[imgbelt img=eggplantx-topper-medium.jpg]Food news:California approved a new pesticide for use on its strawberries, but a report given to the State Senate Food and Agriculture Committee by a group of scientists found that the compound was made “using inadequate, flawed and improperly conducted scientific research,” according to the New York Times.“I’m not in blanket opposition to the use of pesticides, but methyl iodide alarms me,” said Theodore A. Slotkin, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University Medical Center and a member of the scientific review committee. “When we come across a compound that is known to be neurotoxic, as well as developmentally toxic and an endocrine disruptor, it would seem prudent to err on the side of caution, demanding that the appropriate scientific testing be done on animals instead of going ahead and putting it into use, in which case the test animals will be the children of the state of California.” “The 500-plus growers of strawberries in the state are largely family farmers who live where they grow,” said Carolyn O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Commission. “When they make decisions about how and where they farm, they make those decisions with the health and safety of workers and the community in mind.”Strawberry farmers support the new pesticide. “The 500-plus growers of strawberries in the state are largely family farmers who live where they grow,” said Carolyn O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Commission. “When they make decisions about how and where they farm, they make those decisions with the health and safety of workers and the community in mind.”Meanwhile, we missed this earlier, but Foreign Policy reports that Indian farmers  have protested approval of a genetically modified eggplant seed. (Monsanto made the seed, of course.) Studies of the new eggplant find it has fewer calories and causes diarrhea in rats. Indian farmers took to the streets to protest (above) and even burned eggplants in effigy.