Pesticides in food
Bioaccumulative, Persistent and/or Endocrine Disrupting
How do you say it?
Carbendazim: car-bend-a-zim
Chlorpyriphos: claw-piri-foss
Chlormequat: claw-muh-kwat
What are they?
Pesticides are used to kill or control pests (including insects, weeds and diseases) in agriculture, urban areas and for public health purposes. You usually can’t tell what pesticides have been used on your food. In 2003 UK government tests, 12% of pear samples were found to contain detectable levels of carbendazim, 20% of apple samples had detectable levels of chlorpyriphos [1] and 50% of bread samples had detectable levels of chlormequat. [2]
What’s the problem?
Numerous pesticides have been found to have endocrine disrupting effects. Over the years many of the more problematic ones have been phased out, but some are still used in the UK and others are used in countries that import food to the UK.
What are the alternatives?
Official advice is that fruit and vegetables should be washed thoroughly then rinsed under a running tap before preparing or eating them, so it’s easy to see how the pesticide residues can end up going down the drain. However, as most pesticides are not water soluble they do tend to accumulate on waxy skins. Fruit and vegetables can be peeled, but this does not remove the systemic pesticides (absorbed into the plant and distributed throughout it to make all parts of it poisonous to pests) and it does remove a lot of the vitamins and nutrients.
The best way to minimise the amount of residue you both eat and wash
away is to choose organically-grown food whenever possible.
Notes:
[1] These chemicals are Priority or Priority Hazardous
Substances under European Water Framework Directive
[2] What’s your poison? The Soil
Association guide to pesticide residues in popular food. 2004
For further information please contact WWF Scotland: phone 01350 728200, email info@watersense.org.uk, or write to WaterSense, c/o WWF Scotland, Little Dunkeld, Dunkeld, PH8 0AD