How 'bout a swig of pesticide?

[luv my 2 sweeties]

I originally posted this in "Good Eatin" and abimommy invited me to post it here as well.

There is an article in the December 2003 (current) issue of Discover Magazine that just made my jaw drop! It's entitled: "Testing Pesticides on Humans: Pesticide companies pay volunteers to swallow and inhale the neurotoxins they make. What's wrong with this picture?"

Unfortunately, because it's in the current issue, you can't read the whole thing on-line, but here's a link to the first paragraph FWIW: http://www.discover.com/issues/dec-...ides-on-humans/ If you are interested in the topic, you may want to buy it on the newstand (it's a science mag, for those unfamilar).

Basically, pesticide companies are hoping that actual human testing will *raise* the threshold of allowable pesticide residue. There is no law against it, if you can believe that! Worse, these tests are being conducted by the companies themselves, with no agreed-upon guidelines about how the tests should be conducted. It is absolutely outrageous, and needless to say, plenty of people are upset about it. The fact that it is a big enough issue for Discover to write about it says something, too. The article doesn't give any info about how consumers might impact this issue (it isn't an activist magazine), but I may write to someone about this. I haven't decided who would be best yet -- I'm still in shock!

[merpk]

That's amazing.

Thanks for the heads-up.








On a side-relevant note, one thing I learned a long time ago is never to eat anything with cottonseed oil in the ingredients. Cotton is not a food, right? So the allowable pesticide levels are higher. Much higher. And cottonseed oil brings that all home to your stomach.

Yum. Not.

[CerridwenLorelei]

ok I will bite with this caveat

I don't like pesticides in my food etc etc
but if a person wants to get paid to do this of their own free will ...and knowing that the consequences may be less than pleasant
who is to stop them?

merpk tell me more please about the cottonseed oil??

[luv my 2 sweeties]

I don't like pesticides in my food etc etc
but if a person wants to get paid to do this of their own free will ...and knowing that the consequences may be less than pleasant
who is to stop them?

Well, it's more than that. If you read the whole article, the biggest problem is that the companies are going to try to use these tests to *increase* the allowable levels of pecticide residue -- specifically organophosphates, used on many tree fruits, grapes, etc. -- on all of our food (except organic, but even organic can be affected by increased pesticides in nearby fields, etc.). Right now, levels considered "safe" in animal tests are then made many times stricter because humans might react differently. Without human tests, there is no way to know for certain how poisons affect people. The problem with the testing itself (besides the ethical issue) is that there are no standards to ensure that the testing is accurate and complete. For example, one study cited in the article used so few human subjects that most scientists would not consider the results reliable. Pesticides can be cumulative in the body and have long-term effects. Presumably, these companies are not going to conduct 30 year studies before seeking a liberalization of the pesicide residue standards! : Finally, no one has dared test these substances on children, for obvious reasons. But experts agree that children are more at risk since they consume a higher proportion of pesticides in relation to their body size than adults. So child health experts are among the groups up in arms over this.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that the outrage goes way beyond the fact that they are conducting human tests, although there are all kinds of ethical issues with that which I won't bother getting into now. Gotta take my dd to preschool!

[mirlee]

Dh did a lot of research with pesticides in the early 90's and he has nothing good to say about them. His exposure was so great, including being crop dusted a couple of times because a farmer forgot to tell the duster that he was coming to check his fields, that we consider Sam our miracle child. We were worried not only that we could never have a child, but that all of his exposure would cause defects. Sam is just fine, but we sure were worried.

All I know is that he said if it weren't for the fact that he was able to roll around in drainage ditches after being dusted, he might not be here.

Dh also did a good bit of research on integrated pest management (IPM) and this along with non-toxic ways of containing your bug issue, is what he recommends. We never use those chemicals at our house. It is scary to hear him talk about what they break down into and the neurological damage that they cause.

[merpk]

C'wenL'lei, told you all I know already.

All stuff like this I get from DH, who is a chemist by training (PhD) and started paying attention to this kind of stuff when he worked at Rockefeller U. He didn't do research on it, just became conscious of it ... whether through conversation with other scientist-type folks or reading or what, I don't know.

So can't give you more details. Except to stay away from anything with cottonseed oil in the ingredients.

So much for any brand of potato chips anywhere.