Pesticides

The use of pesticides is universal. In one form or another they are ubiquitous wherever farmers or horticulturalists wish to stop small creatures from eating their crops.

Some pesticides are more harmful to the environment – and humans, than others.

There are also some pesticides that are harmful to the ‘good bugs’ that we wish to attract. Bees, for example. We wish o attract bees because they are definitely the ‘good guys’ of the bug World. They collect nectar that we love as honey and they pollinate the plants that we need to reproduce and grow fruit.

Quote from the New Straits Times:

‘Regional Environmental Awareness of Cameron Highlands (Reach) president Ramakrishnan Ramasamy said that illegal pesticides are sold openly in the area; and although the issue has been highlighted before, no action has been taken.

“No one has been prosecuted for selling or using banned pesticides.

“This is despite the fact that using banned pesticides is punishable under the law,” he told the New Straits Times, “Farmers prefer banned pesticides, as they are cheaper and more powerful. It doesn’t help that foreign workers, who often cannot read labels, do not (disperse) the pesticides in the right concentration,” he added.

Usage has become so pervasive that many farmers themselves do not eat the vegetables they grow for sale, as they are aware of the effects of the banned pesticides.

The water supply has become tainted

The biggest cause for alarm is that the pesticides are making their way into the water supply.

This is based on studies by local universities on rivers in the Bertam Valley, Kuala Terla and the district’s tap water.

Among the pesticides discovered is the deadly Endosulfan, a highly acute toxin and a suspected endocrine disruptor banned in 2005 under the Pesticides Act.’

The primary source of Endosulfan is China where there are, at least, twelve manufacturing companies making it. Cheaply.

Farm in Cameron Highlands

Regional Environmental Awareness of Cameron Highlands (Reach) president Ramakrishnan Ramasamy 

Neonicotinoids are especially harmful to bees. Now the EU is likely to ban these chemicals after carrying out a new analysis.

“Neonicotinoids have been registered in more than 120 countries. With a global turnover of €1.5 billion in 2008, they represented 24% of the global market for insecticides. After the introduction of the first neonicotinoids in the 1990s, this market has grown from €155 million in 1990 to €957 million in 2008. Neonicotinoids made up 80% of all seed treatment sales in 2008.

As of 2013 neonicotinoids have been used In the U.S. on about 95 percent of corn and canola crops, the majority of cotton, sorghum, and sugar beets and about half of all soybeans. They have been used on the vast majority of fruit and vegetables, including apples, cherries, peaches, oranges, berries, leafy greens, tomatoes, and potatoes, to cereal grains, rice, nuts, and wine grapes. Imidacloprid is possibly the most widely used insecticide, both within the neonicotinoids and in the worldwide market.”

Source: Wikipaedia.

The sad part is that people are eating these fruits and vegetables after washing them under the tap.  

This does absolutely no good at all. The pesticides are oil based so that the rain does not wash them off the plants.

The best way to remove this harmful substance is by soaking your food in pH11.5 ionised water. You will see the water stain after twenty minutes, or so. This stain is the chemical that has been dissolved off your fruit and vegetables.

Pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers are all bitter. The taste of your food will be so much better after removing the chemicals.

I have quoted only Europe and Malaysia here but these chemicals are in Worldwide usage.  They are, as I said at the beginning, ubiquitous.

They are effective at removing bugs and they are cheap.

Many countries, like Malaysia, are extremely lax in enforcement. They make laws banning these chemicals but there is no follow-up.

It is up to you, the consumer, to remove the poison from your food.

Be smart. Help yourself. Do not just try to avoid GMO crops but also try to avoid the poisonous chemicals that are sprayed on your food – even so called “organic” fruit and vegetables should be treated with caution, do not believe the label you are reading.