Is that pesticide residue in your cereal?

I just found out today in doing some reseach on NGO's in Nigeria that Europeans indeed have plenty of pesticides in their salads and it is not just an American phenomena. I knew that they burned holes through migrant workers gloves when picking strawberries and caused all sorts of havoc such as causing suicide on tobacco however all of the following info is news to me. It is disturbing but comforting at the same time that large scale farming is screwed on a global level. DDT, a chemical used in insecticides etc, has been found in 67% of feta cheese samples. That is quite perturbing. Apparently 43% of fruits and veg, not sure if in Europe or UK contains delectable levels of pesticides. For more fun facts to make you feel wonderful click here. Most of this information was provided by the Pesticide Action Network.

It seems as well that the chemical, atrazine is found in the hot water in Indiana in the US. At least, it isn't a carcinogen, it just changes your hormone levels. It has been found in elevated doses in Indiana, probably due to the corn production. As low as a dose of one teaspoon in an Olympic size swimming pool of this same chemical has been know to change the sex of frogs into hemaphrodites when they are exposed to it. Strangely enough, this amount of it is allowed into drinking water in the UK. Having lived there and had tea from the drinking water makes me slightly worried about now but hey, it is past.

To find out what pesticides are being used in your country click here.