Soil builders being destroyed

In Alberton last January, Dr. Matsusaki talked about how West Prince soil blows off plowed fields because the soil is dead and lacks cohesion. Now, Sharon Labchuk informs us that 82 per cent of the pesticides used on P.E.I. are fungicides, 700 percent higher than normal. Are the preceding statements related?

In earth's early ocean, 2 to 3 billion years ago, organisms appeared which used chemical, thermal and radiant energy to order a less ordered environment; example biological kingdoms are bacteria, protozoa and fungi. Fungi were the first organisms to migrate onto land 1.3 billion years ago. Fungi colonized the land by making a soil habitat for themselves. Later, fungi were joined by land plants and animals as well as bacteria and protozoa.

Fungi are soil builders. Fungi, by excreting enzymes, decompose rocks and recycle organic matter into minerals, nutrients and energy thereby building soil. Fungi create microcavities that improve the soils aeration and allow the soil to breathe. Aeration increases soil porosity thereby allowing the soil to absorb, retain and transfer water. Fungi bind the soil together and build soil cohesion thereby resisting erosion. Fungicides kill fungi and destroy the soils ability to absorb and store water and recycle minerals and nutrients. Fungi's lost services are compensated by irrigation wells and fertilizers.

Human gut bacteria play a central role in human immune functions, hence human health. By extension, soil fungi and soil bacteria support gut bacteria; that is, human health is based on soil health. Dr. Matsusaki said 'The soil is dead' and talked of communities with clusters of rare types of cancers; communities in the path of wind driven airborne fungicide laden soil. In destroying fungal diversity the military-industrial complex is poisoning Islanders with fungicides, destroying the soil, destroying the aquifer, and destroying the earth. Tony Lloyd, Mount Stewart