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A comment on English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal. Parent comment

Re:English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests re... by giobox on Friday December 15, 2017 @04:32AM (#15930644)
> Just be glad that the EU's been relatively benign so far.

The creation of free movement of people, goods, services and capital across 28 States and creating a common currency used by many of them is arguably not “benign”.

For avoidance of doubt I’m in no way expressing an opinion on the merits of these - simply that it is not benign in the sense of having done nothing.

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Re:English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests re... by pjc50 on Friday December 15, 2017 @04:48AM (#15930713)
I wonder what your opinion is of the free movement of people, goods, services and capital across 48 states?
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Re:English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests re... by kybernetikos on Friday December 15, 2017 @04:42AM (#15930682)
Those things sound fantastic.
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Re:English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests re... by kybernetikos on Friday December 15, 2017 @05:32AM (#15930892)
> that it is not benign in the sense of having done nothing.

I think that you're using the word in a pretty unusual way there, perhaps inspired by medical usage. 'benign' comes from the latin meaning 'good', and has the same root as 'benefactor', 'beneficial', 'benefit' or 'bonus'. In its nonmedical sense it almost always refers to something being good, not having negligible effect.

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