I became chemically sensitive in 2008 and my dad became chemically sensitive in the late 1970s. My dad says that organic food used to be consistently free of chemicals that made him sick. Some years before I became chemically sensitive, my dad noticed that some organic food growers started to use some kind of natural pesticide that made him sick.
The following site explains why organic food is not always as free of dangerous substances as people often think it is: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lhom/organictext.html.
Organic food growers can use a variety of products to kill bugs and other pests and still label their food as organic. Some of these natural pesticides include pyrethrin and rotenone. I believe it is likely that some of these natural pesticides can cause symptoms and other problems in people and especially in those with chemical sensitivity. Furthermore, organic food growers are not subject to the regulations that apply to the use of pesticides, including regulations that limit the quantity of pesticides that may be applied to a crop area. Consequently, consumers of organic food may be eating a substantial amount of natural pesticide.
My health improved substantially after I stopped eating a certain brand of organic brown rice. I had been buying it in bulk and eating a lot of it. I noticed that after I would eat it, my liver area would become inflamed. I brought some of the rice to my dad and he confirmed that it had the natural pesticide in it that made him sick. I switched to conventionally grown (not organic) brown rice and I felt a lot of improvement. I had been dangerously thin and was able to gain over thirty pounds and get closer to a healthy weight.
The natural pesticides that are being used by some organic food growers are so harmful to my dad and I that we often choose to avoid organic food products. Don't get me wrong--a lot of organic food is free of the natural pesticides that make us sick. It is a sad irony that a lot of people are sacrificing to pay a premium for organic food when it is actually damaging their health more than if they were to stick with conventionally grown food.
It makes sense that chemically sensitive individuals would be sensitive to some natural pesticides. For example, pyrethrin is a natural pesticide obtained from the chrysanthemum plant.[1] Pyrethroids are synthetic pesticides that were patterned after pyrethrin, and are chemically similar, but are made to last longer. For example, bifenthrin is a pyrethroid, and is the active ingredient in the product that caused me to become extremely chemically sensitive.
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[1] Pyrethroid, Wikipedia, accessed on 05/07/13, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethroid.
Interesting. I wonder about some of my "allergies" and whether they're something on what I'm eating rather than the food itself given my generalized issues with other chemicals. I've been introducing whole organic foods carefully one at a time and have had issues with some. Eg Grapes. But I'm suspicious of an organic pesticide like you say. To find out do you generally contact the producer?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. That is a smart system to introduce foods one at a time to see how you react. I've never contacted the producer before. It might be somewhat tricky with some products because the product manufacturer may not have all the information about what organic pesticides the growers are using. And I'm not certain the growers would be willing to disclose that information, but it probably would not hurt to ask. I do not even know what the organic pesticide(s) are that makes us ill and I am curious about that. I have just tried to avoid the foods that make my dad and I sick. He is more sensitive to that organic pesticide than I am, so he lets me know which foods to avoid. Thanks again and I hope you can find foods you can do well with.
DeleteThat makes sense. Yes it's hard to find time to do any extra research on top of what is necessary to stay healthy and alive :). I often wonder if some of my food reactions are merely someone or something that happened to casually touch or be in contact with the food item. What kind of water do you drink? I'm just in the midst of water reactions and trying to figure something safe out. Take care.
DeleteMy dad has also had a difficult time finding water he can drink. We have just used trial and error. I drink municipal water that is filtered with a filtration system that is placed next to our sink. It uses a carbon filter, which I seem to tolerate well. I do not do well with some carbon filters, however. Our water filtration system is a Kangen system, which is probably way too expensive if you just need filtered water and do not need alkaline water or the other kangen features. I have a difficult time with chlorine, and I wrote a different post on removing chlorine from shower water: http://tipsforcs.blogspot.com/search/label/chlorine. I also generally do not do well with water that comes in soft plastic bottles. Good luck!
DeleteHi! I just found your blog and added it to the Safe Canary Nest Resources page in blogs. http://safecanarynest.com/?q=resources Thanks for your work!
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