The issue of synthetic (or chemical) pesticides on foods is not uniquely a local food issue; it is really an issue of conventional food production versus organic food production. Local producers can (and most do) employ pesticides, so buying local produce does not guarantee the food is free of pesticides and buying local meats does not guarantee the animals were raised without feeds or graze with pesticides on them. Only local foods that are also organic foods bring that guaranatee. We will treat this issue as concerning local, organic food.
The use of pesticides is crucial to conventional and conventional-commodity agriculture in the United States. Their role in pest management for crops is outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency in its useful, brief, on-line overview of American agriculture, "Ag 101". According to this publication's discussion of pesticides, pesticides are used on the overwhelming majority of farms, percentages rising to 98% of corn acreage and 96% of soybean acreage in 2001.
The dangers of synthetic pesticides to human health and to environmental health are widely recognized. Since the early 1900s, the federal government has regulated their use in agriculture. Regulation covers, among other matters, approval and disapproval of pesticides for agricultural use, establishment of toxicity values, labeling and instruction in use, pesticide residue monitoring, inspection of foods, recall of corrupted foods, and consumer health alerts and information on safe handling.
Dusting crop. Luke Weldon farms twenty-eight acres in truck crops. In the south Jersey area of industrial truck farming many others like him have to do part time farm labor for the big companies, where they use airplanes. He sprays by hand. Near Bridgeton, New Jersey. Ca. 1936-1938. Edwin Rosskam, photographer. Photograph from the FSA-OWI, American Memory Collection, Library of Congress.
Concern over the dangers of pesticides to human health and to the environment has driven the consumer shift to organic foods. Concern in the 1960s that DDT was accumulating in the food chain and the reducing bird populations was a famous historical episode the popular awakening that led to banning the use of DDT. In the US, organic food production and marketing are governed by the 1990 Farm Bill and subsequent farm bills and regulatory amendments. Organic food production for both crops and animals is not permitted to use synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and human waste. Animal feeds cannot have been grown using pesticides and cannot contain pesticides.
As synthetic pesticides are harmful to plants and to animals, they of course are harmful to humans. Regulation attempts to prevent residues and cumulative consumption from reaching toxic levels. The toxicity of the major classes of pesticides is revealed in the following table, provided by Dr. Kendall-Reed. Reproductive health should be viewed at an indicator of general health.*
Synthetic Pesticide Class / Pesticide || Effect || Industrial Use
Organochlorine / Lidane || decreases ovulation in rabbits | human lice, tree farms
Organochlorine / Endosulfan || estrogen activity on breast tumors, shrinks testicles in rats, inhibits FSH and H in rats, decreased sperm count in mice || food application
Organochlorine / Methoxychlor || estrogen activity, blocked implantation and decreased fertility, and litter size in rats, increased birth defects in rats || vegetables and fruits
Organophosphate / Parathion || DNA damage in rodents || fruits
Organophosphate / Malathion || decreased progesterone in cows || fleas/tick control, food
Organophosphate / Diazanon || decreased sperm motility, decreased testosterone, increased fetal deaths and increased birth defects in mice || home use, pesticides
Dr. Kendall-Reed also notes that females exposed to pesticides in agriculture are 1.3 times more likely to have spontaneous abortions than women not so exposed. Men exposed to pesticides in agriculture are 30% more likely to have chromosomal abnormalities than males not so exposed.
In conclusion, the organic food movement is clearly one of the most important reasons to support local food. Without the application of pesticides, food additives, and preservatives, harvested organic foods do not long remain fresh. Local organic foods, purchased and consumed with a few days of harvest, provide the greatest opportunity for fresh, nutritious, safe food.
-----------
* Penny Kendall-Reed, ND, The New Naturopathic Diet [CCNM Press, 2004], p. 115), from the study, Generations at Risk: How Environmental Toxins May Affect Reproductive Health in Massachusetts [by the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group Education Fund].
More information:
EPA, Ag 101
USDA Organic Production / Organic Food (This article has an excellent list of references for further reading)
Wikipedia Organic Food
----------
Contents
Local Food
Comments