Pesticides
Last night, I ate an eggplant stir-fry dish from a Thai restaurant. It had eggplant, tofu, onions, broccoli, carrots, Thai basil, spices/sauce, along with brown rice. I thought this was a pretty healthy dish, but after reading the pesticides that might have possibly been on these items, I'm not sure so:
Pesticide numbers
Carrot: 27
Eggplant: 18
Broccoli: 33
Soybean: 14
Rice: 15
Broccoli had the highest number with 33 different pesticides. Some were suspected hormone disruptors, or toxins to our reproductive and developmental systems. Not all had negative effects on humans (at least those that had been studied), but were instead toxic to bees. I think this number is extremely high.
But I got curious, and just started looking up other items. I think there were some that were disturbingly high, such as cherry tomatoes with 69 and peaches with 62. The highest I found were cucumbers with 86! I think I will be buying organic cucumbers from now on.
This is definitely a public health issue, even though the long-term implications have not been fully understood. This could be where public officials direct their attention most, in addition to building greater awareness of these possible health hazards. The more we know about the dangers of these chemicals, the more informative research can guide policy decisions.
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteIm just as surprised as you to see the amount of pesticides on ingredients that would otherwise be considered healthy. This leads me to my next point. We both know that organic is a much healthier option, but they still have some pesticides in them too. Our market prices for organic items don't really encourage people to buy organic based on prices. They are so much more expensive. Wouldn't more people be buying organic, even if the prices matched?
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteThis post was so eye openings for me! I could not believe that there were this many pesticides in foods. It especially makes you think about the foods that do not have skins because you are probably ingesting more pesticides with those foods.
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI am having some internet issue where everything I post here, doesn't get posted.
Anyway, I wished to say even with a healthy meal, there are so many pesticides. I am at a point where I don't even know what is really safe to eat. I try to eat much organic food as possible, but I mean - is that even that better? This class put me in a panic mode, but I guess I have calmed myself down enough to realize I have some control over these "issues"