- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a proposal this week to ban a controversial pesticide that is widely used on celery, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.
The EPA released its plan on Tuesday, nearly a week after a ProPublica investigation revealed the agency had laid out a justification for increasing the amount of acephate allowed on food by removing limits meant to protect children’s developing brains.
But rather than banning the pesticide, as the European Union did more than 20 years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed easing restrictions on acephate.
The federal agency’s assessment lays out a plan that would allow 10 times more acephate on food than is acceptable under the current limits. The proposal was based in large part on the results of a new battery of tests that are performed on disembodied cells rather than whole lab animals. After exposing groups of cells to the pesticide, the agency found “little to no evidence” that acephate and a chemical created when it breaks down in the body harm the developing brain, according to an August 2023 EPA document.
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PSA: You can soak your fruit and veggies in a baking soda solution to break down residual pesticides.
I still want better regulation on pesticides, but that’s my stopgap.
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It’s so nice of the US to offload corporate responsibility to individual citizens. None of the money of course. But you all need to do your part to keep the quarterly earnings up!
I’ll sacrifice mine and my family’s life to the line! All praise the line, line go up!
Never heard of this. Not with an intention to call you out but rather curiosity, is this substantiated?
It depends on who you ask tbh. I looked this up a while back* (but less than a year ago) and science basically said that water + scrubbing certain produce is fine and recommended, and adding anything else doesn’t really do much. I’ll try to find the article I read.
*Just wanted to add that the reason I looked it up was because of a post my friend made on Facebook asking people how they prep their produce (and chicken) - way too many people said they do soap and water…
Edit: here is a guide from science from 2010 (PDF WARNING)
https://www.nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/resource/Guide to Washing Fresh Produce508.pdf
Edit 2: here is a guide in more detail
Thanks. I recall the healthline article. While it doesn’t address removal of pesticides, I guess you could conjecture that water is sufficient (or no less effective) than a baking soda bath?
Totally random and off-topic, but I like your username. Was literally looking up how potentially toxic acetanilide is the other day when we received a small shipment of it at work. Do you have a fun origin story for your username or any fun facts about the substance?
Haha thank you! I created it in college during one of my chemistry courses. We were using it for some experiment (I assume, I don’t remember at this point lol). Anyway at that point in time I made a few usernames and passwords that were fun chemistry stuff.
The reason I was interested in it was because of the connection with acetaminophen (you may have learned that acetaminophen is a metabolite of acetanilide).
Very cool stuff. Thanks for asking! Made my day :)
That’s very cool! Chemistry was always my most difficult subject (biology major). We use acetanilide at work as standard reference material for stable isotope analysis of particulate organic matter (e.g., phytoplankton/marine snow), basically as a quality check since it has similar carbon and nitrogen signatures. Always excited to learn interesting science facts! :)
That sounds like a lot of fun!
Big baking soda won’t fool me again.
Baking soda is for baking, I’m not leaving an open box in my refrigerator or washing my fruit with it. if you want more profits just raise the price and shrink the weight like everyone else.You either need to add /s at the end or make your comment so literally dripping with sarcasm that it slaps the reader in the face…
the agency had laid out a justification for increasing the amount of acephate allowed on food by removing limits meant to protect children’s developing brains.
That seems very very wrong, in a bad political machination sort of way. I hope they have scientific reasons and proof to backup that change.
The federal agency’s assessment lays out a plan that would allow 10 times more acephate on food than is acceptable under the current limits.
Wow, okay, that seems like a huge jump in quantity.
The proposal was based in large part on the results of a new battery of tests that are performed on disembodied cells rather than whole lab animals.
While I hate how animals are used for testing in general, when it comes to the safety of children, I still would want them to test/verify on animals, instead of just individual cells in the petri dish.
TL;DR: Wash those mofo veggies like crazy before eating, and pray, especially if you’re pregnant or have young children about.
Yeah but the article is intentionally worded to provoke outrage. What if it was more like ……
—-
US EPA tested a common common pesticide and found little to no evidence of an impact on developing brains, so is relaxing restrictions on levels allowed on common fruit
US EPA tested a common common pesticide and found little to no evidence of an impact on developing brains, so is relaxing restrictions on levels allowed on common fruit
Probably because that wasn’t what the EPA found because they did their tests on disembodied cells. There was zero testing on animals, which could/would have shown far different results.
Yeah but the article is intentionally worded to provoke outrage.
A lot of posting in communities online are like that, unfortunately.
But still, I highlighted the particular parts that do not seem to be argued, and seem to be accurate, actual facts. So I was able to respond to just those three facts.
US EPA tested a common common factor pesticide and found little to no evidence of an impact on developing brains, so is relaxing standards on levels allowed on common fruit
The fictional rewrite you did though does not talk to the points that I’ve highlighted (how it was tested, the changing quantity times amount, etc.).
So one could say it’s obfuscating, and not ethical as well (AKA sales/propaganda).
The thing is, typically you are way way more likely to see results at high concentrations in isolated cells vs in an animal or human at more reasonable exposure rates, so you typically only elevate to animal testing once you’ve shown some pathway of effect in isolated cells.
The thing is, typically you are way way more likely to see results at high concentrations in isolated cells vs in an animal or human at more reasonable exposure rates, so you typically only elevate to animal testing once you’ve shown some pathway of effect in isolated cells.
Fair enough, wasn’t aware of the pathway/elevation technique, as you described it.
My version clearly is minimizing the issue. The wording is misleading. However I believe it is just as accurate as the article and equally misleading.
The points you highlight come from the author, not the source and include nothing to support whether or not it’s bad.
- removing the limits sounds bad, but finding no danger in a study so relaxing the limits seems reasonable. Yet they say the same thing
- it does seem like a huge jump but is it? If testing didn’t find a problem with that, then why not?
- so it all comes down to the testing. Aside from testing inflammatory wording, we’re basing outrage on testing against cell lines instead of animals. Yet we’ve also been clamoring for exactly that: less animal testing. More importantly, not even an opinion much less evidence about whether this is normal or unusual, not even an opinion much less evidence on whether this accurately assesses the danger or not.
Certainly the article makes this seem outrageous, but I’m very dissatisfied with how it gets there
Well, I’m not an expect (curious if you are?), just a layman, so I’ll defer to your opinion on the matter. But I would hope that the changes would be described better by the authorities so that a non-expert/normal/everyday (not anti-vaxer type) person doesn’t get worried about them.
No, just someone who really dislikes poor reporting on scientific topics.
No, just someone who really dislikes poor reporting on scientific topics.
Quoting portions of an article is not reporting on the subject, it’s just quoting.
Long live the US of A, the country whose government works so hard to kill its people with many different ways to make more money.
God bless ProPublica!
How small is that plane?? Or how big is that tomato??
