Aug 21, 2010

Eat your Veggies...and pesticides!

We have all heard about pesticides sprayed on our veggies but its no biggie.. right? Just buy some of that veggie wash or stick your cucumber under some water. I mean how could a few pesticides really hurt us?

Currently in Canada over a thousand chemicals are available for use on countless food products. So over the course of a day all these pesticides can really begin to add up.

Adria Vasil from the book Ecoholic is right to say that pesticides are "Kind of scary when you consider the hormone-mimicking neurotoxin, reproduction-impairing properties..According to a parliamentary report, about 60% of pesticides currently being used are hormone disruptor's".

Additionally, the David Suzuki Foundation points out that 58 of the pesticides used in Canada today are banned in other countries because of ties to cancers, reproductive disorders and acute toxicity.

So its not rocket science that pesticides are not one of mankind's greatest inventions but what does this all mean?
  • Approximately 2000,000 people die every year from pesticide poisoning
  • 90-100% of Canadians have pesticides in our tissues
  • Chemicals indirectly kill animals (grasshoppers+pesticides =dead birds)
  • Pesticides pollute our environment (air, water)
"For the health of our children, our wildlife and ourselves, synthetic pesticides should be abandoned. Period."
                                                                       -The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

So now what?

Knowing the truth about pesticides allows us to discover what kinds of foods we want on our plates as well as the importance of preserving our health and the environment for future generations.

Here is a quick video clip developed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) it shares some info and tips on reducing pesticides exposure on the foods that you eat.



 You can check out some more great information and get a free downloadable PDF from the web-site http://www.foodnews.org/

So I want to end this blog on a positive note with a creative little video I stumbled across call "Grocery Store Wars"...I hope you enjoy :)


No comments:

Post a Comment