I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, and like most parents I've always encouraged my children to do the same. But it seems to me, sometimes, that the more fruit and veg we eat the more we are at risk. Certainly, the more fruit and veg we eat the more poison we ingest. It is a fact that much fruit and vegetable has a residue of poisons applied by the grower to ensure its delivery un-nibbled and speck-free to market. Few among us will buy specked fruit or insect-damaged vegetables.
And it is a fact that the NSW Food Authority stopped checking poison residue levels in 2005. Any checking since has been by a private testing firm at the voluntary instigation of the grower and confidential to the grower. Maximum residue levels (MRLs) are set nationally, and it has been disclosed recently that testing by a private testing firm found the MRL exceeded in 2.5 per cent of cases.
The food authority, which says it will resume random testing this spring, insists that the MRLs are set for what it calls good agricultural practice, not for health or safety, and that there is a big buffer between the MRL and a level of residue that poses a risk to health.
But I'm not so convinced that ingesting even safe levels of known and powerful carcinogens, as many agricultural poisons are, each day over decades does not pose a risk to our health. Is it so much different from smoking over the long term, where small and safe amounts of carcinogens ingested frequently over a long time kill people?
Yes, I know, we should buy organic, but the fact is that organic is not a viable option for the great majority of people.
I believe our state government has a duty, one it ignores, to test our fruit and veg comprehensively and to introduce penalties for breaches that will attract the attention of growers. We eat food from China and other countries at our own risk, and at real risk, but should the safety of our state-produced food depend on what is an honour system?
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