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Food >>> Fruit and Vegetables

Scene Green always recommend organic produce as we believe it to be the healthier option for both us and the environment.

One concern we have regarding conventionally produced foodstuffs is the use of GM technology. GM crops for human consumption are not so much of an issue for the consumer since EU legislation means that all products containing GM material (such as GM fruit and vegetables) needs to be clearly labelled. (However, it should be noted that this legal labelling requirement in the EU does not extend to food derived from GM animals such as meat, eggs or dairy produce).

A more pressing issue as far as fruit and vegetables are concerned is the use of agrichemicals – pesticides and chemical fertilisers. Pesticides are chemicals used in agriculture to control insect pests (insecticides), plant diseases (fungicides) and weeds (herbicides) – 32,500 tonnes of pesticides are sprayed on UK land every year.¹

The WHO currently lists 28 active ingredients in pesticides as 'extremely hazardous' and 56 as 'highly hazardous'². Defra admits that 'a wide range of chemicals including certain pesticides are suspected of having endocrine disrupting effects and interactions between these are recognised as a key area requiring further research'³. Endocrine systems in the body release hormones that control normal biological functions such as growth and reproduction. Suspected endocrine disrupting pesticides are thought to particularly affect the reproductive system – in tests, couples seeking fertility treatment were significantly less likely to have successful treatment if the male partner had experienced occupational exposure to pesticides⁴. Additionally, a recent study has implicated pesticide residues in US water supplies responsible for reduced sperm counts of men living in rural areas of the US⁵.

Similar endocrine disrupting affects can be seen in other species – concentrations of the herbicide Atrazine as low as 0.1 parts per billion causes male frogs to develop female characteristics⁶. 141 tonnes of Atrazine were used in agriculture in the UK in 2006⁷. Certain pesticides are also suspected of being carcinogenic – environmental persistent organochlorines (POCs – which include the range of pesticides related to DDT) for example have been shown to have the potential to affect breast cancer risk⁸.

Another concern with pesticides such as POCs is that they can persist within the environment for a long time without breaking down – despite being banned by most countries for agricultural use in the 1970s and 1980s, residues of DDT were still being found in polar bears as recently as 2002⁹. Pesticides are also a problem closer to home – over 75% of UK rivers and lakes are contaminated with pesticides above the allowed EU drinking water level¹⁰.

Chemical fertilisers can also present environmental problems – farming accounts for up to 40% of the phosphate load in rivers, mainly as a result of the increasing use of artificial fertilisers¹¹. High levels of phosphates in waterways can encourage the growth of algal blooms, which can have a detrimental affect on other aquatic species such as fish.

42% of all conventionally produced fresh fruit and vegetables contain detectable levels of pesticide residues (although the majority of the levels detected are below Maximum Pesticide Levels or MRLs)¹². By contrast, only 2% of organic fresh fruit and vegetables contain detectable pesticide levels¹². The Chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Sir John Krebs, has said “organic food contains fewer residues of pesticides used in conventional agriculture, so buying organic is one way to reduce the chances that your food contains these pesticides”¹³.

We should point out however, that pesticides are also sometimes used, albeit at low levels, in organic farming. 311 licensed pesticides are available to UK farmers who produce conventional crops¹⁴. As a last resort only 4 pesticides are allowed on soil association certified farms – and two of these pesticides are only allowed to be used where the farmer provides evidence of a threat to the crop and no alternatives are available. They are not allowed to be used preventively. The four pesticides allowed as a last resort on organic farms are copper compounds, rotenone (a naturally occurring chemical extracted from the roots of tropical plants), sulphur and soft soap. Pesticides used on Soil Association organic farms account for 0.03% of total pesticides and if all UK farmland converted to organic production, this would produce a 98% drop in pesticide use¹⁴.

Obviously, Scene Green recommends organic fruit and vegetables for the above reasons.  Organic farmers will use various farming methods to avoid using agrichemicals. These include crop rotations to avoid pests and diseases building up in the soil and to keep the soil naturally fertile and using varieties of crops with natural resistance to particular pests and diseases. These farming methods can also have added benefits for the biodiversity of wildlife found on organic farms – in studies organic farms contain 5 times as many wild plants in arable fields and 25% more birds at field boundaries than non-organic farms¹⁵.

 

1. Pesticide Usage Survey (http://pusstats.csl.gov.uk/index.cfm). Average annual figure of total amount of pesticides used, 1990 – 2006.

2. 'The WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard'. World Health Organisation, 28^th June 2006.

3. 'Design of a Tax or Charge Scheme for Pesticides' Annex A1: Pesticide Tax Proposal – The Environmental Risks Of Pesticide Use. Dept for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. 29th April 2000.

4. 'Pesticide exposure and decreased fertilisation rates in vitro'. E Tielemans et al. The Lancet. 1999. vol 354, pgs 484 - 485.

5. 'Low Sperm Counts Blamed on Pesticides in US Water'. S Lovgren for National Geographic News. 27th April 2005.

6. Pesticide Action Network UK (www.pan-uk.org).

7. Pesticide Usage Survey (http://pusstats.csl.gov.uk/index.cfm).

8. 'Inhibition of E2-induced expression of BRCA1 by persistent organochlorines'. T Rattenborg et al. Unit of Environmental Biotechnology, Dept of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark. Breast Cancer Research 2002. http://breast-cancer-research.com.

9. AMAP, 2002. Arctic Pollution 2002: Persistent Organic Pollutants, Heavy Metals, Radioactivity, Human Health, Changing Pathways. Arctic monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, Norway.

10. World Wildlife Fund Research Centre (www.wwf.org.uk)

11. 'The Unseen Threat To Water Quality.' Diffuse water pollution in England and Wales report. May 2007. Environment Agency (www.environment-agency.gov.uk).

12. Figures collated by the Pesticide Action Network UK (www.pan-uk.org), based on quarterly reports from the Pesticide Residues Committee (www.pesticides.gov.uk), 2000Q1-2006Q3.

13. 'Toxic Shock; the link between pesticides and cancer'. Soil Association Information Sheet (www.soilassociation.org).

14. 'Pesticides and Organic Farming – A Last Resort' Soil Association information sheet (www.soilassociation.org).

15. 'The Biodiversity Benefits of Organic Farming' Soil Association, May 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

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