ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the mainstream environmental movement in the United States, a predominantly white middle class movement, by putting constraints to environmental degradation has resulted in further exploitation of people of color. Pesticides that are carcinogens and/or teratogens are generally persistent in the environment and make their way into the soil, the ground water and the air. The impact of minority farm workers' exposure to toxic chemicals is exacerbated by other problems. That pesticides banned in the US sometimes return to the US as residues in foods imported from Third World countries is a well-known phenomenon, dubbed the "circle of poison. The pesticide manufacturing process is likewise plagued with evident double standards. A new foci of "pesticide junkies" began to appear throughout the Third World, significantly boosting the international pesticide market, perhaps saving it from a downfall generated by "environmentalism" at home.
