Doesn't say that they controlled for organic fruit (ie low pesticide) being more likely to be chosen by people who are already heath conscious.
And who have more disposable income.
Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
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Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#12Can anyone provide a hopeful development update as to what efforts if any are underway in the farming industry to genuinely move past herbicides and pesticides of this kind?
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
It makes me sad that we need ultrasonic washers for fruit and vegetables.
We don’t spray pesticides on fruit to make people sad. Without them then fruit would be inaccessible to many people.
Where I live, fruit and vegetable farmers are routinely required to discard significant portions of the harvest per USDA mandates… maybe we could find some middle ground between poisoning people for obscene harvests and allowing pests to decimate crops?
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#14I have food allergies and have a very strict diet.
Recently I had some issues with dry scalp, doctors weren’t helpful to diagnose the root cause, and I traced it to non organic carrots that removed or replaced by organic ones caused the symptoms to return.
I can’t buy cheap bulk carrots, but organic ones are fine.
This sounds insane but I’m starting to think the food supply isn’t as safe as we think.
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
It makes me sad that we need ultrasonic washers for fruit and vegetables.
We don’t spray pesticides on fruit to make people sad. Without them then fruit would be inaccessible to many people.
> Without them then fruit would be inaccessible to many people.
This is just a lucky side effect, I'm 100% sure that main goal is for the pesticides industry just take their cut on the producers margin. By growing those margins, sure, but it's not something that should be forgotten.
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#16Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#17Can anyone provide a hopeful development update as to what efforts if any are underway in the farming industry to genuinely move past herbicides and pesticides of this kind?
Organic farming exists.
Consumers can move past herbicides and pesticides by paying more (sometimes much more) for their food, and cooking more from scratch.
Of course this is easy for wealthy first-world dwellers. Less so for low income families in places with less diverse supply chains.
Organic farming has lower yields (those pests otherwise killed off by the pesticides end up eating a lot of the produce) and is more labour intensive - which explains the higher cost.
Additionally there is more to the picture than farmers and consumers.
In most first-world countries the large retailers (Walmart is famously the most ruthless here) mercilessly squeeze suppliers (distributors and large farmers) to supply the most produce at the lowest price. This pushes farms into consolidation and industrial production - i.e. very large scale mono-culture farming heavily dependent on chemicals.
The very low cost food that we see in our supermarkets has the effect of making orgainic produce look overpriced by comparison - often consumers these days view organic as a luxury item.
Governments too have grant-aided and subsidized farms in a way that often incentivizes "high-tech" farming.
I could go on...
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#18I have food allergies and have a very strict diet. Recently I had some issues with dry scalp, doctors weren’t helpful to diagnose the root cause, and I traced it to non organic carrots that removed or replaced by organic ones caused the symptoms to return. I can’t buy cheap bulk carrots, but organic ones are fine. This sounds insane but I’m starting to think the food supply isn’t as safe as we think.
Very interesting, how did you figure out carrots were the issue?
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#19Doesn't say that they controlled for organic fruit (ie low pesticide) being more likely to be chosen by people who are already heath conscious.
Absolutely nothing about organic production implies less pesticide. Opposite is true actually.
Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
We don’t spray pesticides on fruit to make people sad. Without them then fruit would be inaccessible to many people.
> Without them then fruit would be inaccessible to many people. This is just a lucky side effect, I'm 100% sure that main goal is for the pesticides industry just take their cut on the producers margin. By growing those margins, sure, but it's not something that should be forgotten.
No, the main goal of the pesticides industry is to supply chemicals that kill of various pests (insects, fungi etc) that would otherwise destroy a significant proportion of the harvest.
Without these pesticides food would be significantly more expensive and less accessible to many people.
I agree that we should talk about moving away from chemical dependent farming but we need to be aware of the full picture in order to avoid glib solutions.