{"id":9605,"date":"2011-01-04T11:28:19","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=9605"},"modified":"2011-01-04T11:28:19","modified_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:28:19","slug":"what-are-your-favorite-toxins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/what-are-your-favorite-toxins\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Your Favorite Toxins?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Strawberries<\/p>\n

From what I read on various blogs and their comment streams, it is obvious that there are a lot of people who are very concerned about toxins in their food and water. Many say they want to live in a “toxin-free world.” \u00a0Although I would be the first to say that there are some toxins that are worth worrying about,<\/a> my concern is that there are a lot of people suffering from excessive angst about toxic substances because they don’t know two important facts:<\/p>\n

Fact 1. Our world is actually full of toxins – mostly of natural origin.<\/h2>\n

Some of the natural toxins are really scary, but some of them are delicious or useful. \u00a0Some of my favorite natural toxins include the caffeine in my morning coffee, the capsaicin in the spicy Mexican and Thai dishes I love, and the\u00a0tomatine<\/a> in the tomatoes I eat.\u00a0 These are all natural chemicals that are actually toxic \u2013 even quite a bit more toxic than a typical pesticide today.\u00a0 So why is it OK to enjoy these and many other foods that contain toxic chemicals? \u00a0That is where the second fact comes in.<\/p>\n

Fact 2. There is an important difference between\u00a0hazard<\/strong> and\u00a0risk<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The reason that so many people are troubled by the idea of toxins is that our educational system fails to teach us what we need to understand which toxins are really worth concern and which are not.\u00a0 We don\u2019t tend to learn the difference between hazard<\/strong> and risk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To illustrate this, consider electricity.\u00a0 Electricity is an extremely useful thing, but it is also extremely hazardous<\/strong>.\u00a0 People can and do die from electrocution.\u00a0 But although electricity will always be\u00a0hazardous<\/strong>, we take important steps to make sure we are not exposed directly to the electricity and thus the risk <\/strong>is low. <\/strong>Our\u00a0appliances can be safe even though they are powered by a very hazardous<\/strong> thing.<\/p>\n

What About The Toxins in Our Food?<\/h2>\n

So even though I consume lots of plant-based chemicals that are actually toxic (a hazard<\/strong>), the quantities are low enough that the risk <\/strong>is too low to worry about. \u00a0 For instance, I calculated that for me (at 175 lbs), it would take 169 cups of strong coffee (~90 milligrams of caffeine in each<\/a>) to get enough to be lethal (a dose of\u00a0192 mg\/kg<\/a> could be toxic to mammals). With a “safety margin<\/strong>” of 169, it is reasonable that few people worry when they consume this toxin every day.<\/p>\n

What about the sort of toxins that people do worry about –<\/strong> like pesticide residues on foods? \u00a0Each year a group in the USDA<\/a> buys produce from stores around the US and tests it for pesticide residues. \u00a0You can get the data on \u00a0line<\/a>. \u00a0The Environmental Working Group<\/a> uses this data each year to come up with their “dirty dozen” list which they successfully use to scare consumers away from buying as much fresh produce<\/a>. \u00a0That is unfortunate because what the USDA data actually shows is that the pesticides (which are almost all much less toxic than caffeine) are also present at such low levels as to be negligible.<\/p>\n

To demonstrate this, I took the data for strawberries in 2008.\u00a0 The USDA labs tested 741 samples for hundreds of different pesticides and found some trace of around 5\/sample.\u00a0 I took that data and calculated the safety margins for every single pesticide residue that was detected (assuming 1\/2 lb of strawberries consumed by me at 175 lbs). \u00a0The smallest safety margin was 5,895 – thirty five times less risky than a cup of Joe.\u00a0 92% of the residues detected on the strawberries had safety margins of of over million (see chart below). \u00a0Not much to be scared about here!<\/p>\n

\"Strawbtox\"<\/p>\n

\n

But What About the Long Term?<\/h2>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d many people will say, \u201cwhat about long-term exposure to low doses?\u201d\u00a0 This is obviously something much more difficult to study.\u00a0 The best approach has been to test the medium-term (1-2 year) effects of a fairly high, but non-lethal dose.\u00a0 Practically speaking, this is the only way to get an answer within any reasonable time and budget constraints (still costing many millions of dollars).\u00a0\u00a0 These tests have identified carcinogens and chronically toxic materials among both natural and synthetic chemicals.\u00a0\u00a0 Many such tests have been conducted with caffeine and the consensus result is that, no, it is not a carcinogen or chronic toxin of concern at the levels we consume. \u00a0We have learned fairly well how to screen for compounds with chronic effects and such tests are required for all pesticides.<\/p>\n

The Professional Doubters<\/h2>\n

The Environmental Working Group ignores this data and maintains that \u201cwe just never know\u201d whether there might be low level effects. \u00a0If they are right, then we are mainly at risk from natural toxins. \u00a0We consume them at far high rates, and in most cases, they have never even been studied for chronic effects. \u00a0If we accept the view of the EWG, there really isn’t much of anything that we could eat without fear of some long-term downside. \u00a0That sort of view is good for EWG’s fundraising efforts. \u00a0It is not a good thing for encouraging the consumption of healthy foods.<\/p>\n

I don’t know about you, but I would rather just enjoy my food – toxins and all.<\/p>\n

Strawberry and Coffee image from smittenkittenorig<\/a><\/p>\n

Safety Margin Graph by Steve Savage<\/a> using USDA AMS PDP data<\/a><\/p>\n

Still prefer organic? We’ve got you covered… from organic foods<\/a> to bedding<\/a>, bathing<\/a>, and care products<\/a> for the little ones in your home.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From what I read on various blogs and their comment streams, it is obvious that there are a lot of people who are very concerned about toxins in their food [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":9828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,21],"tags":[4725,4726,19,4727,4728,4729,4730,1679],"yoast_head":"\nFood Toxins: Hazards and Risks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Food toxins are worrisome... but they're also common, and carry various levels of hazard and risk.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/what-are-your-favorite-toxins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food Toxins: Hazards and 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