Thursday, February 10, 2011

How to avoid Pesticides? Part 2


Courtesy image - http://bit.ly/dTKNeV

The Poisons in your Produce is causing so much of damage to your health, wealth and peace of mind. The hospitals and clinics are loaded with distraught anxious patients. Why?

Our soils are deficient in micro-nutrients such as the vital trace minerals like zinc, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, boron, selenium and chromium which control the vital aspects of plant growth. Proper genetic expression cannot happen if there is a deficiency or toxicity of a mineral.

The corrosive intensive agriculture mal-practices are reasons for this deficiency. The vegetables and fruits hence produced are devoid of the micro-nutrients that are mentioned above.

So what you are currently consuming and allowing yourself to be consumed is by toxic shallow foods, devoid of any nutrients. The human body is so designed that should any one of these vital trace minerals be missing from your diet, disease is bound to occur. Hope this explains, why we need to raise our voices in unison against the pesticide lobby and policy makers and demand our fundamental right to safe food.

Yes, not every body can afford to buy organic nor become a gardener. But as I mentioned previously, do not separate medical costs from food costs. These two are closely linked.

Do what you can to safeguard your diets. Hope these hints are useful to help reduce your pesticide consumption.

• If you can follow the wise adage " Eat seasonal only" and keep a check on your taste buds, you are less likely to fall ill. Use the locally-grown fruits and vegetables only. What served our ancestors holds good for us. For instance, you eat cauliflower in summer, when the season grown is in winter, then you are asking for trouble.
• Wash your vegetables and fruits like you wash your hands. Pesticides do not come off in water as they are highly insoluble and stick to fatty tissues and resist metabolism. If they did, farmers would have to apply them after each rain or heavy dew.
• Wash fruits & vegetables in khadi soap solution. Recall the good old khadi soap bar 555? Dissolve this bar in warm water. And keep the soap solution in a bottle, Use when needed. You may use detergent which is chemical based, but the safer option is use khadi soap. Soak and rinse vegetables/fruits in this soap solution prior to cooking or eating.
• Alternatively soak them in vinegar over night and then rinse with soap solution.
• Lethal doses of pesticides are in grapes, where testing shows can harbor as many as 34 different pesticides. View this link - http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods#ixzz1ABBvWXVW
• Avoid grapes if you can. I have done so for the past 10 years as I do not require pesticides in my gut nor visits to hospitals! Fortunately, when farmers grow organic grapes, I get to indulge in them and it is worth the price of safety.
• An option for grape lovers. Take a big bunch of red or green grapes. You will notice they are laced in a white powder. Place them in a large bowl or pan of water with khadi soap solution. Swish the grapes around for a minute. Carefully watch the water. You will see evidence that this soap solution works. Seeing is believing.
• It is necessary to rinse soap-washed fruits before eating, It is hardly a burden. Rinse until the water is clear.
• When you handle the soap based or detergent washed fruit, you will also notice that it feels different, too. We are so used to fruit with chemical laden coatings on it that when we touch cleansed fruit, it's a new tactile experience. Go ahead, try it.
• Please note - newly detergent-washed fruit does not keep very well. The former petrochemical coating may serve as a moisture barrier and even an oxidation barrier. So wash only before you eat.
• Vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes are reeking with massive amount of pesticides and fungicides. If you must eat a cauliflower then pick one which has the most amount of worms, if the worms can survive, so can you!
• Another cheapskate hint: save those fungicide laden potatoes that are "no good" and have turned green with sprouted "eyes." Don't throw them away; plant them. The "eyes" are indeed sprouts, each of which will grow into an entire potato plant bearing several or even many more spuds. Cut the potato and plant each piece with an eye on it. No pesticides required in your pot and you can relish your potatoes too.

Fruit alert
Whether you shop be it from a cart or a super market shelf for fruits like mangoes, papayas, bananas, lime that have been chemically ripened. Notice the erratic hives of green spots with uneven tinges of green, yellow, orange. When you cut them to eat, you wonder why there is little taste and no flavour.
Be an observer and stay alert whilst purchasing something that has helped me;
• To identify a natural ripened fruit, watch out for an even gradation of warm colours. From a natural green, the fruit turns a natural smooth hue of yellow then orange. These fruits tastes smells yum and most sweet.
• Many fruits and vegetables are not merely sprayed but are waxed as well. So-called "food grade" waxes improve shelf life, appearance, and coat over and lock in any previously applied pesticides. This poses a problem, for waxes do not readily dissolve in detergent solution. Frequently waxed fruits include apples, pears, eggplant, cucumbers, squash, and even tomatoes are generally waxed. The lack of a high gloss is not proof positive that a fruit is unwaxed: many waxes, like many types of floor polyurethane or spray varnish, are not at all shiny. One way to tell if a fruit or vegetable is waxed is to run your fingernail over it and see if you can scrape anything off.
• The other alternative is to simply peel them. Do not eat apples or pears without peeling the skin. The nutrition that once was, is now laden with chemicals. So force feeding children to eat the skin of an apple is not advisable.

