With Carol Baxter
Tips for teachers, parents and kids on how to live "greener" everyday lives.
Contact me at Teachgreen@AOL.com
Hi! Thanks for stopping by. Every month, I will answer your questions on
how to bring environmental studies into the classroom, how to deepen our
environmental awareness and how to live more "green". I'll suggest seasonal
activities that can help our children get closer to nature and give
suggestions on how to encourage them to be loving caretakers of our great
planet earth. I want to encourage our children (and ourselves) to fall in
love with nature. When you love something, you will take care of it.
I look forward to hearing from teachers and parents about environmental
projects that you've done that have been successful. E-mail me at
teachgreen@aol.com and I'll share with others what you are doing.
Also, I want to hear from Kids! E-mail your poems and stories about
nature, ecology and our great Planet Earth, to Teachgreen@aol.com and I will
share your feelings with other kids in the Earth Patrol Kids section at the
end of this site.
Questions and Answers
Question: I have three children. I know pesticide-residues on foods used to
be a problem. Do we still have to be concerned with pesticides on foods? J.
B.
Answer: Yes. Just recently, the March issue of Consumers' Reports revisited
this issue. They reconfirm the fact that safe levels of pesticide residues
have yet to be set for children.
Over fifty years ago, most farming was "organic". Synthetic chemical
pesticides and herbicides were first introduced on a large scale in the
1940's for the purpose of eliminating farming "pests"; insects and weeds.
These pesticides were described as "miracle" treatments.
Today, their use
has exploded into a multi-billion dollar business for chemical companies.
For decades, their negative impact on human health and the earth had been
over-shadowed by what the pesticide could eliminate. But, according to the
extensive medical and scientific data that has been collected over the last
ten years, there is founded cause for concern of pesticide use.
There are many reasons why we should consider choosing
pesticide-free, organic foods.
Here are just ten reasons:
- For our children's health. Two major studies, the 1989 report
"Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in Our Children's Food.", by the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the 1993 "Pesticides in Infants and
Children.", by National Academy of Sciences (NAS), concluded that children
were being exposed to pesticide residues in food that were well above
government safety levels set for adults. Adult levels are especially
hazardous for infants and children because of their low body weight.
Children under two are at special risk because their immature and rapidly
developing systems can not properly detoxify these chemical residues. Also,
children's unusual eating habits lead them to eat large quantities of one
fruit or vegetable for weeks.
Jay Feldman of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of
Pesticides (NCAMP) states, "Existing literature links low level exposure over
time may result in chronic health effects such as cancer, birth defects,
genetic damage, neurological, psychological, and behavioral effects, blood
disorders, reproductive effects, and abnormalities in liver, kidney and
immune system."
- For our health. According to Dr. Devra Davis of the World Resource
Institute, in 1995, it was estimated that 50,000 American women died of
breast cancer. Many pesticides are hormone-mimicking, "... which mimic the
action of estrogen produced in cells or which alter the hormone's activity."
There is compelling evidence that these hormone-mimicking chemicals are
linked to the increase of breast cancer. Endosulfan, one such insecticide,
is widely used on carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, and spinach. Also, extensive
data links the worldwide decrease in male sperm count to these toxic
chemicals.
- Healthy farming. Healthy soil is made up of millions of
micro-organisms. Pesticides not only kill pests, but destroy these
micro-organisms, eventually leaving the soil "dead". Crops grown in an
organic way, are growing in a "living" soil.
- Healthy farm workers. Farm workers, especially migrant workers,
are exposed to high levels of toxic chemicals daily. There are documented
incidences of entire farm worker communities whose health is in crisis.
- Conserving natural resources. All petro-chemical pesticides and
fertilizers are made using oil. Oil is a natural resource that is not
renewable. When oil is depleted, it is gone forever.
- Pesticides leach through soil, and ground water, and "drift"
through the air contaminating untreated areas. In "Tap Water Blues", a
report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) every spring, more than 14
million people in cities south of Chicago, are drinking herbicide-laced tap
water. 150 million pounds of chemical herbicides used on corn and soybean
farms are carried by rains to rivers which empty into reservoirs. Water
treatment facilities can not remove these toxic chemicals. Three of the five
chemicals, atrazine, cyanozine and simozine are linked to birth defects,
genetic mutations, breast and other cancers, and developmental abnormalities.
- Preservation of wildlife. DDT, the miracle pesticide used heavily
in the 1950's and 60's, was banned in the U.S. in 1972. In Maine alone,
residues of DDT can still be found. DDT is linked to the reproductive
problems of their local eagle population and DDT is found in their tissues.
