EWG 2012 Pesticides in Produce

[Redstrike]

Thought some of you might be interested in this for your consumption as well as your tortoises:

http://www.ewg.org/release/ewg-releases-2012-shopper-s-guide-pesticides-produce

 

[amanda712]

Thought some of you might be interested in this for your consumption as well as your tortoises:

http://www.ewg.org/release/ewg-releases-2012-shopper-s-guide-pesticides-produce

So why are pesticides so bad for tortoises anyway? I eat food that probably have pesticides and who knows what else all the time, and I'm still kickin' just fine. I tried doing a search, but couldn't find anything other than to avoid them without any reasoning.

 

[Redstrike]

Thought some of you might be interested in this for your consumption as well as your tortoises:

http://www.ewg.org/release/ewg-releases-2012-shopper-s-guide-pesticides-produce

So why are pesticides so bad for tortoises anyway? I eat food that probably have pesticides and who knows what else all the time, and I'm still kickin' just fine. I tried doing a search, but couldn't find anything other than to avoid them without any reasoning.

This is a legitimate and excellent question, unfortunately it's one I cannot answer without gross speculation.

For me the basic premise is that we are all related. Albeit, extremely distant to things like insects, but nonetheless, we still share some ancestral similarities and overlapping biological functions. In small doses, pesticides may have very little effect on us or our tortoises (I haven't dug too deeply, but from skimming the surface I haven't seen much research on pesticides & tortoises), but continued exposure could lead to health complications, especially for human babies that are still developing. I have no evidence to back this up, but it makes biological sense. What poisons one taxa may not have immediate lethal effects on another, but delayed or indirect effects could occur.

I think the take home is that we really aren't sure what effects these pesticides will have on us and our ecosystems, but I can say that it probably isn't good. DDT is an excellent example and one that we are familiar with. Great insect killer that bio-accumulated to predatory guilds and resulted in severe declines in predatory birds by compromising the integrity & strength of their egg shells (bald eagles, peregrine falcons, ospreys, etc.). We sprayed DDT like bonkers for many years only to find out the deleterious impacts later. Perhaps the same will arise with some of these other pesticides that we are consuming in our produce. This is the risk you take for ingesting a toxin. I eat non-organic fruit daily, but I'm starting to wonder what long-term effects this could have on my body.

Outside of individual effects, there has been some debate on correlations between pesticides and amphibian population declines. It's theorized that the liberal use of these chemicals may be a contributing factor (among others) leading to global declines. When you spray a toxin over acres of land, there are going to be non-target effects to that ecosystem. It didn't take me long to find scientific studies on this; though I've yet to read the papers I have attached them here.

This is a link to one journal article - it is not open access and I'm no longer in a University system:

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/2005/Roundup-Amphibians-Community1jul05.htm

Another is attached below.

Let me re-emphasize, this is not my field of expertise nor do I have much evidence, but the logic and past occurrences are supportive of this stance. I really hope this doesn't move into a huge debate, I was really just hoping to provide information to interested parties.

 

[ascott]

Very good thread. Pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers = nothing good...I do not use any type of chemicals nor fertilizers on any of my property....unfortunately I have no idea of what the neighbors use...??

 

[Laura]

People get cancer.. Cause.. Unknown.. Is this the reason?
Different species are also more sensitive to different things..
Overheat a teflon frying pan.. your bird dies... you don't.
We have a member here who lost her torts to a unkn. but it was very possible something 'harmless' on produce.. maybe to us, but not to her babies...

 

[amanda712]

This is a legitimate and excellent question, unfortunately it's one I cannot answer without gross speculation.

....

Let me re-emphasize, this is not my field of expertise nor do I have much evidence, but the logic and past occurrences are supportive of this stance. I really hope this doesn't move into a huge debate, I was really just hoping to provide information to interested parties.

Thanks! I wasn't wanting to start an argument either, just wondering what information was out there. Difference between amphibians and reptiles is that the amphibians absorb chemicals rapidly through their skin. But I'm wondering if ingesting the pesticides is any different since the other animals in the same ecosystem as amphibians are ingesting the same chemicals. Time will tell. I'm sure someone someday will do the research.