Only from healthy soils will healthy plants grow.
Wake up. Take charge. We are what we eat.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Pesticide laden food has become a way of life

Part 1

Pesticide residues in our food chain has drastically increased with not a lurking conscience pinching the power driven policy makers neither the bereft farmers. It has become a way of life. Consumers opt to become complacent victims of the two.

Karburgi Kampu, the third Bharat Vikas Sangam event concluded at Gulbarga in Karnataka on 1st January 2011. Each day witnessed over 70 - 80,000 farmers. I had the opportunity to address some of these farmers. In my interactions, they made no bones about the indiscriminate dosage of pesticides they sprayed on vegetables. Aowschadi ( medicine ) was required because their soils were pest infested and infected. As for their own consumption, a pesticide free patch was reserved to grow their vegetables fully aware of the dire consequences of these lethal pesticides. Safe solutions is what they otherwise wished for but both the policies and pesticide companies offered them deals with only debt ridden promises.

“In the last two decades, the farmer has been taught and almost forced to use chemicals increasingly. The farmer is getting bankrupt; his costs are increasing and every year the yield from his poisoned soil decreases. The consumers are worried about the levels of toxicity in the food. Chemical farming has destroyed the soil, the water table, the environment and the livelihood of thousands of villagers. The only ones that are benefiting are the companies that have been promoting chemical farming incessantly(1)

Often I am asked this question “What chemicals and pesticides are used to artificially ripen fruits and vegetables? How can we detect them and what can we do? The later question i tackle in my next article. So watch it for it.

Many techniques are employed to ripen mature fruits, the most commonly used agent is calcium carbide. It has carcinogenic properties and is used in gas welding for steel goods. This method is being used in most of the climacteric fruits (fruits which are picked when mature, and ripened only after they are picked) like mangoes, papayas, apricots and bananas. No wonder, health freaks who go on a fruit diet to keep fit, often end up with mouth ulcers, gastric irritation or even food poisoning. So much for a fruit diet".(2)

"Calcium carbide popularly known as masala is used extensively in mangoes, bananas and papayas, and sometimes in apples and plums. Industrial-grade calcium carbide may contain traces of arsenic and phosphorus, and, thus, use of this chemical for this purpose is illegal in most countries. Calcium carbide, once dissolved in water, produces acetylene, which acts as an artificial ripening agent. Acetylene is believed to affect the nervous system by reducing oxygen supply to brain." (3)

Another chemical named EP-50 is also used to speed up the ripening process. Almost all raw fruits are chemically treated. Banana which is supposed to be the main source of calcium has become the source of serious health problems. Bananas are being mixed with Ethepon, a chemical that can harm vital organs of the body.

Unfortunately, not even a guava is being spared from pesticides. “Poisoned guava fruit of pesticide overuse kills girl in Bathinda” (4). As per an RTI enquiry, hospital record in Bathinda shows that 61 people died by inhaling chemicals while spraying pesticides between 2004 and 2008. The pesticides have also entered the food chain. Studies have detected pesticides --heptachlor and ethion, both carcinogens -in farmers' blood here. The lethal chemicals have also made it to the fodder, vegetables, bovine and human milk(5).

A Sordid Truth


"A Chemical Epidemic" an article in Telhelka reveals "Endosulfan is a deadly insecticide banned in over 68 countries. SO WHY does India take such an entrenched position every time? The answer may lie in the fact that it is the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of endosulfan, ranked amongst the top five most commonly used agricultural insecticide in the world. Its current global use, as per industry estimates, is about 35 million litres. In the past five years, India has exported endosulfan to over 70 countries, with more than $150 million worth of exports between 2007 and 2008.

Did you know "Tamil Nadu distributes endosulfan for free after a deal with Cadbury?"

