Pesticides

Pesticides are chemicals that are used in agriculture to protect cultivated plants from various kinds of weeds, pests and diseases. In addition, the use of pesticides can be justified by some other purpose.

The most common are the following types of pesticides:

• organochlorine, such as hexachlorocyclohexane;
• organophosphate, such as lithophos and chlorophos;
• carbamates, such as sevin;
• is organomercuric, such as granosan.

Over a thousand pesticide preparations are used in various countries around the world. To use on the territory of Russia is allowed a little more than a hundred such drugs, but the list of pesticides allowed for use is constantly expanding because of the high efficiency of their use. With the help of these substances, the mass of pests of crops is destroyed, without which, according to the calculations of specialists, we would lose a third of the crop.

Given the correct use of pesticides, some of their residual quantities may be contained in food, but they do not exceed the allowable rate and are therefore completely safe for health. Serious damage to the human body can be caused by improper use, for example, a violation of the timing of spraying and the dose of application. These violations in turn lead to new increases in the concentration of pesticides in food and health.

There is no need to list the pesticides used, since their quantity is huge( several hundred names) and depends on agricultural crops and external conditions of use. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the fact that pests quickly become addicted to the same pesticides, which necessitates frequent changes of them even when processing the same crop.

Measures designed to protect themselves from exceeding the content of pesticides in foods are thorough washing of food, as well as removal of the upper peel, if possible( apples, pears), especially if they are grown not in their own garden, environmentally friendly, but bought onbazaar or in the store. The fact is that a significant portion of pesticides accumulate on the surface of the products.

Materials used:
Shilov VN, Mits'yo VP"Healthy food"