M8.3- Pesticides

I had sushi for dinner last night, so I don't think there were many land crops that would be affected by pesticides besides the rice and avocado. I know there were probably traces of mercury in the salmon and tuna I had in the roll, but I am careful to not eat big fish more than once a week. 

The pesticide I found in the avocado was Imiprothin (also found on spinach), and it is found in 1.1% of all Avocado crops. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to see it has a low acute toxicity to humans! Imiprothin can be found on up to 20 micrograms of conventional imported avocados, compared to 8.9 micrograms in organic domestic. Now that I know this, I will definitely be investing in organic avocados to eat at home. 

There are 15 known pesticides on rice, which was alarming to me. I don't eat white rice very often, and I will absolutely think twice before I eat it again over brown rice or no rice at all. There are 4 known or probable carcinogens, 10 suspected hormone disruptors, 2 neurotoxins, 3 developmental or reproductive toxins, and 6 honeybee toxins. The highest pesticide residue found was piperonyl butoxide, which is also commonly found on mushrooms, sweet potatoes, almonds, strawberries, and tomatoes, just to name a few. 

In terms of public health, we need to start regulating what is being sprayed on our domestic products, as well as tracking the pesticides sprayed on the products we import. We assume the produce we are buying is safe for us, but it seems like it's quite the opposite, especially on foods we consume the most, which saddens me greatly.