Pesticides are the only toxic substances released intentionally into our environment to kill living things. This includes substances that kill weeds (herbicides), insects (insecticides), fungus (fungicides), rodents (rodenticides), and others.
In simple terms, pesticides are a toxin. Pesticides are found in our produce. Farmers use pesticides on many conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. The EPA sets limits on how much pesticide residue can remain on food. It’s a complex process that’s not easy to understand, incorporating variables such as the toxicity of the pesticide and how much of the food people generally eat. At the end, each of the 9,700 pesticides (at last count, in 1996) receives a number called a “tolerance.” The EPA, FDA, and USDA all play a role in ensuring pesticides on our food don’t exceed the tolerances. In 1999, 40% of U.S. produce tested by the government contained pesticide residue. About 1% of domestically produced and 3% of the imported food had levels that violated standards. However, it is impossible to test every produce that goes onto the market for high levels of toxins. So is there cause for concern? According to the EPA, “[EPA] is confident that the fruits and vegetables our children are eating are safer than ever.” While the EPA is “confident” they are not absolutely certain. They have restricted use of certain pesticides over the years because they became a cause of concern. However, shouldn’t the EPA, FDA and USDA be certain that these pesticides aren’t causing harm before putting them in our food? From 1995 to 2013, children’s exposure to carbamates (a group of insecticides that affect the nervous system) fell by 70% – EPA canceled or restricted many carbamates during this time. From 1998 to 2008, tomatoes with detectable organophosphate pesticide residues fell from 37% to 9%, due to EPA canceling most organophosphates.
There is more evidence surfacing that human exposure to pesticides is linked to health problems. For example, in May 2010, scientists from the University of Montreal and Harvard University released a study that found that exposure to pesticide residues on vegetables and fruit may double a child’s risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Pesticides have been linked to a wide range of human health hazards, ranging from short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea to chronic impacts like cancer, reproductive harm, and endocrine disruption.
Acute dangers - such as nerve, skin, and eye irritation and damage, headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and systemic poisoning - can sometimes be dramatic, and even occasionally fatal.
Chronic health effects may occur years after even minimal exposure to pesticides in the environment, or result from the pesticide residues which we ingest through our food and water. A July 2007 study conducted by researchers at the Public Health Institute, the California Department of Health Services, and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health found a sixfold increase in risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for children of women who were exposed to organochlorine pesticides.
There is also mounting evidence that exposure to pesticides disrupts the endocrine system, wreaking havoc with the complex regulation of hormones, the reproductive system, and embryonic development. Endocrine disruption can produce infertility and a variety of birth defects and developmental defects in offspring, including hormonal imbalance and incomplete sexual development, impaired brain development, behavioral disorders, and many others.
We need to make our food, our air, our water, and our soil free from toxic chemicals.
.jpeg)
The real solution to our pest and weed problems lies in non-toxic and cultural methods of agriculture, not in pulling the pesticide trigger. Organically grown foods and sustainable methods of pest control are key to our families’ health and the health of the environment.