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EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

foodwatch.org

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Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#141

Post by stinkbeetle »

culi wrote: post #53
nozzlegear wrote: post #16

The report itself[†] blames the pesticide residue on a "boomerang effect" from EU countries: EU countries export these banned pesticides to third countries, those countries use the banned pesticides on the food they grow, and then the EU countries import that food. In effect, EU companies are still profiting off of the sale and use of banned pesticides on food that Europeans will eat. [†] https://www.foodwatch.org/fi…

Unfortunately this is an all too common pattern in the history of pesticides. In 1979 DBCP was banned in the US after factory workers became sterile. Dow Chemical happily shipped tons of it to be sprayed directly on banana workers in banana republics[0] by Dole/Chiquita/Del Monte. To this day Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and Nicaragua have some of the highest rates of infertility, birth defects, and chron…

It's not pesticides, it's everything. Everything from slavery laws to workers rights, environmental regulations, health and safety regulations. The ruling class has conspired to evade those regulations and crush local competition for 100+ years, by offshoring and globalizing their abuses and exploitation.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#142

Post by Saline9515 »

fasterik wrote: post #84
SchemaLoad wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have seen over and over again chemicals which are "safe to consume" or "not that bad" actually do have very severe effects. It's just very hard to link cause and effect. When someone dies of cancer we can't pinpoint it to coming from the pesticide on the blueberries they ate a few months ago. We have all these terrible illnesses that we ascribe to bad luck, and then all of these new chemicals we haven't fully stud…

Even things we know for certain aren't "safe to consume" are harmless at small enough doses. If I drink chlorine at 1000 PPM it's going to kill me, but drinking it at 1 PPM (roughly the amount added to drinking water in many places, and well below the level in swimming pools) is considered harmless to humans and kills pathogens, so it's a net positive. It's possible that chlorine at 1 PPM causes cancer, but that's a…

In the case of pesticides, lower doses may show increased effects, what you say is false.

https://academic.oup.com/edrv/article-abstract/33/3/378/2354...

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#143

Post by maurotdo »

This boomerang is the effect of another boomerang: nothing grows anymore without pesticides. I can see that in my crops and fruits: when I was young I could benefit from the produce my dad grew naturally. 30 years later nothing grows naturally anymore, blight, insects and diseases kill everything in a few days. We gave up, as it makes no sense to actively poison our produce when the poison comes with no hassle from bought one.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#144

Post by retired »

franciscop wrote: post #102
nozzlegear wrote: post #16

The report itself[†] blames the pesticide residue on a "boomerang effect" from EU countries: EU countries export these banned pesticides to third countries, those countries use the banned pesticides on the food they grow, and then the EU countries import that food. In effect, EU companies are still profiting off of the sale and use of banned pesticides on food that Europeans will eat. [†] https://www.foodwatch.org/fi…

I know someone close who grows oranges in Spain. He has to go through hell, had to rework multiple times the fields so that they pass the strict Spanish regulation for organic produce. They get evaluated not only on the final product being pesticide free, but also on the full process being compliant, with heavy fines for non compliance. This is fine-ish, except that the imported oranges get checked only seldomly (if…

Meanwhile nobody bats an eye in Spain if you hire illegal African immigrants, pay them far below minimum wage and house them in shacks without electricity and running water. Places like Almería look like slave towns.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#145

Post by ricardobeat »

Theodores wrote: post #36
ofrzeta wrote: post #6

For spices and tea it really makes sense to buy organic (not that there are no fraudsters but still).

Yes and no! In the UK, tea means tea bags and that normally means tea bags made of a plastic/paper mix. If I remember, the bag material is made and then they heat it up to get the plastic out, revealing the holes, needed for the bag. Of late there has been criticism of microplastics in tea bags, and the posh organic bags have fared quite badly. Fancy sachets are not necessarily it. As for chemicals, not one farmer sp…

Because of the thermal shock, these bags release billions of plastic particles, that you immediately consume and let diffuse into your organs. It may be one of the worst forms of exposure to microplastics overall.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#146

Post by simongray »

maurotdo wrote: post #143

This boomerang is the effect of another boomerang: nothing grows anymore without pesticides. I can see that in my crops and fruits: when I was young I could benefit from the produce my dad grew naturally. 30 years later nothing grows naturally anymore, blight, insects and diseases kill everything in a few days. We gave up, as it makes no sense to actively poison our produce when the poison comes with no hassle from b…

I don't think you can conclude much from a sample size of 1.

