Shocking report reveals the foods that are most likely to be laced with nasty pesticides - and it's not all fruit and veg
Common cupboard staples have been found to be laced with banned pesticides, a new report has revealed.
Traces of the chemicals were found in herbs and spices such as dried basil, parsley and cumin, as well as dried beans, chilli and honey.
High levels of the substances detected can cause digestive issues, while long term exposure has been linked to cancer.
The European Food Safety Report report analysed data from 132,793 samples of a range of foods imported to Europe, including fruit and vegetables, and found that two per cent of those tested breached legal limits, which equated to 3000 products.
They found that 42 per cent of products contained some residual pesticide traces but these were deemed safe.
The European Union has strict rules on pesticides with just 0.1 micrograms per kilo of produce allowed.
The analysis found that the chemicals were found at unsafe levels in unprocessed products like, chillies, dragon fruit, cumin seeds and grape leaves.
Some foods, like chilli peppers, were found to contain shocking numbers of different pesticides — up to 37.
Processed products like dried beans and spices made up 10 per cent of unsafe products, the analysis found.
Ethylene oxide, a pesticide not approved in Europe, was detected in 40 samples. The chemical can cause headaches, nausea, diarrhea and difficulty breathing. Long term exposure has also been linked to cancer.
The report found that the biggest risk came from importing food from countries outside the EU.
The main countries from which non-compliant products were found were Turkey, India and Egypt. Although most of these consignments were stopped at the border.
Levels of pesticides on produce from these countries were found to be three times higher than in the Union.
The report also found a number of breaches in honey and rice products imported from outside the EU.
Testing of brown rice revealed that some products contained tricyclazole, propiconazole, imidacloprid, and chlormequat chloride—all of which are banned in the EU.
A 2024 systematic review published in the journal of Toxicology Reports found that high exposure to pesticides may be linked to increased risk of cancer, infertility and respiratory problems, but the effect is most likely in agricultural workers.
Pesticides used in agriculture can often leave detectable traces of chemicals in, or on, our food known as 'residues'.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 1,000 different pesticides are used globally.
They are used in agriculture to control weeds, insect infestation and disease carriers like mosquitoes, ticks, rats and mice. They also enable farmers to protect crop quantity and quality.
Pesticide consumption has grown almost 60 per cent since 1990 reaching 2.66bn kg (5.86bn lbs) by 2020.
But the elderly, children and unborn babies are especially susceptible to the adverse effects of pesticides.
Late last year campaign group Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) used Government testing data to show 46 pesticides with links to cancer had been detected on produce imports to Britain as of the end of last year.
They say that washing or peeling fruit and vegetables can potentially reduce exposure to pesticides as some residues that appear on the surface will be eliminated, particularly traces of soil which may contain harmful bacteria.
However they warn that this will not remove all pesticides used as some are 'systemic', meaning that they are actually absorbed by a plant when applied to seeds, soil, or leaves and the residues are therefore contained within the body of the produce itself.
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BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Two teenagers sentenced for roles in rape of girl at Limerick Racecourse
Two boys who raped a teenage girl in a car at Limerick Racecourse when they were aged just 13 and 15 years old have each been sentenced to six years in detention. A third defendant (now 18) who was found guilty of aiding and abetting the rapes by moving the car in which it occurred was jailed for three and a half years. Advertisement The daytime attack against the girl involved humiliation and degradation and was committed by offenders of a very young age, the Central Criminal Court heard. The teenage rapists and their families do not accept the verdicts of the jury and there was a heavy garda presence in court for sentencing on Thursday. Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that had the boys – who are all cousins - been adults at the time of the offending, the headline sentence for the rape offences would have been in the range of 15 years to life imprisonment. 'This was a 16-year-old intoxicated girl in a vulnerable situation subjected to rape and sexual assault,' he said. 'She was raped one after the other by (the two boys) and in the course of these rapes, she was sexually assaulted.' Advertisement The girl was repeatedly saying no during the assaults. Further indignity and humiliation was heaped upon her by video footage being taken of the incident, the judge said. Lack of remorse Handing down sentence, Mr Justice McDermott noted there was very little to be said in mitigation for the boys, as they have not expressed remorse or any understanding of the harm caused to the complainant. They must be sentenced as juveniles under the Children Act, in which detention is a last resort, the court heard. The judge accepted the third defendant, who aided and abetted the rapes, has taken some responsibility for his involvement but struggles to understand it. Advertisement He noted they have no previous convictions and have been subject to some childhood trauma, with mental health difficulties in their families. They had a lack of understanding in the areas of sexual relations and consent, the court heard. Mr Justice McDermott sentenced the two rapists to a