Safety in a Vegetarian Diet?

You might think so, by avoiding those bioaccumulative (POPs-type) pesticides that build up in the bodies of cattle, poultry, and their cousins, milk and eggs. You would certainly cut down on your intake of pesticides, and also growth hormones and antibiotics that are added to animal feed.

After reading my blog articles you will have recognized that we absorb lots of other toxic substances from plastics, food packages, and household items, e.g., phthalates, BPA, PFOA, and PBDEs, to name a few. But even if you somehow avoid significant contaminations by these toxics lurking everywhere, there is still a threat. A vegetarian has to eat something, and that will include cereals, vegetables, and fruits, and things made from them, like bread, cake, cookies, crackers, and cooking oils. “So what?” you may ask. All major grain crops – wheat, corn, oats, and rice – are sprayed with insecticides or herbicides or fungicides. Tons and tons of them! Even a non food crop like cotton is sprayed (a lot), and the crushed seeds yield cottonseed oil, a major cooking oil. Soybeans are another source of cooking oils, and it has been shown that Roundup© applied to the plants is incorporated into the beans, hence, into the oil. Some of the pesticide sprayed onto fruit is also absorbed into the fruit, and therefore cannot be entirely removed by washing or peeling. Unless you buy organic, you will be ingesting pesticides.

The story gets more gruesome as one probes deeper, for example, rocket fuel (perchlorate) in lettuce and dioxins on grains, but we will end the agony here.

Consult the guide below for pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables. For more information see http://www.whatsonmyfood.org.

PESTICIDES IN PRODUCE

The Environmental Working Group, January 31, 2007

RANK	FRUIT OR VEGGIE	SCORE
1 (worst)	Peaches	100
2	Apples	96
3	Sweet Bell Peppers	86
4	Celery	85
5	Nectarines	84
6	Strawberries	83
7	Cherries	75
8	Lettuce	69
9	Grapes – Imported	68
10	Pears	65
11	Spinach	60
12	Potatoes	58
13	Carrots	57
14	Green Beans	55
15	Hot Peppers	53
16	Cucumbers	52
17	Raspberries	47
18	Plums	46
19	Oranges	46
20	Grapes-Domestic	46
21	Cauliflower	39
22	Tangerine	38
23	Mushrooms	37
24	Cantaloupe	34
25	Lemon	31
26	Honeydew Melon	31
27	Grapefruit	31
28	Winter Squash	31
29	Tomatoes	30
30	Sweet Potatoes	30
31	Watermelon	25
32	Blueberries	24
33	Papaya	21
34	Eggplant	19
35	Broccoli	18
36	Cabbage	17
37	Bananas	16
38	Kiwi	14
39	Asparagus	11
40	Sweet Peas-Frozen	11
41	Mango	9
42	Pineapples	7
43	Sweet Corn-Frozen	2
44	Avocado	1
45 (best)	Onions	1

About these ads

About donlouis

The author has long had a keen interest in staying healthy and fit, and in doing whatever I can to keep the natural environment unpolluted and a healthy space for people and all animals. As a Board Member of a municipal water district, I regularly deal with the issue of water quality. I first became aware of radiation hazards from toxic materials while working on uranium for nuclear reactors. During the 1960s I was tuned into the global hazard from Strontium 90 raining down from atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs. While working in the chemical industry in later years I became aware of the many forms of chemical contaminants entering the environment every day, and resolved to do something about it. I am able to make sense out of the voluminous descriptions of common toxic chemical because of my training in chemistry, with a Ph.D. degree and several decades of research and development work in the chemical industry. My training and experience enables me to present to readers reliable and current information on the topic of chemical hazards in the environment, and their threats to human health. All my life I have loved hiking and camping in nature. Skiing, river kayaking, and tennis have been my favorite physical activities. Nature photography is my artistic passion.

View all posts by donlouis →