Pesticides in Common Foods - Self Extinction by Agriculture

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Self Extinction by Agriculture

This forecast details the pesticides load upon our global environment - and hence in our selves (see below) - as well as the environmental degradation which will occur if we continue with our present agricultural methods.

Not only is our agriculture killing us with its huge trace element deficiencies, it is also poisoning us.

This systematic poisoning and degradation of our global environment is, of course, not tenable, and is totally unnecessary.

If we wanted to, we could have a completely natural, super productive - up to seven times higher than our current methods - completely poison free, supremely healthy, and permanently sustainable agriculture, which is also much less costly to operate (see POISON-FREE AGRICULTURE in these pages.)

Since the evidence that our agricultural poisons are the cause of many physical and mental diseases - among them Parkinson's, prostate cancer, hyperactivity, leukemia, brain cancer, neuroblastoma, damage to the blood/brain barrier, birth defects in children, developmental neurotoxicity, teratogenesis, endocrine system disruption, low sperm count, immune, respiratory and neurological systems disruptions - is already mounting rapidly, continuing with our present methods will kill us all. Since we are the chief consumers of our agricultural products, the "species extinction" cautioned by the authors, will be, first and foremost, our own.

Original Abstract:

Forecasting Agriculturally Driven Global Environmental Change

David Tilman, Joseph Fargione, Brian Wolff, Carla D'Antonio, Andrew Dobson, Robert Howarth, David Schindler, William H. Schlesinger, Daniel Simberloff, Deborah Swackhamer

During the next 50 years, which is likely to be the final period of rapid agricultural expansion, demand for food by a wealthier and 50% larger global population will be a major driver of global environmental change. Should past dependences of the global environmental impacts of agriculture on human population and consumption continue, 109 million hectares of natural ecosystems would be converted to agriculture by 2050.

This would be accompanied by 2.4- to 2.7-fold increases in nitrogen- and phosphorus-driven eutrophication of terrestrial, freshwater, and near-shore marine ecosystems, and comparable increases in pesticide use. This eutrophication and habitat destruction would cause unprecedented ecosystem simplification, loss of ecosystem services, and species extinctions. Significant scientific advances and regulatory, technological, and policy changes are needed to control the environmental impacts of agricultural expansion.
[ SCIENCE, Volume 292, Issue 5515, April 13 2001 ]

Current Pesticide Intake from Our Daily Food
[condensed from the ongoing FDA "Total Diet Study"]

The Total Diet Study (TDS), sometimes called the Market Basket Study, is an ongoing FDA program which began in 1961 and determines levels of various pesticide residues, contaminants, and nutrients in foods, for estimating intakes of these substances in representative diets in the United States population. FDA personnel purchase foods from supermarkets or grocery stores four times per year, one from each of four geographic regions of the country. Each collection, referred to as a Market Basket (MB), is a composite of like foods purchased in three cities in a given region. The foods are prepared for consumption, i.e., as they will be eaten, and then analyzed. Dietary intake of each analyte is calculated from the levels found, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food consumption data for each of the various age/sex groups.

Pesticides In Common Foods - FDA Study
[ condensed from the FDA "Total Diet Study Information" ]

Food Product	Total Different Pesticides Found	Total # of Pesticides in 37 Samples	Average # of Pesticides Per Sample	Average Parts Per Billion Per 100gmServing (3.5 oz.)
American cheese	11	183	4.9	1,860
Apple	27	193	5.2	22,190
Baked potato	23	95	2.6	7,690
Beef round steak	13	73	2.0	340
Butter	17	218	5.9	26,170
Carrots	12	64	1.7	2,230
Celery	22	194	5.2	8,030
Cereal - Corn Flakes	5	11	.3	580
Cherries	32	169	4.6	40,710
Chicken noodle casserole	19	130	3.5	1,160
Collard greens	39	211	5.7	32,030
Cucumber	33	191	5.2	6,950
Egg - Soft boiled	9	20	.5	200
Frankfurters (pork)	19	203	5.5	32,170
Grapes	32	152	4.1	20,590
Green peppers	28	199	5.4	31,330
Ground beef - Fried	14	149	4.0	2,540
Hamburger	22	216	5.8	1,820
Lettuce	20	97	2.9	3,920
Milk chocolate	18	181	4.9	3,780
Peanut butter	19	384	10.4	16,530
Pork sausage	17	161	4.4	15,560
Pumpkin pie	21	186	5.1	6,420
Raisins	21	76	2.1	2,680
Spinach - boiled	36	245	6.6	36,480
Strawberries	29	204	5.5	84,950

1999 Report and Database Adobe Acrobat PDF format. FDA 1999 Pesticide Monitoring Database
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~acrobat/tds1byfd.pdf

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EXTRA - and for those who can bear it,
a list of the 366 pesticides found in our food by the FDA Total Diet Study

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