sentence of seven and a half years of detention, with the final 18 months suspended on a number of conditions, including that they engage in sexual offending programmes and have no contact whatsoever with the complainant. The judge noted this means that part of their sentence will be served in prison. Advertisement He sentenced the third defendant to five years in jail as he is now over the age of 18 years. He suspended the final 18 months of this sentence on the same conditions. The three boys stood trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork earlier this year, with two of the boys (now aged 16 and 17) found guilty of sexually assaulting and raping the then 16-year-old girl in a car at the racecourse on December 26th 2022. They were 13 and 15 years old at the time. The third boy (now 18) was found guilty by the jury of four counts of aiding and abetting the rapes and sexual assaults following the six-week trial. The court heard he moved the car during the course of the attack. He was aged 15 at the time. He was acquitted of one count of false imprisonment. Video clips were taken of the incident by one of the boys, including one clip of the girl walking away from the car after she had been raped. Advertisement When she found her friends, she was extremely upset and immediately told them what had happened to her, the court heard. The boys denied raping the girl, telling gardaí differing versions of events including one who said he was in Dublin on the day in question. They all eventually claimed it was a consensual encounter. Detective Garda Lisa O'Regan told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the girl was socialising with her friends at the racecourse on the day in question. She was, in her own words, 'really drunk' when she got chatting to the three boys, Mr Kelly said. The court heard she agreed to go for a walk with one of the boys because she wanted to kiss him. Instead, she found herself in a car belonging to one of the boy's fathers where she was sexually assaulted and raped by two of them. The third boy moved the car at one point during the attack. The girl said she told the boys 'No' repeatedly and that she was on her period and had a tampon in. She said she told them she needed to go back to her friends, but they repeatedly said no and that she was 'fine'. When medically examined later that evening, she was found to have extensive bleeding and bruising. She was a virgin prior to the attack. The complainant (now aged 18) was not in court for the sentence hearing in Dublin. In a victim statement read out on her behalf by counsel, she described her fear and anxiety in the aftermath of the attack, during which she was 'begging them to get off me'. 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If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at or visit Rape Crisis Help.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Free school meals for more children in England is a positive thing, but there's a catch
Good news. Free school meals for all children in England on universal credit is rightly being celebrated by schools, nurseries, further education colleges and children's charities. There may only be 500,000 extra recipients estimated by the government now, but in the long run 1.7 million children will be eligible, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies. 'Fantastic news,' says the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), as 100,000 children will be lifted out of poverty by this annual £500 put back in parents' pockets. Food matters. Hungry children can't learn, and many miss school to avoid the public embarrassment of no dinner money and no packed lunch, according to CPAG's Priced Out of School report. Strong evidence shows a rise in attainment and attendance if you feed children. The Feed the Future campaign finds not just academic achievement but health, happiness, reduced obesity and lifetime earnings improve if children don't go hungry. Surely that can't surprise anyone. The universal breakfast clubs being rolled out now represent real progress. Strict rules stopping schools from demanding absurdly expensive uniforms, sometimes a not-so-subtle way to exclude poorer families, is another part of a developing anti-poverty strategy. But it's complicated. Nothing in poverty numbers is easy. So while celebrating more meals for more children, we should question the total number of children lifted out of poverty. The government says it's 100,000 and the IFS agrees. But look what happens when you factor in the dire effect of the upcoming £5bn disability and Pip cuts. Turn to the government's own paper on the impact. Look at Annex B: 'It is estimated that there will be an additional 250,000 people (including 50,000 children) in relative poverty after housing costs in financial year ending 2030 as a result of the modelled changes to social security.' As those receiving support from sources such as Pip lose their benefit, the family gets poorer. 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Lifting the two-child cap would cost less than meals, in terms of freeing children from poverty. That estimated £3.5bn to abolish it will have to be found by Liz Kendall and Bridget Phillipson's child poverty taskforce, which will report at budget time in the autumn. There just is no way round it for a government that pledged to take more children out of poverty. Note that they call this free school meals announcement just a 'down payment'. The best had better be yet to come. A final thought: for all the panic about disability claims, total working-age benefits as a proportion of government spending have not risen in the past 20 years. What has happened is cuts for children have been offset by increases for triple-locked pensioners. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Priest calls for end to violent feud in Limerick as footage emerges of drive-by shooting
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