M8.3 Pesticides

I chose to look the pesticides on rice, since I eat rice everyday at least twice. 
Rice contains 9 pesticide residues! 4 of them are known carcinogens, 10 are suspected hormone disruptors, 2 are neurotoxins, and 3 are developmental or reproductive toxins. 
Piperonyl Butoxide is found in 16.2% of the rice we eat (or I eat, for that matter). This chemical is a possible carcinogen, is a suspected hormone disruptor, and is a moderate honeybee toxin. MGK-264 is found in 8.7% of rice and is a possible carcinogen. Fortunately, the remaining chemicals are found in less than 2% of the rice out there, however, that does not eliminate the possibility that they may be present in the rice that I'm eating right now! It seems like policies limiting the use these chemicals in pesticides need to be stricter to avoid having these many chemicals in everything we eat.

Comments

  1. USF MPH ClassOctober 18, 2018 at 2:19 PM

    Oh man, didn't want to see this! Rice is at least once a week for me. What are we to do... I guess I will look for a more organic rice if that exists. I haven't looked before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandy TanOctober 19, 2018 at 12:19 PM

    Hi Hugo,
    I eat rice almost everyday too and that's shocking to know that rice has 9 pesticides residue! I wonder if the amount of pesticides are different for each type of rice? This is something I will want to look into.

    ReplyDelete

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