IT took a long time for the message about the dangers of cigarette smoking to get through to the majority of people. And, since Rachel Carsons book Silent Spring, first published in 1962, there has been a growing awareness among the public that the benefits of chemicals sprayed on vegetables, fruit and other crops as they grow, may in some cases be outweighed by the after effects on those who eat the finished product.
The BSE scare started off enquiries into almost, everything we eat. Even non agricultural people were shocked that ground up sheep and cow bones were being fed to creatures which are naturally herbivores. The bags, containing this bonemeal mixture caused some people to enquire (i.e. organic advocates) about the formulae and were told that such information was "commercially sensitive"
So writes Robin Maynard in the BBC's Wildlife for April. He points out that while a recent report from the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), revealed that more than a third of all fruit and, vegetables contained pesticide residues, it emphasised that two thirds of produce tested did not contain residues.
The article, above all, argues that the customer must be told what he is buying. Getting the E is for additives campaign going in the 1980s was a victory. But more is needed, the writer, stresses. "It's no good reading that something has El 50 in it unless you know what it is, and what it might do to you. That would have to be a mighty job of compression. Though pills you buy will tell you that this will make you drowsy, so don't drive or handle machinery after taking it. But detailing all that might result from eating X product?
Some soya beans have been engineered to make them resistant to a herbicide, writes Maynard and soya and soya oil are two of the most used ingredients in processed food - soya in meat substitute vegetarian dishes, and soya oil in everything from biscuits to margarine. So?
Then on about hens and animals kept dosed in sheds. Lettuces which have received up to 22 sprayings. And the final message is to ask your MP or what ever, to support adequate labelling about pesticides and antibiotics. (What a hope). And the last lines: Buy organic produce - it's free from both pesticides and antibiotics." When you can, emphatically and with out reserve, yes.