Domestically too, the government is playing an active role in increasing the use of this insecticide. Tamil Nadu has been aggressively promoting endosulfan after the state agriculture department inked an MOU with Cadbury India Limited in 2007 for enhancing cocoa (a cash crop) cultivation in the state. “For 1,000 saplings of cocoa, 4 litres of endosulfan is given free to the farmers. I got 16 litres of endosulfan free with 4,000 cocoa saplings from the State government as part of the scheme,” said a cocoa farmer from Erode district of Tamil Nadu. “These are all dubious means to promote and increase the dependence of farmers on deadly insecticides like endosulfan. Once the farmer gets used to it, it is difficult for him to get out of the vicious pesticide cycle,” says Sridhar of Thanal, member of the Endosulfan Relief Cell in Kerala". (6)

And more, the most unassuming vegetables like Bottle gourd is often injected with a chemical like oxytocin for faster growth that can cause abnormal growth and other complications in human beings. Oxytocin can lead to damage of the brain. Suppliers and hawkers apply synthetic green colours on vegetables like beans and bitter gourd and fruits which contain heavy metals like mercury maintain their "freshness' and maximise profits. Hormones are used for faster growth of pumpkin, watermelon, brinjal, gourd, cucumber. Cheap chemical colours are being used to give the apples the extra sheen. Such chemical induced vegetable and fruits can prove disastrous for the digestive system, eyes and liver. It can result in vomiting and diarrhea in children and kidney failure.

The unfortunate part is even agriculture scientists have convinced themselves that crops, fruits cannot grow without pesticides. A report by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) shows that pesticide residues in grapes, wheat and rice is much higher in Karnataka than levels allowed by the health & family welfare department.(7)

But what are we doing about it? Apart from rushing to hospitals. Why have we reached this stage of despair and so complacent to let the polluters get away with poisoning our food chain? Do you not agree that if doctors and engineers are held responsible for any accidents, so should the scientists and policy makers who advocate such corrosive technologies must be taken to task and pay for it.

As consumers, we put our hands up in the air and moan about the few choices left. We have nothing much to eat is what I get to hear, when I alert consumers. Well, if one does nothing to raise voices against policies and the pesticide lobby, then brace yourself the worst is shortly in the offing. "First, the Biotech industry aggressively promoted chemical farming. Now that we have all woken up to the folly of chemical farming, they have come up with another half-baked, quick-fix in the form of Genetically Engineered Crops. The world now witness an exponential rise in the number of people suffering from unexplained diseases like cancer. Is it far fetched to imagine that there is a link between the two? The world is today seeing various unheard of diseases like the Mad Cow, the Bird Flu and the Swine Flu.”(1). Every second home you peer in into has a diabetic, cancer, heart patient and more.

Overcome this crisis with rationale


Eat healthy! How do you do this with the rising costs of pesticide laden food, gas and everything else? This is a question often asked by people when considering how to safeguard their diets. However, the real question should be “How can you afford not to eat healthy with the high costs of being ill?”

Being an organic farmer, I advocate purchasing chemical-free foods whenever possible, including organically-grown produce. It costs more to buy organic, but, if you can afford it, it is money well spent. There are many things people can do to control food costs while still consuming a health-promoting diet. When budgeting, most people separate medical costs from food costs. However, these two are linked. As one eats more nutritious foods, medical problems and costs can be mitigated or eliminated, thus reducing overall spending. And actually, for the typical family, an increase in food costs is not even necessary for improving the diet.

On the other hand, practise home gardening, a incredibly cheap alternative.What is stopping you from sowing one seed of bottle gourd in a pot in your balcony? Instead of growing aromatic plants, be different, encourage children to grow crops which serves your well being. For starters, you could try leaf lettuce, coriander, amaranth (dant sappu) brinjal, cucumber, green beans and few varieties of tomato plants. You will soon be supplying half to your the neighborhood. And there are many despite staying in apartments with small balconies succeed in growing their diverse food. (8)

As rightly said by Colin Todhunter in his article Rampant use of pesticides. Slow death, fast profits. “If someone was standing in front of you threatening your life or the lives of your children, wouldn’t you take action? There’s no difference between that situation and what the corporations are doing to your food”(9)

So wake up. Ban Pesticides.


Sources:

(1)http://www.blogger.com/postedit.g?blogID=1334801960335581453&postID=5567067974405648410
(2)http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060528/spectrum/main1.htm
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripening
(4)http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HC/2010/12/19/ArticleHtmls/Poisoned-guava-fruit-of-pesticide-overuse-19122010002011.shtml?Mode=1#
(5)http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HC/2011/02/03/ArticleHtmls/Toxic-fields-Pesticide-use-up-03022011002003.shtml?Mode=1
(6) http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=Cr100710epidemicasp.
(7) Toxic pesticides linger in cereals and fruits - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Toxic-pesticides-linger-in-cereals-and-fruits/articleshow/7141746.cms#ixzz18p9T7gVk
(8)http://www.deccanherald.com/content/106491/slow-death-fast-profits.html
(9)http://geekgardener.in

Posted on 4th February 2011 by Sangita Sharma
http://myrighttosafefood.blogspot.com/