Health and Wellness: What You Should Know About Pesticide Dangers

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May 19, 2011

In This Issue...

This Cancer Cure Video Circled the Globe in 31 Minutes
What You Should Know About Pesticide Dangers
Free Online Webcast Series
Full Bladder: Better Decisions
New INSTANT Cure for Extra High Cholesterol -- Cholesterol Drops 100 Points or More

This Cancer Cure Video Circled the Globe
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What You Should Know About Pesticide Dangers

Spring is around the corner, and the last thing I want to be thinking about is fruit salad dosed with pesticides or a lovely cut of meat on the grill, generously marinated in bug spray. Why, then, is my mind traveling so firmly in this direction? It’s almost 40 years after DDT was banned, and you would think that we’d now feel safe and comfortable in knowing that we are exposed to fewer toxic pesticides. Instead there’s evidence that we’re exposed to more.

About 70,000 different chemicals are used in the US today, making the chemical companies healthy even if we’re not. Although many of these chemicals are known carcinogens, there isn’t a lot of scientific research that has successfully proved a causal link to cancer -- since, in addition to being expensive, this would take decades to prove… and, of course, no one will get rich from the results. Now new research is emerging that links pesticides to other known health problems, so I thought it was important to take a look at what we know -- and what we don’t know -- about the dangers of the pesticides used in growing the foods we eat.

So Many Chemicals

Fruits and vegetables receive the highest dosage of pesticides, so they’re more likely to be contaminated than other foods. For instance, conventional, non-organic growers can choose from as many as 62 different types of pesticide products to treat a crop of peaches (and each crop is typically treated with many different types)… 52 for blueberries… 42 for apples. And you may not realize that pesticides also have been found in meat and chicken, especially in the thighs.

I spoke to David Pimentel, PhD, a professor in the department of entomology, systematics and ecology at Cornell University about this trend. "About 70% of the foods that consumers buy have detectable levels of pesticide residues," Dr. Pimentel told me.

Who Is Most at Risk?

Regarding the connection between cancer and pesticides, it is safe to say there’s good reason to worry about one. Noting that more research is needed on this important topic, Dr. Pimentel said. "There is no question that pesticides can cause cancer -- the question is, how many people do they affect?" He noted that people with a genetic risk for cancer are quite likely the most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, researchers continue to uncover more ways that absorbing pesticides -- by eating, touching or breathing them -- is bad for our health… most especially for people who are already somewhat unhealthy due to poor lifestyle or other conditions that depress their immunity. Among the recent findings...

Parkinson’s disease. It appears that exposure to pesticides may trigger Parkinsons’s disease in genetically predisposed people. In a large 2006 study, researchers at Harvard School of Public Health found that participants exposed to pesticides (specifically, farmers, ranchers, fishermen and people who used pesticides in their homes or gardens) had a 70% higher incidence of Parkinson’s than those who weren’t exposed. The latest research, reported in February 2011 and conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, shows that people exposed in their professions to the pesticides paraquat or rotenone developed Parkinson’s approximately 2.5 times more often than people who were not exposed. Both pesticides cause cellular damage. Paraquat, in particular, is an extremely toxic substance originally developed as an herbicide.

Dementia. A study that collected data between 1997 and 2003 from French vineyard workers who spent at least two decades applying pesticides to plants or working in buildings where pesticides were housed showed that these workers scored low on a test of memory and recall. Researchers speculate that the changes demonstrated in the mental functioning of these people indicate that they may eventually develop a neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s.

Infertility. In a 2008 review of studies on pesticide exposure, epidemiologists showed a decline in the semen quality and quantity of farm workers, which impaired male fertility by 40%. "Infertility, especially in men, is increasing in proportion to greater exposure to pesticides," said Dr. Pimentel.

Kids Are Vulnerable

For children, there is bad news and good news. First of all, the problem of pesticide exposure is amplified compared with adults. "Kids are growing," noted Dr. Pimentel. "In relation to body weight, they eat more than adults." One study found that the urine of children eating a variety of conventional foods contained markers for organophosphates, a lethal group of pesticides used to disable the nervous system of pests that is, not incidentally, used to make the deadly nerve gas saran. However, the study also found that when the children’s diets were switched to only organic foods, the chemicals disappeared from their bodies within 36 hours.

What To Do

You may take some comfort -- briefly -- in knowing that, by Dr. Pimentel’s reckoning, newer pesticides are used at 1/1,000 of the amount as had been the case with DDT. But don’t be fooled by this simplistic comparison -- ounce for ounce or pound for pound, "These newer materials are far more toxic, not just to pests but also to humans."

