Should we be worried about pesticides on food?

[einstein]

Should we worry both as consumers and producers?
Glyphosate on oats is the obvious one.Recently highlighted by tim Spector on one of his zoe podcasts.
Do we know if glyphosate is toxic in any way.
Is it messing with our microbiome?
Also as a strawberry grower I am well aware of the very short harvest interval...2 days in some cases..of some fungicides.
And the one that is particularly bugging me currently is lemons treated with 2 or 3 storage fungicides....and yes before anyone says it I do use the whole lemon. Skin and pith included.
Interested to hear other people thoughts on this.

 

[dave78+]

Should we worry both as consumers and producers?
Glyphosate on oats is the obvious one.Recently highlighted by tim Spector on one of his zoe podcasts.
Do we know if glyphosate is toxic in any way.
Is it messing with our microbiome?
Also as a strawberry grower I am well aware of the very short harvest interval...2 days in some cases..of some fungicides.
And the one that is particularly bugging me currently is lemons treated with 2 or 3 storage fungicides....and yes before anyone says it I do use the whole lemon. Skin and pith included.
Interested to hear other people thoughts on this.

My mum would always take the pith out of everything.

 

[Whitewalker]

Should we worry both as consumers and producers?
Glyphosate on oats is the obvious one.Recently highlighted by tim Spector on one of his zoe podcasts.
Do we know if glyphosate is toxic in any way.
Is it messing with our microbiome?
Also as a strawberry grower I am well aware of the very short harvest interval...2 days in some cases..of some fungicides.
And the one that is particularly bugging me currently is lemons treated with 2 or 3 storage fungicides....and yes before anyone says it I do use the whole lemon. Skin and pith included.
Interested to hear other people thoughts on this.

In all honesty, if you knew what is being done you'd probably starve to death. We probably should be worried but in this day and age it's probably unavoidable

 

[Bruce Almighty]

Never mind about pesticides on food.

We are the people handling the concentrated pesticides, before it is watered down and applied.

Yes we do have PPE nowadays, but many of us over 50 or even 40 will have probably have been splashed by neat pesticides so if anyone is at risk it’s us, not the end consumer.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Should we worry both as consumers and producers?
Glyphosate on oats is the obvious one.Recently highlighted by tim Spector on one of his zoe podcasts.
Do we know if glyphosate is toxic in any way.
Is it messing with our microbiome?
Also as a strawberry grower I am well aware of the very short harvest interval...2 days in some cases..of some fungicides.
And the one that is particularly bugging me currently is lemons treated with 2 or 3 storage fungicides....and yes before anyone says it I do use the whole lemon. Skin and pith included.
Interested to hear other people thoughts on this.

I'm not sure about Spector. Slightly cultish and still not that convinced about gut microbiome type stuff.

I'd say poor diets are still more harmful than poor food types

 

[DaveGrohl]

I'm not sure about Spector. Slightly cultish and still not that convinced about gut microbiome type stuff.

I'd say poor diets are still more harmful than poor food types

Spector is right about most things but there are glaring gaps in his knowledge, not that I’m expressing an opinion either way on this particular issue. There are things that we know for sure are harmful, many of which are more harmful than pesticides but we aren’t stopped from ingesting.

 

[DaveGrohl]

In all honesty, if you knew what is being done you'd probably starve to death. We probably should be worried but in this day and age it's probably unavoidable

The obvious answer is to eat mainly animal source foods. Just to be safe

 

[SilliamWhale]

Spector is right about most things but there are glaring gaps in his knowledge, not that I’m expressing an opinion either way on this particular issue. There are things that we know for sure are harmful, many of which are more harmful than pesticides but we aren’t stopped from ingesting.

Yes youve hit the nail on the head there. I listen to a few things that seem to make sense and then there's non evidential bilge as well it makes me wonder if it's the same bloke

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Should we worry both as consumers and producers?
Glyphosate on oats is the obvious one.Recently highlighted by tim Spector on one of his zoe podcasts.
Do we know if glyphosate is toxic in any way.
Is it messing with our microbiome?
Also as a strawberry grower I am well aware of the very short harvest interval...2 days in some cases..of some fungicides.
And the one that is particularly bugging me currently is lemons treated with 2 or 3 storage fungicides....and yes before anyone says it I do use the whole lemon. Skin and pith included.
Interested to hear other people thoughts on this.

I buy organic oats in Aldi, I did anyway, but after watching Time Spector I def do now. He said, if there was one thing you should always buy organic it is Oats.

