Biting into an apple and chomping down on a worm is certainly cringe-worthy. So, at first glance, using pesticides to minimize the number of insects laying eggs in our fruit does seem desirable.
However, the consequences of this behavior are far more hazardous than finding the occasional bug in your basket of fruit. You’ve got to ask yourself: If a chemical is potent enough to kill a tough insect, then how might it be affecting the cells in your lungs and body ? Do you really trust that these chemicals are benign ?
There are several vectors by which these chemicals end up in our bodies:
1) Aerial spraying — the wide dispersal of highly toxic chemicals over large areas of land may kill insects, but it also is an effective way to guarantee those chemicals make it into our lung tissue through fine droplets blowing in the wind over our towns and cities.
2) Once in the soil, when that soil dries into dust, and that dust blows in the wind, once again we get to breathe in the carcinogens.
3) Trace chemicals on the skin of your fruits and vegetables may not be too harmful in a single dose, but over a lifetime of consuming these chemicals, yes, it does make a difference.
4) These water soluble chemicals percolate down into the soil, and eventually end up in our drinking water — not good. Not to mention what insecticides are doing to the world’s bees — we have to get smarter, folks!
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