Washing and peeling helps only if a chemical is on the outside of a fruit or vegetable, Dr. Pimentel noted -- but the sad fact is that some of these toxins are taken up by the plant as it grows, meaning that the pesticides end up inside the flesh of the produce and therefore cannot be removed even with careful washing and peeling.

Foods least likely to have pesticide residue after washing include onions, avocados, corn, pineapples, mangoes, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, papaya, watermelon, broccoli, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Some of these foods have thick skins that protect the food, while others face fewer threats from pests and so are sprayed less.

Avoiding the most contaminated types of fruits and vegetables or buying their organic counterparts reduces your pesticide exposure by 80%. The following foods, when grown conventionally, contain the most pesticide residue even after washing and/or peeling: Celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale, cherries, potatoes, grapes, carrots.

Bottom line: Choose carefully, buy organic when possible and be sure to wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly to be certain they’ll keep you healthy, not make you sick.

Source(s):

David Pimentel, PhD, professor, department of entomology, systematics and ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

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Full Bladder: Better Decisions

If you plan to talk with your stockbroker, it might be wise to drink several cups of coffee and then wait 45 minutes. No, that’s not the first line in a joke about liquid assets. It’s what I was told by the lead author of a recent study on the link between controlling impulses and making decisions.

The study, published in the May 2011, issue of Psychological Science, concluded that we make better decisions while controlling the impulse to urinate.

One hundred and two participants were tracked. Half of them drank five cups of water over a period of five to 10 minutes, then waited 45 minutes... while others took only small sips of water over the same period. Then all participants were given two tasks. First, they were asked to choose a small reward that they would receive soon or a larger reward that they would receive in several days. A typical choice was between $16 tomorrow -- or $30 in 35 days. Then, on a scale of one to seven, the participants were asked to assess their need to urinate -- with one indicating no urgency and seven indicating great urgency.

UNEXPECTED RESULTS

Researchers discovered that participants with the greatest need to urinate (average, 4.5 points on the scale) were much more likely to prefer the larger -- and delayed -- reward. Researchers understood both the seriousness and humor in their study, which is titled "Inhibitory spillover: Increased urination urgency facilitates impulse control in unrelated domains."

"These findings," researchers wrote, "show how inhibitory signals stemming from increased bladder pressure influence people in choosing between short- versus long-term benefits." In other words, the pressure on their bladders led to control not only over whether or not to urinate - but also over the potentially impulsive financial decision. Participants who held off nature’s call also held out for the reward that was more beneficial in the long term.

After reading the study, I couldn’t resist the urge to contact the lead author, Mirjam A. Tuk, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in consumer behavior at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. I told Dr. Tuk that most people might have expected the opposite results -- that urgency would have led participants to choose immediate rewards, even if they were smaller.

"Yes, many people would think that," Dr. Tuk said. But she pointed out that we all learn how to control our bladders at an early age. Over the years, she suggested, "people become accustomed to making decisions while knowing that in the next 15 to 30 minutes they may have to go to the bathroom."

Can we make use of this study? We can certainly give it a shot. Dr. Tuk said people might try drinking liquids before making important decisions in the hope that the decisions will be made more thoughtfully. "For example, when you speak with a stockbroker," she suggested, "don’t go to the bathroom before the meeting." The same technique might help in buying a car. "Instead of choosing a flashy car that’s nothing more than a status symbol," she said, "you might pick a more practical one that’s environmentally friendly with room for the entire family."

Well, that’s a long shot -- but at least you won’t be thirsty!

Source(s):

Mirjam A. Tuk, PhD, assistant professor of marketing and consumer psychology at the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

New INSTANT Cure for Extra High Cholesterol -- Cholesterol Drops 100 Points or More

Do you have stubborn high cholesterol? Would you love to get your count under control without having to depend on expensive prescription drugs? Changing your diet can help, of course. But here’s something better. This breakthrough new therapy instantly filters excess cholesterol from your body. And it’s completely safe.

This new therapy takes only a matter of minutes and lowers unhealthy cholesterol like no drug known to science. At the same time, it triggers a reduction in C-reactive protein and fibrinogen, substances that can increase the risk for blood clots. Patients who receive the therapy report a rapid reduction in cardiovascular symptoms such as angina.

Health and Wellness

May 19, 2011

What You Should Know About Pesticide Dangers

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