Pesticides Potentially Neurotoxic to Consumers

4/11/2005:-   Walk through the produce section of your neighborhood supermarket, and you will see a colorful selection of fruits and vegetables. The new 2005 USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend eating up to nine servings of fruits and veggies each day. That’s a lot of broccoli! Unfortunately, what the USDA doesn’t tell you outright is that along with your daily intake of healthful veggies, you may be ingesting an unwanted daily dose of toxic chemicals. According to data from the British Department of Environment on pesticides, eating just “an apple a day�?may cause children to exceed the pesticide daily threshold.

Apples and other produce are routinely sprayed with pesticides to keep insects from devouring the crops in the growing fields, and are also treated during storage and transport to grocery stores. Some of the most common pesticides used on produce belong to a class called organophosphates. How do they work?

Organophosphate pesticides work by over stimulating an insect’s muscles causing weakness and paralysis. This is accomplished by disrupting the insect’s acetylcholine pathway (a nerve impulse transmitter), causing rapid firing of muscle and nerve cells. Other insecticides work by interfering with the growth and reproductive systems of insects, by disrupting protein synthesis and enzyme processes, or by literally suffocating the bugs to death. (For more detailed information on how pesticides work, visit the Environmental Protection Agency’s website at [www.epa.nsw.gov.au/envirom/pesthwwrk.htm].)

Do we want to feed our families food that is treated with toxic chemicals that may disrupt or interfere with our nervous, hormonal, and metabolic systems? Is there a link between pesticide use in farming and increased incidence of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and AD/HD diagnoses? Much more research needs to be done in this area. A very real possibility is that the neurotoxins in pesticides affect humans in the same way that they affect bugs. Our neuromuscular systems also use the neurotransmitter acetylcholine that is targeted by those organophosphate pesticides. British researcher Mark Purdey [www.purdeyenvironment.com] reports that organophosphates could underlie Alzheimer’s and related diseases. Other studies have shown links between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease and even cancer. But surely, these pesticides are not allowed to be present on our food when it is sold in the grocery store, right?

Actually, the FDA sets a safety standard for pesticide tolerance, meaning there is an acceptable amount of pesticide that is allowed to remain on food that reaches the consumer. This means that foods you buy in the grocery store are deemed safe to eat, even though there are detectable levels of pesticides in them! Data from a 2002 study done by the USDA Pesticide Data Program (www.ams.usda.gov/science/pdp/) reveals that 47% of fruit and vegetables tested had detectable pesticide levels AFTER peeling and washing. There were several instances in which the levels of pesticide exceeded the FDA tolerance. In fact, DDE, a residue from DDT (which has been prohibited in the US since 1972) was found in 3.6% of the fruits and vegetables sampled in 2002! This demonstrates that some pesticides are residual, meaning they continue to be effective for days, weeks, months, even years after their application.

Since all conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides in the US, and since some of these pesticides cannot be removed by peeling and washing, and may build up in the body over time, what is the consumer to do to avoid these toxins while trying to eat a healthful diet rich in fruits and vegetables?

A Solution: Organic Produce

Organic fruits and vegetables are grown without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Organic farmers use natural methods of keeping bugs from invading their crops, such as companion planting, harboring beneficial insects, and using pesticides found in nature. They emphasize renewable resources and soil conservation, which makes growing organic good for our planet, as well as our bodies.

Organic fruits and veggies may cost more than conventionally grown ones, but if people continue to buy organic, then supply and demand will bring about lower prices and greater variety and availability. Already many large chain supermarkets are carrying an increasing variety of organically grown produce. An abundance of organic foods can be found at local natural food stores, such as The Granary and Sunsplash Market.

Our health and the well being of especially our children and our elderly are being compromised by the pesticide-laden food we eat. Our nation’s aversion to having an apple with a brown spot on it is costing us in healthcare expenses for conditions related to neurotoxin exposure. Our obsession with keeping bugs out of the garden needs to change. Buying organic is a tasty way to put our money where our mouths are, to send the message that we do not want to feed our families chemically treated food. If we are what we eat, let’s eat the purest, most natural foods we can.

Cheryl Chaffee holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from New York University. She is a vegan, organic foods enthusiast, yoga student, and mother of two who lives in Venice, Florida.

© Cheryl Chaffee 2005

[http://www.mangosmarket.com/common/news/news_results.asp?task=Features&id=6727&storeID=D9339NK282S92NV700AKHLBD3LHF7NV2]