Are pesticides in your food harmful?

Various chemicals, from those in plastics to food additives, have recently taken the headlines for their potential role in activating diseases. However, pesticides are unique among chemicals, says Melissa Perry, an environmental epidemiologist and dean of George Mason’s College of Public Health. “They are deliberately made to kill things.”

By poisoning weeds, pesticides pesticides pesticides for the crops of farmers to thrive. But their deadly design can also undermine human health. A recent report from a new Federal Advisory Board, the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) committee chaired by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calls for further research into the effects of pesticides to determine whether their use should be limited.

Some indications suggest that long -term exposure can lead to cancer and various other serious health problems. More research is needed to better understand these risks, but in the meantime experts recommend simple, practical steps to reduce intake.

This is what we know about the risks of pesticides and how you can lower your exposure.

Research into pesticide risks

The Maha report assesses “main causes” of poor health in American children. It describes pesticides as one of the eight types of chemicals that lead to chronic diseases.

The report has specific problems with two weed murderers, glyphosate and atrazine. They are the usually used Pesticides by American farmers, and research has focused on this Lab experiments on animals, with various concerning findings.

Other studies have made connections between exposure to glyphosate – mainly by consuming traces in food – and health problems, including Earlier death. In 2019, a major research review identified A “compelling link” between glyphosate intake and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans, although in 2024 a federal court criticized the design and approach of this study.

Additional research point to a series of diseases that may be related to glyphosate, but a recent judgement Italian researchers of glyphosate was not decisive and asked for further research.

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Based on the evidence, the World Health Organization (WHO) has described glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogen for people’, while the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found “No evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans,” quotes a dataset that the agency considered more thorough than anyone.

Second widespread Pesticide emphasized by the Maha report is Atrazine. Just like glyphosate, farmers have been used since the 1960s, but research into animals in the nineties began to show that it could disrupt reproductive health and hormone regulation. Tyrone B. Hayes, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered that atrazine disturbed With the sexual development of frogs. Later studies showed similar effects, as well as weight gain, in mice.

Researchers have also noted that women in certain agricultural communities experience Higher rates of abnormal menstrual cycles, compared to places with fewer farms. Other man study show raised in multiple species Birth defects. More research links atrazine chest Cancer, but researchers from the National Institutes of Health have Closed “No proof of an association” with cancer.

The EPA estimated This atrazine disadvantageously affects 54% of all types and 50% of all critical habitats. “I don’t know how an environmental protection agency can make such a explanation and then re -register the chemical,” says Hayes.

In 2023, the data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed that 99% of food samples who were tested for pesticides under the EPA security limit. American borders, however, are considerably higher than what is allowed in the European Union, where atrazine has been effectively forbidden.

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Pesticides called organophosphates have been studied by the EPA and others for links to neurological disorders Such as ADHD. “Research clearly shows that children who are exposed to higher levels had more neuroheavoral problems,” says Jason Richardson, professor of physiology and pharmacology at the Isakson Center for Neurological Disease Research of the University of Georgia.

In general, uncertainty and debate about pesticides are partly due to research challenges. People are usually exposed to several types of chemicals, so it is “difficult to attribute diseases to one pesticide or to determine the final dose or exposure time” that makes people sick, says Perry.

“Only because a chemical is present does not mean that it does something bad, but in combination with other chemicals it can be,” says Richardson. “There are efforts going on to measure these combinations.”

“The country’s agricultural policy follows science, non-fear, speculation and peripheral stories,” says Becky Langer-Curry, director of innovation at the National Corn Growers Association. The corn were “perplexed” by the Maha report, she adds. “We need confidence in the EPA regulatory system to revise science. They ensure that our food is safe, well under the human risk.”

In an e -mail to Time.com, EPA spokesperson Mike Bastasch said that the EPA “usually regulates pesticides that is at least 100 times lower than where no side effects are seen in safety studies.” The agency is “convinced that the fruit and vegetables that our children eat are safer than ever,” Bastasch wrote. However, he added that the EPA is updating the evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate, and it is currently working on one Updated mitigation proposal For Atrazine.

