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Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

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61–70 of 196 posts

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#61
post #23

This is part of the reason I really want to move out of the U.S. Other countries are much more strict with what they allow in their food. I understand that I can pay more for organic produce and meat, but for a supposedly first-world country, you'd think decent produce would be a given.

So you'd rather everyone pay more for food based on your personal preferences? Even though there's a lot of evidence that these foods are entirely safe...

Except it isn't. Already lots of diseases linked to pesticides. Will only be more in the years to come.

It's clear that at least farmers and also people living in pesticides ridden areas suffer many diseases, for instance Parkinson: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6176703/#:~:tex....

The only assumption is is that in low doses pesticides are not harmful, but there is no deep knowledge of years and years of low dose pesticide exposure. And those limits might differ based upon weight, gender, age, genetics and luck.

But there are also other risks. For instance with Strawberries they might have limits of one pesticide, but they max out different ones, so you get a cocktail of chemicals that used together exceeds the allowed limits of one.

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#62
post #27
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely nothing about organic production implies less pesticide. Opposite is true actually.

I'm curious, can you link to any details of this?

This article (if read completely) highlights the extreme lack of data on this subject and mostly does a good job explaining how each metric is 'loaded' (toxicity, nominal application amounts, off-target movements, etc.)

This is a very grey subject and it should be debated as such.

ETA: link, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25502-w

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#63
post #30
post #4

Can 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?

As Sri Lanka recently found, it is difficult to feed all of your people by switching to organic. As much as I appreciate the benefits of organic and do try to buy it when reasonable, I recognize that organic farming takes more land, water, and labor to produce the same volume of food as non-organic. It works for a low volume, premium price model for some people but not for everyone. I feel like our best bet to reduce…

>As Sri Lanka recently found, it is difficult to feed all of your people by switching to organic.

Oh come now. I don't really think we can use a country who had to suddenly switch from using inputs to making due without them as a good test case for organic farming. Those are absolutely less than ideal conditions.

Everything I've read on organic farming and permaculture nearly always yields higher per acre output (maybe at a higher labor cost, I dunno).

Some of our cereal crops aren't good candidates for going organic but it absolutely makes sense for a lot of of fruits and vegetables, especially the soft skinned varieties that are more apt to absorb pesticides.

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#64
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely nothing about organic production implies less pesticide. Opposite is true actually.

Pesticide is a big category and a lot of pesticides are themselves organic and non-toxic. Presumably the troubling pesticides from the study are more along the lines of Roundup and less along the lines of horticultural vinegar, but they don't say so explicitly in the abstract. They do quote another study, "interventions switching individuals from conventional to organic diets result in a dramatic decline in urinary p…

Roundup is an herbicide. Or did I misunderstand?

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#65

I'm no fan of communism, but one thing I think communism did better is that allotment gardens and and small cottage gardens where much more attainable under communism for poor people. So even poor people could grow their own food. I live in Ontario where the price of real estate is bonkers. If you own land, you can't even build a shed without there being a main building. And you can't build anything under 800 sqft. T…

Germany and Switzerland have allotment gardens today; communism isn't required.

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#66
post #58

I can't wait until vertical farming becomes cheap enough to overtake traditional farming methods. Pesticide use will be a thing of the past while all of our food is grown locally in controlled environments. Optimizing for food taste instead of pesticide or weather resistance. Not to mention the reduced carbon footprint (due to transportation), significant decrease in water usage, and increased efficiency.

you think controlled environments don't use chemicals to control pests???

They do, and they use them a lot, because controlling pests and pathogens is physically hard no matter how hard you try.

Vertical farming is way, way more energy intensive than regular outdoor based farming for the simple reason is outdoor farming can use the sun. That sole fact basically kills vertical farming for all but the highest of margin food (spices, some vegetables). When we get cheap energy, vertical farming will take off. Not before.

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#67
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pesticide is a big category and a lot of pesticides are themselves organic and non-toxic. Presumably the troubling pesticides from the study are more along the lines of Roundup and less along the lines of horticultural vinegar, but they don't say so explicitly in the abstract. They do quote another study, "interventions switching individuals from conventional to organic diets result in a dramatic decline in urinary p…

Roundup is an herbicide. Or did I misunderstand?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide

"This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampricide."

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#68
post #23

This is part of the reason I really want to move out of the U.S. Other countries are much more strict with what they allow in their food. I understand that I can pay more for organic produce and meat, but for a supposedly first-world country, you'd think decent produce would be a given.

Oh yeah. Well in Europe one reason the food tastes so good is there's running water there. In USA you only get brine unless you're on a farm, or collecting rainwater.

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#69
post #20
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I realize I should have been more nuanced, but you should too. The increase of production is undeniable, I'm not challenging that, and introduction of pesticides in the second half the the 20th century lowered drastically the cost of living of many. But the pesticide industry has become predatory, and their concerns have not been public welfare for a very long time.

Re: Pesticide residues could negate the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

#70
post #2

ultrasonic washer are by far the best way to wash fruits & veges of these things, in Korea ultrasonic washer-sinks are picking up in popularity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-JZkiGigDw&t=261s research citation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4688301/

Maybe a stupid question but this removes surface pesticide residue, is there any evidence of how much that is percentage wise versus 'absorbed' pesticide inside the fruit?
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