I was reading today a list of recommended 12 fruits and vegetables to buy organic. I knew about apples (some of the worst offenders when it comes to being over-sprayed with pesticides), but the item that caught my attention was imported grapes.
I started looking into overseas pesticides. Have you ever heard of the Circle of Poison? Pesticides like DDT get banned from the U.S., so producers sell it abroad instead. Overseas growers spray the produce and sell it back to the U.S.
No? Yeah, no wonder. A “circle of poison legislation” to prevent this travesty was introduced by the U.S. Senate and House in 1990 and re-surfaced again in 1994. But it didn’t pass in either case.
It’s appalling, in the first place, to know pesticide producers, once banned in the U.S., would simply “poison” someone else, selling known cancer-causing agents to developing countries. Why is this possible? These countries may have with more lax environmental controls, or perhaps their markets don’t support paying the higher price for something less toxic.
Not only are people in places like India treating and eating foods with dangerous chemicals — including up to 67 pesticides banned or restricted elsewhere. But they are also selling those same foods back to us.
What goes around comes around. Mother Jones magazine called it the “boomerang dump“. Why are pesticides that become banned here (or anywhere) not banned worldwide? When will we began thinking and acting more globally?
Do you buy organic fruits and veggies? Which ones?
the global good language services 