Banned pesticides

Elizabeth Olson. DDT Complicates Debate on Pact to Ban Pesticides. The New York Times. Sept. 14, 1999. Source for current needs for DDT. 

In the USSR, permitting and banning pesticides took place without considering human or environmental interests. Fig. 1 illustrates this trend you can clearly see the spikes in pesticide banning in the USSR/Russia. 

Banned pesticides 2nd best Never Never Never Never Best... 

Strong acids include battery acid, murintic acid, and hydrochloric acid. Weak acids include acetic acid, toilet bowl cleaner, and lactic acid. Banned pesticides include Silvex, Mirex, Aldrin, Chlordane, DDT, and Heptachlor. Caustics include oven cleaner and drain cleaner. Flammables include alcohol, acetone, turpentine, lacquer, and paint thinner. Pesticides include rodent poisons, insecticides, weed killer, and other herbicides and fungicides. Pesticide containers should be triple-rinsed, and the contents sprayed on crops or yard, before discarding. 

When reviewing this list of pesticides, it can be seen that there are many different classes of pesticides (i.e., the chemical characteristic of that pesticide that makes it toxic). In other words, different chemicals are toxic because of their different chemistry. The industrial chemicals are basically petroleum compounds that may or may not contain chlorine. The combination of all these different compounds ultimately influences the toxic diversity of the chemical mixtures we all consume. It is also important is to note that some pesticides have been banned from use in the United States (e.g., dieldrin is listed as being banned). All of these banned pesticides were no longer in use in the United States by the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

Why is this important It is important because it has a direct impact on the meaning of USDA certified organic foods. In order to receive a USDA certification as an organic food, the food producer must not have used pesticides for the previous three years. However, as evidenced by the food data collected by the FDA, banned pesticides persist in the soil to this very day. Furthermore, the vast majority (i.e., about 95 percent) of the food sold in the United States is grown and produced in the United States. This means that those foods found to contain banned pesticides had to come from farms in the United States. 

This means that USDA certified organic foods will also contain banned pesticides unless the specific crop or animal was (1) grown on land that never used banned pesticides (a rare occurrence) and (2) an animal was only given feed that was free of banned pesticides. 

Therefore, for any food identified by this guide as containing a banned pesticide, consumers should assume that the organic equivalent of that food also contains banned pesticides. In other words, if regular butter contains the pesticide DDE, it should be assumed that organic butter contains DDE as well (i.e., unless the organic food producer demonstrates that it is not contaminated). 

The pesticides found in dairy products are given in Exhibit 1. In order to highlight the occurrence of any banned pesticide in a food, all detected occurrences have been shaded grey. This will be done in all the food groups. The industrial chemicals in dairy products are given in Exhibit 2. Each exhibit provides the following information ... 

When reviewing Exhibit 1, it can be seen that every dairy product had detectable levels of at least one banned pesticide, whereas 13 dairy products had at least two or more detected banned pesticides. Clearly, the higher the fat content of the dairy products, the greater the number of the banned pesticides. Another common group of pesticides in dairy products are the endosulfan pesticides. Because endosulfan pesticides are a common contaminant in most agricultural products, its occurrence in dairy products (i.e., found in 10 out of 19 products) is expected. 

It can be seen that several fruit products contain banned pesticides. These data suggest that raisins, cantaloupe, and strawberries have the greatest probability of being contaminated with banned pesticides, while some grape, peach, cherry, and prune samples have reported DDE contamination. The vast majority of these fruits were also produced domestically. This means that these pesticides occurred in these products because of past agricultural practices. 

Just like the previous categories, some USDA certified organic grain and nut products will, however, be contaminated with banned pesticides. 

These data show that peanut products (peanut butter and dry-roasted peanuts) are contaminated with at least three banned pesticides, while mixed nuts, butter crackers, popcorn, sweet roll, pancake mix, and cornbread were reported to contain banned pesticides. Given the low percentage of imports for these products, the occurrence of these pesticides can be said to be the result of past U.S. agricultural practices. Once again, this suggests that even USDA certified organic peanut products will contain a mixture of banned pesticides. The occurrence of banned pesticides in the other grain-based products may be associated with the occurrence of butter or oils in these mixed products. 

Exhibit 9 shows that many of the vegetable products contain banned pesticides. These data show that 33 vegetable products are contaminated with banned pesticides, whereas 21 or 47 percent of the vegetable products are contaminated with multiple banned pesticides. This widespread contamination transcends the five recommended vegetable groups that are included in a balanced diet. For example ... 

Banned Pesticides Note FF = Fast-food, F = Frozen ... 

These data also show that banned pesticides also occur in child/infant products. These data are consistent with the occurrence of banned pesticides in protein and vegetable products. The only apparent inconsistency is that milk-based formula did not contain any of these pesticides. In reality, however, there should be little or no banned or discontinued pesticides in milk-based formulas since commercially available products have removed the butterfat. 

Because so many foods are contaminated with multiple chemicals, this guide should be used to choose foods with the minimum number of different synthetic chemicals or to identify those foods that should be purchased as a USD A certified organic product. However, even if an organic product is chosen, it can still contain banned pesticides and industrial chemicals unless it is carefully produced. Therefore, it is important to remember that organic food producers do not analyze their products and inform the consumer as to the chemical mixtures in their products (both pesticides and industrial chemicals). Because the consumer is not provided with this information, individuals have two basic choices. 

As expected, this comparison shows that (1) both diets have a significant number of individual chemical contaminants and (2) the high-fat diet has a greater occurrence of banned pesticides. The number of chemicals in either diet can be significantly reduced by purchasing organic products. However, the low-fat diet (i.e., fewer banned pesticides) will ultimately contain fewer multiple sources of a specific chemicals as well as fewer synthetic chemicals. 

Note () indicates number of multiple occurresx e Banned Pesticide ... 

Based on the data collected by the FDA, no diet is free of synthetic chemical mixtures and banned pesticides. This even includes organic based diets. Therefore, this guide is meant to provide chemical information to those individuals who wish to make informed decisions about the chemical mixtures they choose to allow in their own daily diet and the diets of their children. 

McCook A (2006) The Banned Pesticide in Our Soil. The Scientist January 40... 

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