How much do you value good health, and how serious are you in maintaining it? That’s the question we must have when thinking about each ingredient we put into our dishes.
We recognize that people have zome objectives as to why they take what they eat. Just a reflection of this is the food posts about diet, slimming ideas, food flavors, who cooked what, famous restaurants, where to take and buy food, and how delectable a dish is. Whether you are a political figure, a celebrity, or an ordinary person, people talk about these food topics. A network of people seems to be interested and in agreement about these food concerns. Thus, people belonging to the foodie club communicate and make article posts to achieve the common goal of making fresh rich tasting foods known, accessible, and available.
However, concerns about ingesting toxic substances and pesticide residues from fresh produce are usually ignored. Despite that we’re aware of the adverse effects of pesticides, and how risky it is, we observed that many people take this kind of issue for granted, thus making it seem as if it’s of little importance.
A lot of individuals may feel or assume that advisory messages about these issues do not apply to them. They have this “Optimism Bias” thinking that ugly occurrences or negative happenings are only relatable to zome. Hence perceives that reminder messages are only addressed to a group of people who are affected by children and adult pesticide toxic poisoning. Many individuals feel that they are an exception zo the message is not targeted at them. However several case studies presented the effect of accidental ingestion or excessive exposure to poisonous substances and how it put their life at risk and caused them to be hospitalized. Read the cases below to know more.
Pesticide poisoning
Children poisoning
Childhood pesticide poisoning is one of the major health problems in regions like Zhejiang China. Among all age groups, it has been found that infant pesticide poisoning has the highest fatality rate that could be caused by contaminated food consumption. This claim is based on the findings of an epidemiological study that investigated the incident cases of child pesticide poisoning from 2006 to 2015. Their data was retrieved from the Occupational Disease Surveillance and Reporting System of Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China. The study also found that preschool children were the most affected age group, followed by adolescents, the school-age group, and infants. Poisoning occurs mostly in rural areas where pesticides are easily available to rural families who frequently use pesticides for their agricultural activities. Moreover, the outcome of the investigation yielded that during the farming season child pesticide poisoning was common, and more cases were reported in summer and fall, while fewer poisoning cases were documented in winter. Organophosphate and carbamate insecticides were identified to be the usual cause of child pesticide poisoning, which is probably because of their easy availability and usual usage in agriculture. Herbicides and fungicides also caused poisonings and deaths. While paraquat and methamidophos were the pesticides involved in most deaths, especially dichlorvos, which is a frequently used organophosphate in China. Thus the researchers recommend that pesticides with high toxicity be banned. (1)
Farmers Growers poisoning
Young farmer
A young farmer’s pesticide poisoning experience was published in Scientific Research Publishing in 2017. Anjelo M., a 21-year-old farmer who’s married and has two children, and living in Gaza Strip, Palestine was found losing consciousness on their farm after spraying chlorpyrifos, a widely used pest control insecticide in Gaza, and using high volume technique on a windy day. He was disoriented, irritable, vomiting, suffering from diarrhea, and had a low level of acetylcholine esterase activity. Other adverse effects seen on him were severe fasciculation of the tongue and all muscles, and his pinpoint pupils were irresponsive to light. For medical treatments, the farmer was brought to the hospital and admitted at the intensive care unit. During his seven days of hospital confinement, clinical investigations were conducted. The farmer left the hospital after three weeks of medical treatment and follow-up. It took him several weeks before he was fully detoxed from the insecticide and was severely poisoned in the first week, moderately poisoned in the second week, and slightly poisoned in the third week. (2)
Old farmer
While staying in the countryside to apply dimethoate-based organophosphorus pesticide on olive plants, an 84-year-old man was found unconscious in his agricultural field. He was brought to the Emergency Department of Mazzini Hospital in Teramo Italy. The patient’s neurological status was Glasgow Coma Scale 3, had muscle and peribuccal articulation, myotic pupils, hyper-lacrimation, skin face hyperemia, diaphoresis, and urinary incontinence upon hospital’s arrival. He also zuffers from hemodynamic instability and respiratory failure with stertorous breathing and bronchoconstriction due to bronchorrhea. He was treated by cleansing and decontaminating his zkin, and excluded poisoning by the digestive route. After two years, the patient had an amnesia regarding the incident though he doesn’t have a neurological deficit and was in excellent general condition. (3)
These cases tell about the experiences of real people. From their narratives, we can see how poisonous pesticides are. If farmers themselves and their children have been poisoned and affected by this chemical, then individuals like us could also be affected by it. Hence this kind of message zhould not only be addressed to those who directly use pesticides particularly the farmers who plant and grow our food. This kind of awareness message must also be addressed to individuals because we are also affected by consuming these fresh produce. We must own the responsibility of taking good care of our health and take charge of ensuring that we provide the appropriate and adequate nourishment that our body needs through safe and healthy ingredients.
Value having a genuine healthy body ❤
References:
- (1) Yimaer, A., Chen, G., Zhang, M. et al. Childhood pesticide poisoning in Zhejiang, China: a retrospective analysis from 2006 to 2015. BMC Public Health 17, 602 (2017). doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4505-3
- (2) El-Nahhal, Y. (2017) Acute Poisoning among Farmers by Chlorpyrifos: Case Report from Gaza Strip. Occupational Diseases and Environmental Medicine, 5, 47-57. doi:10.4236/odem.2017.52005.
- (3) Faluomi M, Cialini M, Naviganti M, Mastromauro A, Marinangeli F, Angeletti C. Organophosphates pesticide poisoning: a peculiar case report. J Emerg Crit Care Med 2022;6:30. doi:10.21037/jeccm-22-64
📝 February 14, 2024
Oil Therapy 