The Healthy Temple

More than a million preschoolers consume at least 15 pesticides a day in food, according to our latest study of government data. Some 324,000 kids age five and under exceed federal safety standards every day for just one neurotoxic insecticide, methyl parathion. Methyl parathion is the most toxic organophosphate insecticide approved for use on food. It’s so toxic that the EPA’s “daily” safe dose for the compound is 0.000025 milligrams per kilogram of human body weight. A 154-pound person would exceed the EPA daily dose by eating less than two one-millionths of a gram of the chemical (002 milligrams). Some apples and peaches are so contaminated with methyl parathion that a kid can exceed the government’s safe daily limits with just two bites. A 154-pound adult eating such an apple would ingest only half of the current safe daily dose, whereas it would put a 44-pound child 67 percent over his or her “safe’ limit”.
Organophosphate pesticides inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, a key molecule required to permit the regeneration of acetylcholine at neuromuscular junctions and thereby control nerve to muscle transmission. Many organophosphorus compounds damage nerves directly, creating adverse conditions that are largely irreversible. Animal studies show that organophosphorus compounds damage the central nervous system. Neurological poisoning may take months or years to show up. Concentrated organophosphorus compounds are used to produce nerve gas, and a few drops are quickly lethal. Symptoms of poisoning include stomach and intestinal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and “pinpoint” pupils. These pesticides change chemically as they age, becoming even more toxic.