Many chemicals, from those found in plastic materials to food added materials, have recently released newspaper headlines for their potential roles in the creativity of diseases. Melissa Perry, environmental epidemics and dean of the College of Public Health in George Mason, says pesticides are unique among chemicals, though. “They were deliberately manufactured to kill things.”
By poisoning weeds, pesticides show the way for farmers’ crops to flourish. But their deadly design may also undermine human health. accident a report By the new Federal Advisory Council, the Make America Committee is invited again (Maha) chaired by Minister of Health Robert F. Kennedy Junior, to further investigating pesticide effects to determine whether their use should be limited.
Some evidence indicates that long -term exposure can lead to cancer and many other serious health problems. More research is needed to better understand these risks, but in the meantime, experts recommend simple practical steps to reduce the income.
Here is what we know about the risks of pesticides and how to reduce your exposure.
Searching for pesticide risks
The MAAA report holds the “radical causes” of poor health in children in the United States. It describes pesticides as one of eight types of chemicals that lead to chronic diseases.
The report specifically presents a problem with two herbal killers, glephosat and Etrazine. They are The most used Pesticides by American farmers, and research focused on them Laboratory experiments On animals, with many related Results.
Other studies have drawn links between exposure to glyvosia – well by consuming small amounts of food – and health problems, including Death earlier. In 2019, a major research review It was identified “Convincing link” between eating glephos and lymphva is not available in humans, although in 2024 federal judges criticize Designing this study and its approach.
Additional search points To a group of diseases that are likely to be associated with glyvosite, but recently review By the Italian researchers on the glephos, it was not crucial and called for more research.
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Based on the evidence, the World Health Organization (WHO) described the glephosate as “perhaps carcinogenic for humans”, while the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Find “There is no evidence that glephousat causes cancer in humans,” quoting a group of data that the agency is more comprehensive than.
Second Widely Pesticides highlighted by Maha’s report is Atrazine. Like glephousat, it has been used by farmers since the 1960s, but animal research has begun in the 1990s to show that they may disrupt reproductive health and regulate hormones. Tyrone B. Hayes, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley to intervene With the sexual development of frogs. Subsequent studies showed similar effects, as well as weight gain, in Mice.
The researchers also noted that women in some agricultural societies Higher rates An abnormal menstrual cycles, compared to places that have fewer farms. The other person studies Display He increases in numerous Species Connotation. Still more research Atrazine links for Release Cancer, but researchers at the National Institutes of Health have conclude “There is no evidence of the presence of” association “with cancer.
Environmental Protection Agency estimated Atrazine negatively affects 54 % of all species and 50 % of all critical habitats. “I don’t know how the Environmental Protection Agency can make a statement of such a statement and then re -register the chemical,” says Hayes.
In 2023, USA Data (USDA) showed that 99 % of food samples tested under the safety of the Environmental Protection Agency for insecticides. However, the United States’s borders are much higher than what is permitted in the European Union, where the Etisine was Effectively.
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Insecticides are called organic phosphate lesson By Environmental Protection Agency and others to obtain links to Neurological disorders Like ADHD. “Research clearly shows that children exposed to higher levels suffer from more neurological behavioral problems,” says Jason Richardson, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at the Isaxon Center at Georgia University of Neurological Research.
In general, uncertainty and discussion continues partially due to research challenges. People are usually exposed to multiple types of chemicals, so it is difficult to attribute the disease to pesticides, determine the final dose or exposure time “which makes people sick, says Perry.
“Just because there is a chemical, it does not mean that it does anything bad, but in conjunction with other chemicals, it may be the case,” Richardson says. “Efforts are underway to measure these groups.”
“Agricultural policy in the country follows the flag, not fear, speculation and marginal novels,” says Becky Langer Kuri, director of innovation at the National Association of Corn farmers. She adds that corn farmers are “puzzled” from the Maha report. “We need to believe in the regulatory system of the Environmental Protection Agency to review science. They guarantee that our food is safe, much less than the human risk.”
In an e -mail message to Time.com, the spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency Mike Poeshas said that the Environmental Protection Agency “is usually organized at least 100 times in terms of no negative effects on safety studies.” Bastas wrote that the agency “I am sure that the fruits and vegetables that our children eat are safer than ever.” However, he added that the Environmental Protection Agency is updating its evaluation of the capabilities The proposal to reduce the updated For Tarazine.
