Trivia Fact #2 – Milk Was Heavily Contaminated with Pesticides; Quietly Taken Off Shelves While Farmers Paid
By 1959, the total wholesale value in pesticide products had reached $290 million. The massive pesticide campaign was not without cost. [5]
According to congressional reports, many dairy farmers were devastated from pesticides contaminating milk.
Senate Report 1363 shockingly states,
“The problem which our dairy farmers are facing has been brought about by the use of chemicals approved by the Federal Government to dust crops. Some of these chemicals have been found to contaminate feeds. The contamination passes on into the milk and when the residues of pesticides is found to be of too high a level, the farmers are forced to dump their milk, taking it out of commercial channels. The result has been disastrous to the dairy farmers involved, some of which have had to go into bankruptcy.”
“There had been at that time, reasonable prospect that the problem would have diminished to a point that further extension of the authority would not have been necessary. However, as the Department testified then, several large producers had their milk removed from the market because of DDT residue. The problem had in fact not been solved. The local dairymen, the State governments involved, dairy and cotton associations, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been cooperating in an effort to rid us of this problem. The problem, however, still continues and it it appears that it will continue for the forseeable (sic) years to come.” [6]
When it was obvious pesticide residue levels weren’t dropping as hoped, the Dairy Indemnity Payment Program, or DIPP, officially was created through public law in 1968 to reimburse farmers whose milk was contaminated with pesticides. [6, 7]