- Negligent use of pesticides. Corporate negligence of pesticides
often appears in the news. For example, in 1994, General Mills had been
selling Cherrios and ten other cereals, for over thirteen months, that were
contaminated with the pesticide, Dursban. Discovered in a routine check by
the FDA, it was learned that Dursban, which is unapproved for use on oats,
was sprayed on over 21 million bushels of oats, in place of the more
expensive Reldan. Both are nerve poison-type insecticides.
- Current "safe" pesticide levels do not take into account that more
than one pesticide is used on a particular food product. USDA found residues
of eight pesticides on washed and ready to be eaten apples, six on grapes,
and seven on peaches.
- Some people believe that organic food tastes better. Organic
produce is not bred for appearance, like conventional produce.
How to lower pesticide residues
Current advice is that you wash, peel, and remove outer leaves and
layers of your produce to avoid pesticide residues, but Mr. Wiles, of EWG
says, "In general, these residues will not be substantially reduced by
washing and peeling. But people should still wash their produce." Betsy
Lydon of Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet adds, "The most effective way
to limit residue is to focus our attention on how food is grown and produced,
not just on how to take it off the end product."
Some ways to avoid pesticide residues are:
- Buy "certified" organic products. Organic means that food has been grown
without the use of synthetic chemical treatments, irradiation or
preservatives. Organic food is certified based on standards set state by
state, by an impartial third-party agency.
- Buy produce grown in the USA. Many dangerous pesticides that are banned in
the U.S., are still allowed to be manufactured here and sold to other
countries. They in turn, use them on produce
that is sold back into the U.S. This is called the "circle of poison".
Annually, 150 billion pounds of prohibited pesticides are exported to third
world countries. Only 1% of produce coming into the U.S. is checked for safe
levels. Look for country of origin when you shop.
- Buy local. Locally grown produce is fresher, lasts longer and generally has
not been treated with post-harvest chemicals because the travel time from
farm to consumer is shorter.
- Buy in season. If produce is in season, it is generally grown locally. Big
strawberries sold in the winter traveled a long way to get to your table and
needed a lot of chemical treatment to keep them looking good.
- Avoid waxed fruits and vegetables. Wax (made of petroleum oil) seals in pre
and post harvest chemicals. It is now a Federal law that supermarkets must
display charts informing which produce is waxed and what it is waxed with.
Look for these charts.
- Avoid pesticide intensive foods. The Environmental Working Group (EWG)
analyzed 15,000 food samples tested for pesticide levels by the F.D.A.. The
list, in order of highest pesticide levels are: strawberries, bell peppers,
spinach, cherries, peaches, cantaloupe, celery, apples, apricots, green
beans, grapes, and cucumbers. Most of these are popular children foods.
They offer a positive solution by replacing these questionable produce with
oranges, grapefruits, blueberries, pears, United States cantaloupe, carrots,
bananas, broccoli, green peas, cauliflower, asparagus, brussel sprouts and
potatoes.
For further information on pesticides contact these organizations:
Books
When you shop, look for organic produce and food products. Read the
labels and signs to learn which foods are waxed and to learn the country (or
state) of origin. Ask your market manager to stock organic foods. And in
the summer, shop at farmers' markets and learn first hand from the growers
how they grow their food.
EARTH PATROL KIDS
I want to hear from you Kids! E-mail your poems and stories about nature,
ecology and our great Planet Earth, to Teachgreen@aol.com and I will share your
feelings with other kids in this Earth Patrol Kids section. I'm looking
forward to hearing from you!
Carol Baxter is a free-lance writer specializing in articles regarding
environmental issues, with special interest in how environmental negligence
impact on the health of our children, family and the planet. Her articles have
appeared nationwide in parenting magazines and newspapers and in environmental
publications. In 1989, she founded MY FAVORITE PLANET, INC, a company selling
products that have a positive environmental impact, inspire the love of
nature, and encourage kids to take care of our planet. She is currently
working on the book Teaching the Green which will be an "at your finger-tips"
resource guide for educators and parents, that will make accessing
environmental educational materials convenient.
She is a co-developer of the Nyack Farmers' Market and presently serves as
its Market Manager and Program Coordinator. She is a very involved member of
the New York City based Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet and is an active
volunteer for the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Rockland County. She is
also a 4-H leader. Her club the Hudson River Mermaids, are focused on learning
and discovering "how things work" in the natural world and are energetic
caretakers of the world around them.
In 1993, she became an ardent activist against the use of rbGH hormones in
milk production and was co-founder of the New York City Safe Milk Coalition,
which set out to convince the New York City Public School System to join the
hundred school districts nationwide to ban rbGH-treated milk in the schools.
Prior to writing, she was a professional dancer in New York City for fifteen
years. She currently lives in the Hudson River Valley with her husband and two
children. She can be reached at her e-mail address, Teachgreen@AOL.com
© Copyright Carol Baxter 1999
RELATED LINKS:
Shop by Keywords Above or by Categories Below.
|
Updated Daily!
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|
