DAVID ADAMS wrote:

>Interesting enough is that with all the pesticides  one
> of the most used things in brazil for combating greening is copper
> and spray oil. That was a main stay here back in the 60's and 70's
> before the swing to all the new chemicals, which kind of tells me
> ,alot of the old school methods would still work if it weren't for
> good advertising and following your neighbors chemical truck.

Might also be that copper is not the best thing to use since it can 
build up in the soil and kill earthworms and other organisms, as well 
as drain off and is deadly to aquatic life. It can also cosmetically 
damage the fruit.

It is also taken up by the plant (systemic anyone) and "heavy metals" 
are not something you want to add to the list of ingredients.

Copper sprays are still around in the US and sold by the same bad 
people that advertise it just like the other chemicals.

Old school methods did a lot of damage but then, we did not live very 
long anyway, so who cared.

I found this on the net as it relates to high concentrations of copper 
in the diet.

"When the personality is not fully integrated or the copper becomes 
too high, negative traits show up. These include spaciness, racing 
thoughts, living in a dream world, naiveté, childishness, excessive 
emotions, sentimentality, a tendency to depression, fearfulness, 
hidden anger and resentments, phobias, psychosis and violence. 
Artists, inventors and other high-copper types often "live on the 
edge", in part due to their high copper level.

The copper personality tends to accumulate copper easily. Copper 
functions as a psychological defense mechanism. It causes one to 
detach slightly from reality. This provides relief from stress for the 
sensitive individual. It works well as long as the copper does not 
become too high. Very high copper can cause a psychotic break from 
reality, a type of schizophrenia."

Sounds like we have a lot of high copper people on the BeeL.

So I would not want to use Brazil as a model for much anything, since 
they revel in the fact that they have saved on the use of trucks and 
diesel for sugar cane production by using peasants instead.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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