What are Pesticides?

We eat because we want to keep our body healthy and to have enough energy to do important things. Unfortunately, in this time and age where everything is dictated by advancements in Science, we continue to increase our intake of harmful, pesticide-treated foods.  It is important to know the dangers of eating such types of food since it will ultimately affect our health and the health of our children.

What are Pesticides?

Pesticides are toxic substances that are used to exterminate troublesome insects found in gardens and in plants. They can also kill stubborn weeds, fungi, rats and other kinds of pests. Moreover, they are frequently used by farmers in their fields to get rid of unwanted creatures that destroy the crops and sometimes cause infections that can make the crops rot.

Unfortunately, if we patronize these vegetables and fruits that have been treated this way, we also ingest the pesticides that were sprayed on these plants. If pesticides are used to kill those pesky insects, is it not also possible that our cells die after we ingest those pesticide-treated vegetables? But since vegetables provide the nutrients that make the body healthy, we will become unhealthy if we refrain from eating vegetables.

Pesticides in Our Diets

Research shows that there are residues of toxic substances called "persistent organic pollutants" (POP) present in our daily diets. Exposure to these substances can cause several disorders to the nervous system, immune system, reproductive system, several kinds of cancers including breast cancer and problems concerning hormone systems. In the US, many chemical contaminants of food have already been banned. But since other nearby countries still produce and utilize those chemicals, even a small amount of residue may eventually find its way to the food sources of many Americans, probably carried through air and water currents.

Organic Pesticide-Free Food

Organic products are those goods or type of foods that were made without using pesticides, artificial fertilizers, hormones or genetic engineering.  To regulate these goods, the US government has set standards on foods that are to be called organic. Unfortunately, there are still some organic foods that contain pesticides. This is probably because of a contamination of the product. It may have been produced without pesticides but somewhere along the way, through its harvest and distribution, it has become contaminated. DDT is a pesticide that even if it were discontinued three decades ago, it is still present in the atmosphere and persistently affects many organic foods.

All throughout the US, it was found that several organically-grown foods have been contaminated with residues of pesticides. Fortunately, when the values taken from tests on these residues were compared to those found in conventional foods, it was seen that organic products have lower rates of contamination. These organically-grown goods also have lower numbers of pesticides with the presence of several pesticides rarely seen, and much lower levels of residues present. This just proves that organically-grown products are more health-friendly when compared to the conventional types of food.