EcologyAndMedicine

Interesting cause and effect here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6987200.stm

A chemical that evolved naturally in plants (tangerine peel) to help fight predators is also toxic to cancer, but

• a) because we've stopped eating the fruit peel, we don't get as much as we used to

• b) because we use more pesticide, this natural pesticide is no longer under such selective pressure and is decreasing

thought : perhaps we need to keep special farms of plants under attack by pests to help keep their evolved immunity high

See also :

• CitiesVsPlants
• AgricultureMistake