Fruits and vegetables are good for
nourishment. Not a day passes without our eating fruits or vegetables. Many may
not eat vegetable in its raw form. Generally vegetables are eaten in the form
of soup or stew. In Ghana orange, coconut and banana are among some
all-year-round fruits which are readily consumed. Banana and groundnut
(peanut), together as snack, is popular among Ghanaians. One can get raw
vegetables on the market all-year-round too. The vegetables you get on the market
are cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, French beans, okra, tomato and others.
Kiwi and strawberry for example, you can get them at supermarkets, relatively
expensive.
Fruits and vegetables for that matter
other foods, contain substances that give living organisms, including humans,
growth and life. The substances called nutrients are vitamin, protein, minerals,
carbohydrates, fat and water. From nutrients living organisms derive energy for
their brains, heart, lungs etc. to function.
Fundamental and critically necessary
as these chemical substances are to the sustenance of our lives, it goes
without saying that you and I should eat foods with nutrients that are not
compromised. The worrying truth is that the quality of food, in terms of
nutrition, many people eat is compromised. Other living organisms compete with
humans for the food we eat. These competitors are called pests. In the context
of this post pest is an organisms (e.g. insect) that attack to destroy crops,
plants etc. A solution man found to ward off or kill the pests is pesticide.
What then is pesticide? I have already given a definition for pest. The
definition for the suffix -icide is something that kills, so pesticide, pest a
noun plus -icide a suffix put together means something that kills pests. The idea was to kill pests which were
destroying our food so our food would be safe. But that is not the case. The
reality is that such food harvested carries residue of the pesticides, all the
way to store shelves or the market where you and I go and buy them for
consumption. The pests the pesticides target are living organisms like you, so
if the pesticide could kill the pests, it stands to reason that it could kill you
as well.
Most pesticides are used in agriculture.
Some kinds of pesticides in use are as follows:
Rodenticides- deal with rodents
Piscicides- deal with fish
Antibiotics- deal with bacteria and
virus
Herbicides- deal with plants
Sterilants- put an end to reproduction
Fungicides- deal with fungus
Avicides- deal with birds
Insecticide- deal with insects
You may be surprised that some of the
foods you eat all the time contain pesticides. These pesticides are lodged in
your body. Take a look through the following two lists. The first list is a
list of foods which contain unacceptable levels of pesticides, while the second
one is described as a clean list (based on EWG 2017 lists):
UNACCEPTABLE LEVEL
This is a list of foods with unacceptable levels of pesticides:
Apple
Spinach
Pears
Nectarine
Peaches
Celery
Strawberries
Potatoes
Cherries
Grapes
ACCEPTABLE LEVEL
The list that follows is an alternative list. They are preferable
foods with acceptable levels of pesticides:
Onion
Avocados
Pineapples
Mangos
Papayas
Cabbage
Asparagus
Kiwi
Grapefruit
Sweet Corn
Cauliflower
ENVIRONMENT
The use of pesticide poses threat to the environment. After all it
is toxic; it is meant to kill. The following are some of the ways by which the
natural environment is compromised:
Pesticide is designed to kill living organisms
Pesticides seep into the soil killing organisms which naturally
fight and control pest activities.
Pesticides weaken root of plants
Pesticide use result in the pollution of the air (spraying)
Pesticides use can lead to pollution of water bodies
Pesticides use reduce soil nutrients
SO WHAT DO WE DO?
The theoretical answer to that question should be that we should
stop using pesticides. The pesticide industry is a billion dollar industry with
perhaps millions depending on it for their means of livelihood. There is a need
for a gradual and systematic shift from pesticide use to alternative
environmentally friendly ways to deal with pests. Before the widespread
universal use of pesticides to deal with pests nature had its own way of
dealing with pests. Patronage of foods grown with pesticide must be reduced and
eventually stopped. Before patronage stops patrons should and ought to be
educated to know the level and spread of foods contaminated with toxic
pesticide and the alternative choices they have. This is what this post for one
is trying to do. As nutrients in foods promote growth and sustenance of life in
living organisms, pesticides retard growth in living organisms.
PARTING SHOT
Pesticides meant to protect the food we eat from pests, end up
in the food we eat. Pesticides are meant to kill pests to prevent them from
destroying the food we are to consume. The use of pesticides end up killing
organisms involve in naturally fighting pests. The use of pesticides in the
agriculture industry leads to the pollution of the air (spraying), water bodies
and soil. Apart from the environment that is polluted, our very health is
endangered by eating food that is contaminated with pesticide. Pesticides can
damage liver and kidney. Pesticides can cause cancer, and other diseases. In
this post I have made a list of some foods containing residue of pesticides,
and also a list of foods that are labeled as clean. If you have to make a choice, which you ought
to do, choose or gravitate towards foods listed on the second list. Better
still go full circle to patronize organic foods. In some stores organic foods
are labeled as such. There are shops that sell only organic foods. If you went
for organic food the use of pesticides should not happen in the first place. If
pesticide is not used in the first place, there would be no pollution of air,
water and soil. That should go a long way in keeping a clean and balanced
environment.
Reference:
https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/
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