Pesticides are manufactured chemicals that serve the purpose of killing any pests or insects that may lower the crop yield of the foods we eat. They are not included in the labeling of any food on the market and so we are conveniently shielded from the amount we are ingesting and the knowledge of the health effects.
Things you should know
Dose doesn’t make the poison: There is a growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Minimizing our consumption of pesticides is the best option for reducing the long-term health consequences. The majority of chemicals used in pesticides are known carcinogens, endocrine disrupters, and connected with organ failure.
Washing and Peeling: Pesticides have been manufactured to be weather resistant, and so do not come off with a simple rinse (they have been power washed before market arrival). Peeling helps, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the skin.
Canadian pesticide protection: Canada is the international laager in protecting its citizens from harmful pesticide exposure. There are over 60 chemicals that have been banned in the EU, US, and Australia for their serious health effects but not in Canada.
What to Do: The Environmental Working Group has put out a list of foods that are significantly pesticide heavy and a list of those that aren’t. By making organic choices based on this list you are capable of reducing your pesticide intake by 80%.
There is also a website titled the MRL database and you can look up any food product to find out the number of pesticides residues on your food. For example I found that an apple has 65 pesticide residues while there are only 11 on asparagus.
great....need more on this topic!!
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