How many harmful chemicals are in the human food chain (1)

How many harmful chemicals are in the human food chain (1)

Jiang Gaoming

This article is excerpted from Rural Revitalization: Choice and Practice, by Jiang Gaoming, China Science and Technology Press, 2019

Under the modern agricultural model, pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, hormones, mulch film, etc. have become the standard in agriculture, and some chemicals that should not have appeared in the food chain have also entered the human food chain in the name of producing food. It is difficult to say how many chemicals there are in the human food chain, or it is a confused account. This is because even pesticides that were considered harmful and eliminated at that time, such as 666 and DDT, are still produced and used in some remote areas. For chemicals that are not expected in the food chain, my initial conservative estimate was 50,000, up to a maximum of more than 100,000. According to preliminary statistics, in China alone, we have found that humans have invented as many as 50,626 chemicals or products around the food chain. For these different chemicals, especially synthetic chemicals, the classification is as follows:

(1) Pesticides

Pesticides in the narrow sense refer to pesticides, and pesticides in the broad sense also include fungicides, herbicides, synthetic hormones, etc. Here we understand pesticides as insecticides in the narrow sense. Since the first Green Revolution, many of the literature cannot be counted on how many pesticides humans have made. At the end of 2017, there were 38,247 pesticides registered in China. The reason why there are many types is first of all because people continue to invent new pesticides, and secondly, they are constantly arranged and combined on the basis of original drugs to create more pesticides. These pesticides, theoretically, can enter the food chain as long as they are used. In food sample testing, it is not possible to test so many pesticide types one by one. The commercial testing of food pesticide residues in China is generally carried out, and there are differences between 191 items and 292 items. Let's take 191 pesticide residues as an example to see what these pesticides are (herbicides are the line marks, and the rest are mainly pesticides and fungicides):

o-Phenylphenol, acetylmethophos, acetamidopyridine, olivine, olivine, salbuta, oligoxyl, oligoxyl sulfonyl, phosphorus, pyrimidine, benzene and spermbenzene, oxyprovir, ethamflurane, propylthiochlorvitamin, benzylsulfuron, bifenumerate, acrylamydomide, bromide Ethyl esters, acetophen sulfonate, thiazide, butyrosketamine, butyl ketovir, thiophosphate, grammydan, methavir, carbendazim, carbofuran, 3-hydroxyxobruvir, butylthio cloxilide, juvenile urea, chlordane, carbohydrin, chlorphenir Methyl chlorpyrifos, , thiazide, cyclofluoromyramine, cypermethrin, high potency cypermethrin, cyanourethrin, cypermethrin and cyanogen, permethrin, chlorpyrifosine, chlorpyrifosamine, o, p'-drip, p'-drip, o, p'-drip, p'-drip, p'-d-i, o, p'-dlet, p,p,p'-cypermethrin, cypermethrin and tetrabromothrin, diazinphosphate, benzosulfonamide, dichlorvosidine, chlornitrochloride, acetochlorocyclosol, acetovir, phenylethicrazole, leguo, enoyl morphine, enazolidol, Diophanus, methylaminoavermectin benzoate, endosulfan (β), endosulfan sulfide, endosulfan (α), ethylthiophenir, ethion, linewuff, ether permethrin, acethion, pyridoxine, pyrothioninol, cycloimmoncidine, boraxanthiphosphate, sec-dingvir, phenoxyvir, cypermethrin, butemphthrine, azole, bethionate, cypermethrin, cypermethrin, s-cypermethrin, fipronil, pylufarin and sperm, cyanopyrramis, flufenurea, fluosilazole, cyanothrin, furosene, fluorosil, 666, heptenphosphate, thiophenone, mycostatone, mycostatazole , imidacloprid, indanclamide, isobacterium urea, valamvir, aqueous thiophos, isosaliphos, methyl isosylidene, isoprene, isoprene, isoprolon, ether ester, ricotron, malathion, methyl cream and methyl cream, benzinone, methamphosphate, phosphorus killer, methionine, amidovir, methoxazine, isopropylamide and sperm-isopropyl eurl, methylchoxamide, diethylamide, phosphorus long-term (mg/kg), nitricozole, dichoxamide, nicosulfuron, phthalic acid ester, oxysocin, oxysomal, oxazone, oxysomal, sulfonone, oxysolin, sulfonate, paclobutrazole, Parathion, methyl parathion, pentocrazole, dimethylpentan, permethrin, rice fengshan, methioniphos, methylphosphorus, methyl phosphorus sulfoxide, methyl phosphorus sulfoxide, phosphorus monothion, phosphorus futilide, iminothion, phosphorus, octylthion, anti-aphidvir, pyrimidine phosphorus, methylpyrimidinphos, imidaminamine, humus, propyl bromphos, mammovir, , downy mildew, alkyne Pyrimidine, aniline, propiconazole, xenoxal, benzoylamide, pyritone, pyrazin, pyridoxine, pyridazine, pyrimidine, quinothion, pentachloronitrobenzene, queroxalene and sperm, sulfonylone, octachlorodyl ether, Polycycide, spirocycline, pentazol alcohol, carnohydrazide, insecticide, trichlorocarcin sulfone, thiazol, thiamethoxam, thiamethoxazine, thiamethoxazine, thiophenesulfuron, thioxavide, jiuxiwei sulfone, long-acting wesyl sulfone, toluene flufonamide, triazolone, triazolone, ether benzesulfuron, triazolium, diaptenia, flumezozole, flureling, flumidsulfuron, aphid phosphorus, ethylene sclerotium.

The above pesticides are believed to be unfamiliar to most consumers, but they may be on your table. In 2015, Greenpeace International randomly sampled vegetable samples in supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (including some supermarkets of foreign companies) and sent them to a third-party independent agency for testing, and found that there were 15 kinds of pesticide residues in chicken feather vegetables. 11 kinds of leeks; 6 kinds of cucumbers; 4 kinds of cabbage; 6 kinds of spinach; 11 species of cowpea; 6 kinds of small tomatoes; 8 species of lentils; 6 kinds of Dutch beans; Sugar oranges 9 species. Of the 45 vegetable samples sent for testing, 50 pesticides were found. Among them, among the 5 highly toxic pesticides defined by the World Health Organization, among the vegetable samples, 2 pesticides are banned by China. Ironically, some vegetable products also have organic certification. Of the 50 pesticides found in 45 samples, 21 had carcinogenic effects; 15 kinds of endocrine effects; 6 have effects on the nervous system.

Most pesticides have serious pesticide residues exceeding the standard, of which chlorpyrifos exceed the detected value by up to 220 times; Putrefaction 480 times. These pesticides should not have appeared in vegetables, and their content should be less than 0.01 ppm. Of course, Europe and the United States and other countries, including the relevant departments of our country, stipulate that pesticides can be eaten with confidence if they do not exceed the standard. Unfortunately, these provisions are also difficult to achieve.

The phenomenon of cocktails in pesticides is very serious. Foreign scientists believe that the impact of a single pesticide on the human body may not be large, but the combination of multiple pesticides may lead to serious health consequences. In a famous boutique in Shanghai, researchers found 16 kinds of pesticide residues, namely: pentachloronitrobenzene, pentachloroaniline, chlorine, bromonianitrile, bacillus, humus, pyrazole ether ester, imidamine, carbendalin, phenylcycloprim, pentazolin, chloranthramide, fly killing amine, enoyl morpholine, methylaminoavermectin, avermectin, avermectin, showing these typical pesticide cocktail phenomena. It is worth mentioning that the impact of a variety of pesticide residues on human health has not been studied in depth so far.