The 20th of June 2017 Freshfel AGM celebrated the 30 year work anniversary of Philippe Binard, General Delegate. He…
“Plants and animals have evolved mechanisms to fight against their predators. Some of them are mechanical, like thorns or spines on a puffer fish, but some are chemical in nature. As a result, our food is full of natural pesticides and toxins.
One of the more common natural pesticides that we ingest is solanine” (especially in potatoes).
In general, it’s safe. “But when the potato starts to green or sprout (i.e. the ‘eyes’ start growing), then the amount increases significantly […] [so] A Current guidelines from the NIHrecommends throwing out spoiled potatoes or those that are green below the skin.”
And Solanine is “just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to natural pesticides.” Here are a few others: caffeine, nicotine, capsaicin, DIMBOA[1]. And, as well, all these substances which give flavors to herbs and spices.
“The list is very long. In 1990, Bruce Ames published a paper entitled “Dietary pesticides (99.99 percent all natural)”. In it, he and his coauthors outline that we eat an estimated 1.5 grams of natural pesticides a day, “which is about 10,000 times more” than the amount of synthetic pesticide residues we consume. […] The concentrations of these pesticides are in parts per thousand or parts per million, whereas the amount of synthetic pesticides we find on our food are in the parts per billion range.
[…] Of all the chemicals tested for chronic cancer tests in animals, only 5 percent have been natural pesticides and half of these were carcinogenic.
Think about that for a moment. While there’s an uproar about parts per billion amounts of synthetic pesticide residues on our food, there are more concentrated compounds in fruits and veggies actually known to cause cancer. In addition, some of the more commonly used pesticides in agriculture have mechanisms of action that are specific to the pests their targeting, making them far safer than many natural pesticides”
“This should be a nuanced discussion. Just because an agricultural pesticide has a benign toxic profile does not mean that we shouldn’t try to minimize its use when possible. […] Yet we shouldn’t consider our food to be “unsafe” or shun traditional farming practices because of the use of synthetic pesticides.
Remember: it’s all in the dose.”
In Canada, General Mills, owner of the Honey Nut Cheerios trademark, has decided to put away their bee-mascot from packaging for some weeks. This way, they aim to make their customers be aware of the massive bee death. They offer free wildflowers seeds to every Canadian to bring back the bees. Have a look to #bringbackthebees (in English) or…
In November 2015, EFSA finalised the re-assessment of glyphosate, well-known active substance of Monsanto’s Roundup and other herbicides. Read EFSA press release, and detailed explanations on its risk assessment. The report concludes that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans and proposes a new safety measure that will tighten the control of glyphosate residues in food….
The Amish, an insular people in the United States for nearly 200 years avoid modern technologies such as telephones, automobile, and even zippers. Many people think the Amish must also eschew genetically modified crops and pesticides. In addition, Amish are healthier than the rest of the US population. Their cancer rates are very low. So the anti-pesticides and anti-GMO…
Most eat-this-don’t-eat-that studies are garbage, in the way that garbage could become a Dr. Oz endorsed superfood with a scientific study designed to generate the desired answer. John Oliver agrees on a sarcastic, hilarious AND serious talk-show on HBO. Barfblog, a reference blog in food safety, publishes a good written summary. It concludes “That’s where his idea for Todd…
A “homemade” herbicide recipe is floating around the web : salt, vinegar and dish soap. Many of you have probably seen it posted to Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest, or on your favorite home gardening site. Is it efficient, safe and cheap? That is the question Control Freaks, a Weed Science blog which is linked to USDA, answers to in…
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