In the meantime, researchers such as Perry, Richardson and Hayes think that pesticides are dangerous enough to take precautions – but especially young children, people who are pregnant, those who live close to farms, agricultural workers, and seniors.

How you can know more about your exposure

The first step is to become aware of pesticides in your area. They are more common than people think, says Perry. “Expositions happen routinely for most members of the American public.”

Experts recommend contacting the environmental office of your province or city to learn whether you are close to a food production facility that uses pesticides. In 2017, children and teachers reported in a high school in Hawaii unusual throat irritation and dizziness. They suspected that the symptoms were caused by pesticides used in nearby fields, and researchers Found residues In the inner and outside air samples of the school.

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The detected levels were considered to be thresholds below. Bastasch says that for communities in the vicinity of farms, the EPA exposure is studying through the air and other routes to ensure that the safety levels are based on sound science.

Nevertheless, Hayes is concerned about the long -term effects of pesticide contact and absorption. “For someone who lives in an agricultural community who is constantly exposed to estrogen macting such as Atrazine, it is more likely to develop adverse effects,” he says.

People mainly take atrazine because of their drinking water, after the drainage of the farm carries the pesticide in local water systems. But some utilities are more effective than others in removing pesticides residues. The Environmental working group percentages Local water tools. For people on good water, the federal government offers guidelines for testing.

Use a water filter

The use of pesticides is widespread enough and spreads at such distances-that everyone should probably use a high-quality water filter, experts say. Atrazine can travel up to 600 miles, says Hayes. Already in 1999, USGS noted That pesticides, including atrazine, were detected in places where farmers had not applied them.

Even for residents of areas where a water treatment plant removes the chemicals, whereby a filter is purchased that is certified at the NSF/ANSI -standards 42 and 53 Offers some extra certainty of water safety. Search for filters in refrigerators and Waters who meet this certification.

Buy Organic

Eating organic food can also help to reduce the intake of pesticides, especially glyphosate. According to one, around 90% of pregnant women have a detectable amount of glyphosate in their bodies study. “But when you put people on biological diets, you start to see that they no longer have pesticides in their urine,” says Perry.

Research in 2020 Discovered that eating a organic diet left the glyphosate levels with 70% in children and their parents. In 2023, researchers put pregnant women on a biological diet for a week. Those who became completely organic decreased Glyphosate in their urine with 43%. A Study 2019 found a reduction of 95% in organophosphates.

Washing and peel

Richardson calls these studies into biological food ‘intriguing’ and notes that natural connections used in organic farming can also be toxic Beyond certain thresholds. Even if you eat organic, “make sure you wash your vegetables and vegetables very well,” he says.

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A study Discovered that weeks of apples in baking soda mixed with water for 12-15 minutes more residue eliminated than just water. According to someone else, however studyWashing products with running water is superior to baking powder, seating water and vinegar. Other research shows a soft one rubbing action During washing is effective. Strive for 20-30 seconds or longer if you have time.

By peeling the skin and the outer pulp will come from extra residue that penetrates into some products. However, there is a major disadvantage: you lose part of the useful nutrients and connections, such as fiber and vitamins, which help protect against pesticidetoxicity.

Some examinations suggest that replacement Processed foods of Various Whole Foods can reduce how many pesticides you took (but some studies suggest that it is possible Less benefits If they are not organic).

Practice and management stress

Apart from nutrition, other lifestyle behavior such as exercise, stress management and good sleep can build up a basis of health that helps to thwart the cumulative effects of pesticides and other pollutants. In general, they influence how someone’s body reacts to their “exhibition“Explains Richardson – your total exposure to the environment and how they deal with lifestyle behavior and risk factors such as age and genetics.

Bastasch says that the EPA assesses the combined risks of groups of pesticides that influence the body in similar ways, and adds that the agency continues to promote research in this area.

The exposome is probably more important than any chemical type, but “we really just break the surface of understanding these interactions,” says Richardson.