Meanwhile, researchers, including Perry, Richardson and Haiz, believe that pesticides are dangerous enough to take precautions – but especially young children, pregnant people, and those who live near farmers and agricultural workers, and the elderly.
How to learn more about your exposure
The first step is to be aware of the pesticides in your environment. Perry says it’s more common than people think. “Exposure routinely occurs to most members of the American public.”
Experts recommend contacting the environmental office of your boycott or city to see if you are close to the food production facility that uses pesticides. In 2017, children and teachers at Hawaii Intermediate School reported about irritation of the unusual and rotating throat. They were suspected that the symptoms were caused by pesticides applied in nearby fields and researchers I found remains In the internal and external air samples in the school.
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The discovered levels below were considered on the thresholds. Bastasch says that for societies close to farms, the Environmental Protection Agency is studying possible exposure through air and other paths to ensure that safety levels are based on sound.
However, Hayes worries about the long -term effects of pesticide connection and absorption. “For a person who lives in an agricultural society, he is constantly exposed to the simulation of estrogen, such as Atrazine, it is more likely that harmful effects develop,” he says.
People are mainly taking atrazine through their drinking water, after the surface flow carries the farm insecticides in local water devices. But some facilities are more effective than others in removing pesticide residue. the Environmental Working Group rates Local water facilities. For the people in the water of the well, the federal government is available Guidelines To test it.
Use a water filter
Experts say that the use of pesticide pesticides is widespread-widespread-and is dispersed at such distances-that everyone should use a high-quality water filter. Hayes says the Etrisin can travel to 600 miles. Until 1999, USGs I noticed Insecticides, including atrazine, have been discovered in places that farmers have not applied.
Even for the residents of the areas where the water treatment plant removes chemicals, the purchase of a candidate is approved NSF/ANSI 42 and 53 standards It provides some additional assertion of water safety. Search for filters in refrigerators and Water jugs That meets this testimony.
Purchase membership
Eating organic foods can also help reduce pesticides, especially glephosate. About 90 % of pregnant women have quantities that can be discovered in their bodies, according to one of them Ticket. “But when you put people on organic meals, you start seeing that they no longer have pesticides in their urine,” says Perry.
Search in 2020 I found that eating an organic diet dropped 70 % in children in children and their parents. In 2023, the researchers put pregnant women on a one -week organic diet. Those who all went Decline Gevosos in their urine by 43 %. A 2019 study I found a 95 % decrease in organic phosphate.
Wash and exfoliate
Richardson calls these studies “interesting” organic foods, noting that the natural compounds used in organic agriculture may also be Toxic Beyond some thresholds. Even when eating organic, “be sure to wash fruits and vegetables very well,” he says.
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one Ticket I found that the apples in the baking soda mixed with water for 12-15 minutes get rid of the remains of the water alone. However, according to another TicketWash the products with running water, superior to baking soda, seating water and vinegar. Other research shows nice Rub the work While washing effective. Target 20-30 seconds or For a longer period if you have time.
The exfoliation of the skin and the external pulp will be eliminated from additional residue that penetrates some products. There is a large negative aspect, though: lose part of the nutrients and beneficial compounds, such as fiber and vitamins, which help protect from pesticide toxicity.
Some research indicates that the replacement Manufactured foods with Various whole foods It can reduce the number of pesticides you consume (but some research indicates that there may be there Less benefits If you are not organic).
Practicing and managing it
Regardless of nutrition, other lifestyle behaviors such as exercise, stress management and good sleep may build a basic line of health that helps to frustrate the cumulative effects of insecticides and other pollutants. In general, they affect how someone’s body responds to him.ExposureRichardson explains – the total environmental exposure and how they interact with lifestyle behavior and risk factors such as age and Genetics.
Bastasch says the Environmental Protection Agency evaluates the common risks of pesticide groups that affect the body in similar ways, adding that the agency continues to provide research in this field.
Opponents may concern more than any one chemical type, but “we are really breaking the surface of the understanding of these reactions,” says Richardson.
So that more specific science appears, maintaining smart practices such as cleaning products and seeking a healthy lifestyle.
