Avoiding avoidable chemicals?

[logiccalls]

So sorry, can't link, but Nature Microbiology* on Wednesday published an article by a Cambridge University team, on the damage to gut health, and wider toxicity, of chemicals which are not yet internationally banned, but possibly better avoided where possible.

The standard rule of legislation is to assume every one of the thousands of plastics and chemical is safe for humans, and for all life-forms, right up to the moment enough scientists have proved beyond doubt it is not: Consider the tobacco industry, and the decades- long denial of any link to lung cancer, to see how this works.

*Not everyone will know that 'Nature' publishers are the opposite extreme from something like Trump, saying injecting bleach cures Covid (!)
The papers which can pass the highest scientific scrutiny are in the Nature publications, regarded world wide as the gold standard.

For gut health, and for general health, this is information M.N. readers might appreciate being alerted to. Many, particularly on this thread, will be aware of all of it, so please if anyone can do the link, could you try?

I was a child in the 70s and think probably the horse has bolted. I remember walking down a footpath between fields and being sprayed by a crop sprayer plane...one would hope that wouldn't happen these days!
I do have concerns but not sure how to change what has already occurred.
I have changed my saucepans and wash fruit more but who knows what damage already done...

So if you're worried about avoidable chemicals - avoid them.

@logiccalls I copied and pasted the first paragraph of your post into Google.

It came up with a link to the research from Cambridge and within that there was a link to the publication.

Do you know how to copy and paste?

If you don't know how to do either of those you can find Youtube videos online showing how.

Maybe the point is that they are 'hidden' and we don't know they are there,
The research OP mentions is about agro-chemical and toxins in the environment that are not listed as dangerous but might be eventually.

Unfortunately not everyone can afford to eat organically.
Micro plastic is another high risk - and we all know how much of our food and drinks are in plastic.

😂

Good call!

But the point of the research which I read late last night is that the chemicals are NOT avoidable because at the moment they are not fully recognised / accepted/ withdrawn because of being toxic to humans.

It's a long, detailed scientific paper which, unless you have a PhD in science, you'd struggle to fully understand, other than the basic premise.

Thanks. In Australia that could happen. Surprisingly, in Tropical North Queensland, right next to the Great Barrier Reef, where virtually everything could be grown, two agricultural industries thrive, with government encouragement and, apparently, grants. These are for the two vital-for-life crops, of sugar, and tobacco(!) Both are constantly sprayed. Locals, frequwntly caught in the spray drift, note the high cancer rates, and ponder the likely damage of run-off into the rivers and the coral sea.

In UK, the same reverence and priority is given to sugar. On land which could produce nourishing food, using water which is increasingly scarce, sugar beet is grown, and what is more, glyphosate is sprayed onto it, many years after the EU ordered an end to the use.

You are right of course: Changing the pans and washing fresh produce is a good idea for everyone.

But wrapping food in plastic is avoidable, and satisfactory alternatives such as ground up leaves and stalks are available.

Most crops in the UK I sprayed. I live rurally and see spraying all year round @logiccalls If I'm out when they are spraying I keep clear until they have finished.

Buying UK organic is the only way tp partially avoid this. Not organic from other countries as they don't have the same standards.

Did you see my post about how could access the research paper you mentioned? Did you manage to read it or had you already read it when you posted?

Thank you very much for the response: Not yet read the paper. Mainly, the general public are not aware, and the plastic/ chemical industries are concealing. We consumers ought to be able to vote with our wallets, but however hard we try, for example in buying organic food *, our efforts are thwarted if that food is wrapped in plastic.

Worse, if it is wrapped in what looks like paper, but containts plastic... what motive could food suppliers have, for selling, for example, what look like paper, but are in fact plastic-containing, baking sheets, which are obviously going to be heated, releasing the maximum plastic into the food and the air of the customer?

*You will know there is nothing straightforward: Regenerative food production is often more ethical and acceptable than organic, (and will normally be produced under conditions the same or better than Soil Association) but there is no agreed standard, to label the food: Meanwhile, it is possible to technically comply with Soil Association standards, yet be doing what is horrifying, e.g. The founder of Riverford has farms in France, and watched, bemused, as a neighbouring farmer there, compliant with Organic standards, was putting a diesel powered, fume belching, steam injection system over his entire land: His aim was to completely destroy every possible life form, for a deep level under his soil. It wasn't pesticide, so it complied. Yet poisoning absolutely every living thing in the soil, and leaving it as just lifeless dust, was not what Organic customers would really have hoped for.

So far, I have not discovered any organic food producer who does not use plastic to wrap organic fresh food, (other than a few bits of fruit and veg) . Fresh meat and fish, sprouted seeds, whatever it is, they wrap in plastic and, often, heat-seal. Going in person to organic butchers and fresh fish merchants does no good, because they insist on using plastic-coated or plastic- containing paper. Waitrose is interesting/infuriating, because they actually sell 'if you care' paper bags, roasting bags etc. yet they refuse to permit a customer to go through the till and buy some, then hand the sealed box to the fish/ deli counter, and request the assistant puts the food in these non-plastic bags.

The fact they and most supermarkets sell these products proves some customers are trying to avoid plastic, so they do know there is a demand.

PS to Lots of Lurve, you make a good point about the UK farms spraying, and it is another problem for the farmers who want to produce organic food, and the customers who want to buy it: Spray from nearby crops can drift, of course, but just as bad is that the nature and biodiversity friendly, sustainable food production needs a revived whole-nature system, so the organic and regenerative farm will have wildflower edges and traditional hedges, to give food and shelter for the birds, for instance, but then, the nearby crops are sprayed, and those birds go and eat the poisoned insects, and die, horribly.

I'm not sure that wrapped in plastic is the big deal you make it out to be.
It's more of an issue drinking water from bottles made of plastic.
Buying broccoli wrapped on some cling film isn't really a big deal.

If it really bothers you why don't you buy your fruit and veg from a home delivery organic supplier- like Abel and Cole? Delivered in a cardboard box.

Thanks, that might seem like a solution..... Except that Abel and Cole wrap much of their food, including all fresh meat or fish, in plastic.

The items of plastic- wrapped food are then placed in cardboard boxes. (Which of course reverses the priorities which the plastic-avoiding customers would hope for.)

The words 'greenwash' and 'virtue signalling', or even 'trickery' may come to mind in various circumstances, including

a) putting the word 'organic' on shop windows, and/or in any online advertising, when in fact there may be nothing organic at all in the shop/ cafe/ business, ever, or when there are just a few items.

b) putting 'paper' wrapping on food, when it is made from pulp containing plastic, or when it has been sprayed with plastic.

I thought you meant fruit and veg, not meat or fish.

Go to a supermarket with a fish counter and you can ask for no plastic wrapping (but for hygiene reasons they may have to) or a local butcher.

If you want to avoid plastic, shop at local greengrocers, farmers' markets, butchers, etc and ask them not to use plastic bags- take your own wrapping whatever it may be.

Most of us will die from something else - not linked to whatever our food is wrapped in or sprayed with. (which can be avoided if you buy an organic box.)

Any chance you are over-thinking this a bit?