The following is an edited excerpt.
As our knowledge of our world broadens and through science we come to new understandings of our surroundings, new complications and questions arise in how we observe kosher dietary laws. While we so often focus on the ethical issues of meat, we lose sight on the ethical ramifications of how we pursue a different matter of the laws and customs of kashrut.
if herbicides and pesticides protect food crops from destruction and therefore lead to higher yields so more people have access to more food, might the dangers and threats of their use be a tension worth contemplating? Coming from a place of Jewish law and ethics, we must weigh the purported threats and purported benefits of the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides.
Read the original article in its entirety here: GMOs and Jewish Law: Chemical Herbicides and Pesticides