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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Half of All the Fruit & Veg You Buy is Contaminated
  • Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:52:40 -0600


Half of All the Fruit & Veg You Buy is Contaminated
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2523458.0.0.php
by Rob Edwards
Published on Sunday, August 2, 2009 by The Sunday Herald/UK


Almost Half of the fresh fruit and veg sold across the UK is contaminated
with toxic pesticides, according to the latest scientific surveys for the
government.

Nearly every orange, 94% of pineapples and 90% of pears sampled were laced
with traces of chemicals used to kill bugs. High proportions of apples,
grapes and tomatoes were also tainted, as were parsnips, melons and cucumbers.

[Lemons with an organic food label (Bio) are on display at a stand of the
BioFach fair for organic trade at the fair grounds in Nuremberg, southern
Germany, February 2009. Organic food supporters defended the benefits of
naturally-grown produce, after a report suggested there are no significant
health advantages from it.(DDP/AFP/File/Timm Schamberger)]Lemons with an
organic food label (Bio) are on display at a stand of the BioFach fair for
organic trade at the fair grounds in Nuremberg, southern Germany, February
2009. Organic food supporters defended the benefits of naturally-grown
produce, after a report suggested there are no significant health advantages
from it.(DDP/AFP/File/Timm Schamberger)
Alarmingly, as much as a quarter of the food on sale in 2008 - the date of
the latest figures - was found to contain multiple pesticides. In some cases,
up to ten different chemicals were detected in a single sample.
advertisement

Experts warn that the "cocktail effect" of so many different chemicals
endangers health. They also point out that some of the pesticides are not
only cancer-causing but also so-called "gender-benders" - chemicals that
disrupt human sexuality.

The revelations about the widespread contamination of conventionally-produced
food have also prompted renewed attacks on the government's Food Standards
Agency.

The FSA published a report last week casting doubt on the health benefits of
eating organic food, which is mostly produced without pesticides.

Over 4000 samples of more than 50 kinds of food on sale to the public in 2008
have been tested by scientists for some 240 pesticides.

Detailed reports for the government's Pesticide Residues Committee show that
46% of all the food samples were found to contain detectable levels of
pesticides. Just over 25% contained more than one pesticide.

In 57 cases the levels of contamination were so serious that they breached
the government's safety limits. They included 13 samples of beans in pods,
and 10 yams, as well as potatoes, spinach and chilli peppers.

There were hardly any types of fruit and veg found to be completely free of
contamination, although the vast majority of organic food tested was clean.
As well as fruit and vegetables, smoothies, whole-grain breakfast cereals,
oily fish and wine all contained pesticides (see accompanying table).

Hundreds of pages of tables released by the Pesticide Residues Committee show
that many of the contaminated products were bought at well-known supermarkets
in Scotland. They include an iceberg lettuce, a courgette and a packet of
Cheerios from a Tesco store in Glasgow.

Asda was found to be selling parsnips in Glasgow, Chinese leaves in Edinburgh
and apricots in Aberdeen, all with pesticides. Baby food and oranges from
Sainsbury's in Glasgow were contaminated, as were white bread and bagels at
Morrisons in Aberdeen.

Government scientists say that the residues would be "unlikely" to damage the
health of those that eat them. But this is disputed by a growing body of
experts concerned about the impact of mixtures of different chemicals.

"Researchers are concerned about the possible adverse health effects of very
low-level exposures to mixtures of chemicals," said professor Andrew
Watterson, head of the Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group
at the University of Stirling.

Watterson pointed out that several of the pesticides found on food were
thought to be carcinogenic. Others were suspected of being endocrine
disruptors, meaning that they could cause sex changes.

He also criticised the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for failing to include the
impact of pesticides in last week's report on organic food. "Why did the FSA
apparently frame the recent research project to exclude the human and
environmental health impacts of so-called food contaminants?" he asked.

The FSA report reviewed previous studies and concluded that there were "no
important differences" in the nutrition content of organic food compared to
conventionally-farmed food.

But the FSA has since come under fire. The Soil Association's Scottish
director, Hugh Raven, said: "Many consumers buy organic food because they're
worried about pesticide residues.

"The FSA itself recommends buying organic food if you want to avoid residues.
Yet they were specifically excluded from this study."

The FSA accepted that the report only examined the nutritional content of
food, and did not deal with pesticides. "It's a fact that conventional
production methods permit the use of a wider range of pesticides than
organic," said an FSA spokeswoman.

"The FSA is neither for nor against organic food. Our interest is in
providing accurate information to support consumer choice."





  • [Livingontheland] Half of All the Fruit & Veg You Buy is Contaminated, Tradingpost, 08/02/2009

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