My country at least (and probably yours too) is producing more organic products than ever before. People are also consuming organic products more than before.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#147

Post by Tade0 »

CalRobert wrote: post #122
franciscop wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know someone close who grows oranges in Spain. He has to go through hell, had to rework multiple times the fields so that they pass the strict Spanish regulation for organic produce. They get evaluated not only on the final product being pesticide free, but also on the full process being compliant, with heavy fines for non compliance. This is fine-ish, except that the imported oranges get checked only seldomly (if…

I was surprised after moving to Ireland to discover that you can break the law and nothing will happen. I went through hell with planners (idiots who don’t believe in climate change and hate eaves) while people around me put three mobile homes on their land as well as building two permanent homes with no permission (and ripping out ancient hedgerows) and successfully got retention. Why even bother?

I jokingly refer to this as the Catholic principle: "sin first - confess and repent later" as it's a common theme in countries that are/were traditionally Catholic, including my own.

It's really just places culturally untouched by Calvinism, Puritanism and the like, all of which put emphasis on order.

The last thing to attempt bringing order to them were various forms of authoritarianism and they didn't last. I think we can agree this is not the right approach.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#148

Post by CalRobert »

rendall wrote: post #138
CalRobert wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, we ended up leaving in part because of how lawless our area was (the midlands)

I'd love to hear more about this if you have the time. What specific things happened?

Family next door had 17 kids (yes, from one mother), 5 dangerous dogs, and absolutely despised us (somehow we thought having a few acres of land would make worrying about neighbours less necessary). There was an ongoing decades-old land feud with the farmer behind both of our homes. The aforementioned dangerous dogs killed several of the farmer's sheep, so the farmer finally shot and killed one of the dogs during an attack on said sheep, which escalated tensions. We had 2 and 4 year old kids who, it's worth noting, were roughly the size of sheep and about as tempting for the dogs to kill, so we were basically terrified to let our kids outside. Neighbours routinely insulted us, yelled at us, and threw garbage (including old chemical containers, sharp metal, etc.) on to our land.

They also routinely trespassed and shot fireworks over our thatch roof (the roof was part thatch, part modern) - very concerning when your roof is more flammable than kindling. Finally they left a dead crow in a bag by our door which felt like a threat, so we sold the place at a €100k loss and moved to the Netherlands.

Gardai were absolutely lazy, uncaring, and useless, and did absolutely nothing.

Now I encourage everyone I can to stay as far away from rural Ireland as possible.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#149

Post by rsynnott »

thesmtsolver2 wrote: post #88
nozzlegear wrote: post #16

The report itself[†] blames the pesticide residue on a "boomerang effect" from EU countries: EU countries export these banned pesticides to third countries, those countries use the banned pesticides on the food they grow, and then the EU countries import that food. In effect, EU companies are still profiting off of the sale and use of banned pesticides on food that Europeans will eat. [†] https://www.foodwatch.org/fi…

> EU countries export these banned pesticides to third countries Shouldn't EU ban ideally exports of good that it bans internally?

The EU has said it will, and some member states, like France, have, but a full ban is still pending.

Re: EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices

#150

Post by fsflover »

simongray wrote: post #146
maurotdo wrote: post #143

This boomerang is the effect of another boomerang: nothing grows anymore without pesticides. I can see that in my crops and fruits: when I was young I could benefit from the produce my dad grew naturally. 30 years later nothing grows naturally anymore, blight, insects and diseases kill everything in a few days. We gave up, as it makes no sense to actively poison our produce when the poison comes with no hassle from b…

I don't think you can conclude much from a sample size of 1. My country at least (and probably yours too) is producing more organic products than ever before. People are also consuming organic products more than before.

Don't organic foods use natural pesticides?
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