Show 1? miMitim 1 Crossword 12 Classifieds 14 The Herald Journal Logan Utah Monday August 10 1998 Pesticides may make food better for health By Mark Anderson I :ir lia Dg in ‘y ier ns ay ir- nk Ji- tat ne a on :ar I he n en i a for sat lat to on ed ra ses ter K-- la tis in he rar id n no) can't remember how many times people have stopped me at the grocery store at the restaurant and even at the doctor's office to ask me gardening questions Not only do 1 feel very flattered hut I feel an overwhelming responsibility to always give the correct answer (and sometimes it's not easy given the brief descriptions of damaged grass or plants that I receive) One question never gives me any trouble: is it hard to come up with different topics each week? Not really The hard part is not repeating myself too much when the same problems keep repeating themselves each year As I write this article I have a myriad different gardening questions I could address but 1 know I have already written something on each of diem in the past Instead I want to share a little useful information about pesticides and vegetables August is hap vest time in Cache Valley and with all of die media attention about pesticides recently I know many gardeners are concerned about die safety of vegetables in their own garden and at die grocery store I think you'll be surprised at the information I’ve found Howard Deer the USU Extension Pesticide Specialist sends out a newsletter every month filled with die latest information on pesticides and application In his latest letter toxicologists at the University of California Davis have found that in some cases pesticides actually increase the safety of roods Sounds phony right? Consumers have been trained to think that any pesticide residue on vegetables is unhealthy What most people don't know is that plants produce their own toxins to fight insects and diseases and high levels of these naturally occurring “pesticides" pose health risks to die consumer In specific cases pesticides may reduce the levels of these toxins produced by controlling insects and diseases before the plants respond to them naturally Of course this is only one study isolated to a few vegetables (corn and tomatoes) The US National Research Council recently concluded a comprehensive investigation into the association between pesticide residues and cancer The report concludes that the natural carcinogens in fruits and vegetables present a fa greater risk of contracting cancer than the low levels of pesticide residues found on our foods They also strongly suggest that neither the naturally occurring toxins nor the chemical toxins are present at high enough levels to cause a health risk The Research Council urges consumers to eat more vegetables and fruits because doing so will cut cancer risks in half--no matter whether they were grown organically or by mainstream farmers So how dangerous are chemical pesticide residues on vegetables to the consumer? The National Cancer Institute of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society asked a panel of scientists to study die links between cancer and exposure to pesticides This panel had no affiliation with any pesticide maker and therefore had no reason to defend pesticide use in anyway Here is what they found: Only two out of 100 cancer deaths are associated with all forms of environmental threats including air pollution water pollution pesticides etc A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is not only healthy but will help reduce cancer risk Eating more fruits and vegetables tainted with pesticide residues will not increase your risk of cancer The benefits of die diet easily outweigh die dan gers Pesticides improve crop production and food quality which leads to a decrease in the costs of fruits and vegetables If they cost less then consumers eat more fruits and veggies (they had better!) and reduce their risk or cancer No evidence suggests that crop lawn and garden chemicals are a major cause of cancer This doesn't mean dial pesticides don’t cause cancer It only implies that we would notice if pesticides caused pro-cedur- See ANDERSON es By J R Alfred for The Herald Journal he best and safest places to drive according to the European Union are Sweden and England On visits to Europe we drove in Sweden but in England we let others drive us The modem Swedish artists Flowers waving grasses and croplands line the western seacoast of Sweden This is Sweden’s “Riviera” Pleasure boats jam Raa Harbor and remind the visitor of Sweden’s Viking origins At Helsingborg the emphasis is outdoors Crowded beaches golf courses flowered parks and cosmopolitan restaurants and shops give rise to the nickname “The Pearl of the Sound” Helsingborg is hardly a stone's throw across the sound from Denmark and is a major entrywav to Sweden for tourists Inland from Helsingborg we drove the uncrowded rural roads through cultivated forests and prosperous-lookin- g farmsteads We found the area where my grandmother's family fanned more than a century ago “This is the best farm land in Sweden" the young caretaker at a local form told us Mm Nicander said hie helps look after a big house and outbuildings now owned by a duke He helps raise grain sugar beets tape seed and livestock The owner’s brother farms in Viiginia and John had worked there two yean His English was almost without accent — die case with many Swedes we met There was rolling pasture and crop land hay in windrows and in the white plastic bags that look like huge marshmallows The reason: The Swedes drive on die right (right) side of die road die British drive on the wrong (left) side That makes a big difference in a driver's adjusting his habits particularly in reacting to the unexpected Swedish highways are good and as we drove from Gotebcrg on foe west side of foe country to Helsingborg on foe southern peninsula then back north to Stockholm on the eastern shore we found other driven were courteous and the scenery terrific We avoided big city driving as much as we could but even when we did congestion and road rage seemed absent While we were in Stockholm rainy weather drove us inside ooe morning after a short visit to Gamla Stan Stockholm's "Old Town” There was more than enough to see indoors too We had a look at foe country's earlier seafaring history in Stockholm's Vasa Museum la 1628 the 226-foo- t 16 sail warship “Vasa" sank in Stockholm Harbor on its maiden voyage In 1961 foe ship was brought to the surface well preserved in the cold harbor water It was finally fully ready for display in dm new museum in 199a The nearby National Museum features an impressive collection of art of the leading European old masters imports from America and die exciting creations of lay- out would have delighted a Cache Valley dairy farmer’s heart The productive and neatlooking land gave me a little twinge of heartbreak for my ancestors who left such an area to sweat out a living in die deserts of Sanpete County Almost continuous daylight in midsummer gives Scandinavians a lot of hours for hard work and enthusiastic play Even plants seem to work extra hard in the short intense growing season Berries vegetables and flow- Ftowera waving grasses and croplands lino ers burst forth in the long western coast of Sweden foe ‘Rmern too hours of sunlight and the big fields of grain forage and seed oops were thriving Tbe peak of die super summer in the far north is Midsummer Night really no night at all because it is summer solstice or the longest day of the year Depending See SWEDEN on Page II i Page 11 ton era rtn Tuesday Food: Dutch oven delights OR COPY ill Features: 752-212- 1 |