Pesticides Go Straight To Our Hormones. Plant Them Expensive!

If you still do not consume organic products, you are playing Russian roulette with half the drum full of bullets. In Spain, one out of every two fresh vegetables contains at least one pesticide and many pieces of fruit or vegetables have a cocktail of three to seven pesticides.

And many of these pesticides are endocrine disruptors with the ability to alter your body in many ways. They are the latest and alarming official data available, corresponding to the year 2015, but the reality is worse, according to the Ecologistas en Acción organization in its report “Directly to your hormones: guide to disruptive foods.”

In the analyzes of the Ministry of Agriculture, half of the samples are contaminated, but they do not look for all the pesticides that are used and only consider the samples contaminated when the pesticide is above a certain minimum dose.

Therefore, according to official analyzes, 98% of the samples comply with the regulations, since the concentrations of each of the different pesticides are below the legal maximum limits.

Safe dosages?However, current law does not take into account that there is no safe dose for endocrine disruptors. The smallest amount already produces an undesirable action.

Nor do they appreciate that pregnant women, infants, children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to its effects.

38 pesticides act like hormones

According to the Ecologists in Action report, of the 761 pesticides analyzed by the Spanish Agency for Consumption, Food Safety and Nutrition (Aecosan), at least 38 possess legal substances with the capacity to alter the hormonal system.

To these must be added pesticides whose use is prohibited but which are still found in food, such as DDT or endosulfan.

118 pesticides on fruits and vegetables!

118 different pesticides have been found in fruits and vegetables, 38 of them with hormonal effects. Tomatoes and peppers are the most contaminated foods, with 37 different pesticides, 16 hormonal ones. They are followed by pears with 35 pesticides.

One of the most common pesticides was chlorpyrifos. It was found in a total of 117 samples of 20 different foods, and in samples of honey, carrots, potatoes and pineapple it was at levels above those allowed. This insecticide affects the human hormonal system and has been linked to serious damage to the brain of children. Also, it can alter DNA.

And the ecological ones? Among the 1,273 samples analyzed, 28 were from organic products and in only one a pesticide was discovered, a Murcian melon, probably due to accidental contamination.

Also in products of animal origin

Pesticides and other toxic compounds tend to accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals, and through them they accumulate in our fats if we follow an omnivorous diet.

In the steaks and dairy products like butter and whole milk they were found even banned pesticides as mentioned above (endosulfan and DDT). And in eggs, chlorpyrifos.

Contaminated cereals

Residues of three hormonal pesticides have been found in white rice samples from Spain and Pakistan. Another pesticide, deltamethrin, was found in German rolled oats and corn from Argentina.

In wheat they have been found three different pesticides: cypermethrin, deltamethrin and chlorpyrifos-methyl.

Baby foods are saved

Specific foods for the smallest of the house must meet more restrictive regulations.

The law requires that baby formulas – baby food, baby food … – are completely free of pesticides and the analyzes carried out prove that the manufacturers comply.

How do they act in your body?

The chemical substances that act in the human body and in many animals are called endocrine disruptors because they alter the delicate balance that must reign in the production of hormones, on which many physiological processes and, therefore, health depend.

The effects can be more or less immediate. If the alteration occurs during fetal development it can lead to malformations and irreversible diseases. One of the most common disorders is cryptorchidism (non-descent of the testicles) in boys, and may require surgery.

Some disruptors produce epigenetic changes, that is, modifications in the expression of genes that can be passed on to offspring, leading to adverse effects on children and grandchildren.

A threat to fertility

Disruptors are primarily a threat to fertility. They decrease the quality of semen and promote male infertility, as well as polycystic ovaries, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and abortions.

They are also related to hormone-dependent tumors of the breast, ovaries, prostate, testis and thyroid.

The metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes, or neurological and behavioral disorders such as lack of concentration, memory loss, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis, are caused or favored by endocrine disruptors.

There is no safe dose

Both environmental organizations and scientists who study endocrine disruptors claim thatThere is no safe minimum dose that can be accepted as a residue in food and they demand its prohibition.

However, the laws still speak of safe dosages. Although a 2009 regulation prohibited the commercialization of endocrine disruptors, the order was never put into effect because scientific and legal criteria were not established to classify a substance as an endocrine disruptor.

A judgment of the Superior Court of Justice of the EU obliged the Commission to present a new regulation. But the approved Regulation (2018/605) distorts that of 2009, based on the precautionary principle, and establishes such demanding criteria for classification as an endocrine disruptor that very few will be banned in the coming years.

The French journalist Stéphane Horel has denounced in several publications that in Europe public health has less consideration than economic benefits, something that may change when awareness of the problem grows in the population. It is the objective of the report “Direct to your hormones” of Ecologists in Action.

What can you do?

The food we eat is the main route of entry for endocrine disruptors in our body. The experts at Ecologists in Action offer the following tips to reduce risks :

• Eat fruits and vegetables daily. Health authorities recommend a minimum of 5 a day.
• Choose pesticide-free, seasonal, and local foods. Consume certified organic foods, produced without synthetic pesticides, whenever possible.
• Wash and peel the fruit and vegetables. If they are not organic, it is the most effective way to reduce the intake of pesticides, but it also decreases the intake of nutrients. When you want to use the skin it is better to resort to organic products.
• Take care of baby food. Avoid products without a specific warranty. If you want to prepare the dishes yourself, use organic products. And if not, choose processed baby foods because they are safe.
• Select foods with less pesticides. If you buy food without endorsement, make sure it is among the least contaminated. Some of the less polluting ones are avocados, onions, corn, plums, raisins, pineapple, papaya, asparagus, cabbage …