 

[Clive]

I would rather eat food grown without pesticides and synthetic nutrition even if not bad for us they certainly can’t be good for us

but realistically i know without them food would have to be grown in more environmentally damaging ways and globally lots of people would go hungry / die

easy to forgot that half the world’s population are only alive thanks to Nitrogen fertiliser - it’s a necessary evil i guess

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Spector is right about most things but there are glaring gaps in his knowledge, not that I’m expressing an opinion either way on this particular issue. There are things that we know for sure are harmful, many of which are more harmful than pesticides but we aren’t stopped from ingesting.

I think in general his knowledge of agriculture, and how food is produced is very poor or even non existent. But, overall I really like his books and learned a lot.

 

[Clive]

Yes youve hit the nail on the head there. I listen to a few things that seem to make sense and then there's non evidential bilge as well it makes me wonder if it's the same bloke

i’ve just read his book and am doing Zoe - learning a lot from it already

lots in his book i'm not 100% in agreement with however ( his ag knowledge certainly wasn’t great) but a lot of it also makes a lot of sense so mixed thoughts on it at the moment

 

[DrWazzock]

Its a compromise. Ideally we'd all prefer to eat food produced without pesticides but that's not really possible at the scale required.

 

[neilo]

Should we worry both as consumers and producers?
Glyphosate on oats is the obvious one.Recently highlighted by tim Spector on one of his zoe podcasts.
Do we know if glyphosate is toxic in any way.
Is it messing with our microbiome?
Also as a strawberry grower I am well aware of the very short harvest interval...2 days in some cases..of some fungicides.
And the one that is particularly bugging me currently is lemons treated with 2 or 3 storage fungicides....and yes before anyone says it I do use the whole lemon. Skin and pith included.
Interested to hear other people thoughts on this.

Are you really concerned about glyphosate (ooh, Monsanto… bad ) when, by your own admission, supposedly, you harvest strawberries 2 days after applying fungicide?

Maybe look closer to home?

 

[Tim W]

The obvious answer is to eat mainly animal source foods. Just to be safe

Sheep ---anthelmintics, anti biotics, synthetic pyretheroids etc ?
Other species i suspect worse ?
It ain't just what it does to you it's also what it does to soil/other species

We are addicted to cheap food (doesn't relly exist) and we don't really care about the consequences

 

[DaveGrohl]

Yes youve hit the nail on the head there. I listen to a few things that seem to make sense and then there's non evidential bilge as well it makes me wonder if it's the same bloke

He did a recent Zoe vid with a female expert about dairy. It was slightly comical how little he knew about the latest research (and old research) and how he couldn’t distinguish between semi and skimmed milk and raw milk and cheese etc. He seemed to think it was all the same in his head, and therefore some terrible quality studies that were inconclusive cast doubt in his head on the better quality studies that were conclusive. The female expert was similarly confused. It would help if the interviewer actually knew something about nutrition rather than just licking their boots. To be fair, they did seem broadly positive, ish towards dairy.

 

[DaveGrohl]

I buy organic oats in Aldi, I did anyway, but after watching Time Spector I def do now. He said, if there was one thing you should always buy organic it is Oats.

He also says ruminants are terrible for the planet. QED. He’s clearly a clever chap, I’ve listened to him and read him many times but proceed with caution.

 

[dave78+]

Sheep ---anthelmintics, anti biotics, synthetic pyretheroids etc ?
Other species i suspect worse ?
It ain't just what it does to you it's also what it does to soil/other species

We are addicted to cheap food (doesn't relly exist) and we don't really care about the consequences

We are addicted to fossil fuels and cheap water too.

 

[organicguy]

Never mind about pesticides on food.

We are the people handling the concentrated pesticides, before it is watered down and applied.

Yes we do have PPE nowadays, but many of us over 50 or even 40 will have probably have been splashed by neat pesticides so if anyone is at risk it’s us, not the end consumer.

One of the reasons I went organic

 

[Clive]

What can be more damaging for the environment than covering it in chemicals and the pollution from producing them we are slaves to the chem companies

i agree they damage and give the wrong people control of our food systems but so does the alternative of lots more cultivation, hoeing and MUCH less efficient land usage

realistically least of the 2 evils i’m afraid if we are going to feed us all

personally i would rather consume as few synthetic substances as i can both pesticide, synthetic nutrient and UPF’s but thats an expensive and privileged choice to be able to make that’s certainly not an option for all