Viewpoint: Don’t believe fear-mongering — Here’s why trace pesticide residues in food pose no risk to to humans

Vegetables going through a post-harvest cleaning. Credit: Riccardo Mojana
Vegetables going through a post-harvest cleaning. Credit: Riccardo Mojana

Prof. Paweł Struciński: Everyone, including me, would like food products to be free from pesticide residues. However, the question is, would the world be able to feed itself without the use of plant protection products?

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Moreover, properly protected crops can be of better health quality. For example, proper use of appropriate fungicides will make apples not only prettier, but also certain species of fungi that produce genotoxic, carcinogenic patulin will not develop in them.

The actual risk to humans from pesticide residues in food is negligible. People who threaten with these substances focus on a fragment of reality and present half-truths out of context. They say, for example, “pesticide detected in the tomato, we are poisoned,” and many people “buy it”, forgetting that table salt or caffeine in the right dose can also kill.

Unreliable information appearing on the Internet is often duplicated. Why? Because they are presented in an easy and sensational way, it is impossible not to use them. Remember that everything is poison and nothing is poison – it all depends on the dose.

[Editor’s note: This article has been translated from Polish and edited for clarity.]

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