Pass the Potatoes, Hold the Poison
Barbara Lock, MDMay 12, 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency has banned the use of the pesticide carbofuran on food crops, the associated press reports. The pesticide was deemed to be too high a risk for use in food crops due to the risk that its residue might remain on food eaten by humans, especially children.
Carbofuran is a carbamate pesticide, and has been used as an insecticide, for worm control, and for intentional malicious killing of wildlife. Carbofuran can leak into groundwater and contaminate wells in agricultural areas.
Carbofuran is a quasi-irreversible cholinesterase inhibitor, and as such, it works in a similar way to the neurotoxic organophosphate chemical warfare agents VX and Sarin. Sarin was used by the Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo in two separate atacks in Japan in 1994 and 1995, killing a total of 18 people and severely injurying dozens more. VX stockpiles in Russia and the US are being systematically destroyed, as mandated by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Carbofuran is nearly as toxic as the carbamate pesticide Aldicarb, which is the agent in the rat poison Tres Pasitos, illegal in the United States. Tres Pasitos is so named because after ingesting the poison, rats are said to take three little steps before they die. Children, in error, and adults, from intentional poisoning or suicide attempt, have been injured or died from ingesting tres pasitos. Acute organophosphate and carbamate toxicity is classically described as "drowning in one's own secretions"; victims can become very sweaty and can develop water on the lungs (pulmonary edema), making it impossible to breath.
Low-grade or chronic carbamate toxicity may cause weakness, loss of appetite, memory loss, and injury to nerves in the hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy). 
According to a Dutch study by Boon et al, the main source of carbamate pesticide residue has been apples, and the main source of organophosphate residue has been spinach and citrus fruits. Despite the potential for toxicity in humans, dangerously high levels of pesticides are unlikely to accumulate in adults and older children; younger children are at higher risk because they consume more food per kilogram body weight than older children and adults. Unborn fetuses, although not specifically addressed in the article, could also be at risk for birth defects from pesticide residue in food.
Pregnant women who are exposed to pesticides during agricultural application do appear to have a greater risk of a type of birth defect called neural tube defects in their developing fetuses than those who are not, according to a study by Rull et al.
The EPA reports that biologically based pesticides, such as pheromones and microbial pesticides, are likely to be safer than traditional pesticides.
Please read our legal disclaimer.
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.
Bookmark with:
What are these?