to re-exmaine the necessity of “modern” agriculture’s chemical-based model.

Agricultural Chemical Kills Off Tens of Thousands of Fish

According to a report from the Virginia Department of Health, over 40,000 fish were found dead following the leak of an agricultural-use chemical in the Roanoke, Virginia area, which is a popular outdoor destination area near the Appalachian Trail. The chemical in question was found to be Termix 5301, a surfactant (detergent-style substance) that is […]

Full article: Pesticide Chemical Spill Kills Tens of Thousands of Fish in Virginia

More about water in Kentucky, Appalachia, and nearby regions:

‘You Just Don’t Touch That Tap Water Unless Absolutely Necessary’

Report: Kentucky Water Systems Serving 1.5 Million Violated Health Standards

Groundwater Monitoring Reveals Widespread Radioactivity at Duke Energy Coal Plants​

White-Water Rafting the Nantahala River in North Carolina