PESTICIDES AND PEOPLE

by Raymond McInerney Wed Jun 18, 2003 19:55

Consume freshly grown organically grown products. Take natural antioxidants to reduce free radical damage caused by pesticides.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL XXIV
CONSUMER POLICY AND CONSUMER HEALTH PROTECTION
Food and Veterinary Office
Unit 03 - Food of Animal Origin (3) - Fish and Food of Non-Animal Origin

MISSION REPORT
on a routine mission carried out in IRELAND
from 21. to 23.10.1998 in the field of

CONTROL SYSTEMS ON PLACING ON THE MARKET AND USES OF PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS AND ON RESIDUES IN FOODSTUFFS OF PLANT ORIGIN

SCOPE OF THE MISSION
The scope of the mission was to monitor the control system for the placing on the market and uses of plant protection products, according to Council Directive 91/414/EEC1 and the control system on residues of plant protection products in
foodstuffs, according to Council Directives 86/362/EEC2 and 90/642/EEC3.

List of suggestions to Ireland
6.1.1. Central authority
· The competent Irish authority could consider looking into the staff problem for both control systems. There should be enough personnel to continuously perform the control tasks required by Community legislation.
· The Irish authorities should consider setting national MRLs, at least for new active ingredients.
6.1.2. Control system on placing on the market and uses of plant protection products
· The Irish authorities could consider drafting procedures on sampling and analyses. This would ensure a better continuity of the control system. This would be a first step in the direction of a laboratory accreditation.
· It could be considered to enlarge the number of specifications that are checked, e.g. include checks on impurities and physico-chemical properties (the Irish authorities informed the Commission team that this could be solved in the framework of the planned new laboratory building for the PCS).
6.1.3. Control system on residues of plant protection products in foodstuffs:
· The Irish authorities should inform the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission when accreditation of the laboratory is achieved.
· In order to cover the total consumer exposure, it should be taken into consideration to broaden the spectrum of compounds analysed for (especially for products with a history at Community level, e.g. dithiocarbamates and n-methylcarbamates).

by Ray McInerney Wed Jun 18, 2003 20:02

Minutes of the meeting of the Subcommittee on Additives, Chemical Contaminants and Residues Sub-Committee
8th October 2002



Minutes of the meeting of the Subcommittee on Additives, Chemical Contaminants and Residues of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland held on Tuesday 8th October 2002 at 11.00am, in the FSAI offices, Abbey Court, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin.

by Anon - ex-emc Thu Jun 19, 2003 02:45

Time to put food / GM / intensive farming back on the agenda.

by Gaillimhed Thu Jun 19, 2003 10:39

Thanks to the intensive farming practices of the globalised supermarket-food economy our vegetables have only half the vitamin content they did 25 years ago, and a quarter of the international fruit crop is lost in long-haul transit despite being drenched in chemical preservatives such as fungicides and heavy-matal compounds.
A Banana, (grown in South America and transported to the west) costs around 17c, An apple, just an apple, domestically grown, costs three times at least.
Genetic modification is being pushed down the consumers throat for one reason and one reason only...market control. As soon as the farmers are dependent on GM non self-seeding crops then the corporate Empire will have succeeded in monopolising and privatising every last one of the essentials of living, (except Water but thats on the way too: http://www.google.ie/search?q=water+privatisation&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&meta= )
The only thing left to own will be the air, and it already carries the marks of industry.

by Terry Thu Jun 19, 2003 13:17

Here's some websites people might find useful:

http://www.communities-against-toxics.org.uk
Communities Against Toxics

http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/
Documents from Chemical Industry that they never wanted you to see

by ollie - katalyzer Thu Jun 19, 2003 16:10

The true horror of exactly how bad pesticides are is outlined on the link below.

http://www.newint.org/issue323/facts.htm

The most startling fact from this quite reputable magazine is the following:

'The World Health Organization estimates that at least three million people are poisoned by pesticides every year and more than 200,000 die. It is estimated that up to 25 million agricultural workers are poisoned every year.'

It's Reference: 'Bugs in the System' edited by William Vorley and Dennis Keeney, Earthscan, London 1998

Earthscan also is quite a reputable book publishing company.

However, I have come accross much lower figures (20,000-40,000 p.a.) for pesticide poisoning. Helena Norbert Hodge's 2 most famous books -'from the ground up' and 'bringing the food economy home' use this lower figure, though admittedly it is from a UN report from as long ago as 1988. And the pesticides keep (having to) get stronger, while the environmental legislation keeps gettin' wto'd out of it.

Eitherwayz, eating non-organic food contributes directly to these deaths/poisonings.

Interestingly, this then becomes an anti-anti-food miles argument: Imported fruit and veg which is organic, despite the env probs with shipping, or, worse again, flying, over vast distances, directly contributes to sth other than these pesticide deaths. Put simply: Labourers in the world's certified organic fields don't die from pesticide poisoning ,as a rule, while other farm labourers do.

Remember much of the most dangerous stuff they banned here is still sold abroad ,most infamously, DDT and its derivatives.

SO, then, a crack in the localism argument - pesticides are WAY more harmful in the economically poorer parts of the world, but what about the food miles.........anyone?

by Raymond McInerney Thu Jun 19, 2003 17:40

Some 320 pesticide active ingredients will come off the market in 2003 as part of the European Commission's new approach to the evaluation of pesticides. The move comes as part of a measure to
improve safeguards for the environment and human health.

The European Commission is proposing that all EU countries adopt national pesticide action plans to reduce the use risk and dependence on chemical pesticides. European environmental groups welcome the proposals but warn that they lack the mechanisms to deliver effective reduction.

by Raymond McInerney Thu Jun 19, 2003 21:14

In relation to the 320 different pesticides that are to be banned in the EU.

Since farming practices will more than likely won't change significantly to natural means to control pests in the next few months. Farmers will start buying genetically modified seeds that are resistant to pests.

This issue will need to be resolved immediately..

by Terry Fri Jun 20, 2003 17:32

In the online newsletter 'Synthesis/Regeneration' they have a special issue
called: Pesticides: A Chemical Weapon

It can be found at the related link.

You may need to scroll down the page a bit to come to those articles.