Irispublishers-Global Journal of Nutrition & Food Science (GJNFS)

 

Use of Pesticides on Crops and Its Impact on Health

Authored by  Cyril Kanmony J*

Opinion

Pesticides refer to agro-chemicals that are used for protecting plants from pests. Pesticides are classified into insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and others including plant-growth-regulators. Liberal use of agro-chemicals results in the presence of excess pesticide residues in the edible parts of plants and food grains. It is proved by many laboratory-based studies [1]. The indiscriminately sprayed pesticides and insecticides also results in the pollution of air, water and soil. Pollution reduces our life span by increasing our exposure to environment-related health hazards [2,3]. Further due to overuse of these poisonous pesticides and insecticides, these pests and insects become immune to these chemicals and become more dangerous than before. We use these poisonous chemicals to kill the damage-causing pests without knowing their impact on human health. They have the potential to kill not only pests and insects but also various beings including human beings. Why do then we use these poisonous agro-chemicals?

Pests, weeds and diseases destroy crops to the extent of 40% in developing countries. The net impact is a decline in the yield and output. In India, it is estimated at 35% to 45% [4]. Hence it is utmost necessity to control these damage-causing pests and insects to enhance production. But nobody bothers about the residues present in edible parts of plants and food grains that humans consume. A recent report published by All India Network Project on Pesticide Residues finds that residues of pesticides were found in 18.75% of samples tested. These samples include vegetables, cereals, pulses, egg, fish, meat, spices, tea, milk, and surface water. In some samples residues of multiple pesticides have been detected. Even mild doses also result in serious adverse health effects by getting accumulated in our body over a period. The most dangerous matter is that the diseases caused by these pesticides cannot be cured.

In European and other developed countries, all chemicals and bacteria are within the prescribed limit. But in India, there is no monitoring system to regulate the usage of these pesticides and insecticides and Indian farmers are uneducated and so they buy and use many pesticides without consulting field experts. They use them even in the absence of disease symptoms. It results in overusing of these agro-chemicals and consequently the presence of excess amount of pesticide residues in food items. They also use these pesticides carelessly without following the required protective measures as they don’t know the hazardous effects of pesticides. The production and consumption of these agro-chemicals, in India, is continuously increasing due to the patronage of governments though these agro-chemicals and chemical fertilizers were introduced in India only after Green Revolution to increase food production. Hence, the total food production in India increased from 82 million tonnes in 1960-1961 to 176 million tonnes in 1990-1991. The production of grains has reached an all-time high of 281 million tonnes in 2018-2019,

Even the usage of poisonous and hazardous pesticides and insecticides is not regulated. In India, as on 30.08.2016, 275 pesticides were registered for use. Of these 255 are chemical poisons and 115 are highly hazardous (Kumar and Narasimha 2017). In the supply of agro-chemicals, India stood at the 4th place after the US, Japan and China. India’s pesticides industry is the biggest in Asia and 12th in the world. The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers (GOI 2019a) [5] reports show that the production of key pesticides increased from 186,490 MTs in 2014-2015 to 216,703 MTs in 2018-2019. The consumption also increased from 56,121 MTs in 2014-2015 to 62,183 MTs in 2017-2018. But the consumption of these chemicals was only 39,773 MTs in 2005-2006. Of the total pesticides consumed, nearly 70% is consumed by five States, namely: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Crop wise data show that more than 18% of pesticides are used on paddy, the most staple food of Indians and 50% on cotton. On an average, the consumption of pesticides in India is 0.29 kg/ ha. But it is as high as 0.74 kg in Punjab, 0.62 kg in Haryana and 0.57kg in Maharashtra and as low as 0.03 kg in Madhya Pradesh (GOI 2019) [6].

The presence of traces of dangerous pesticides that we use as pest-control chemicals creates many health problems. The most dangerous fact is that the diseases caused by these pesticides cannot be cured. The health problems range from short-term illnesses like headache and nausea to chronic impacts like cancer, reproductive harm and endocrine disruption. Long-term exposure to pesticides also leads to Parkinson’s diseases, asthma, depression and anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children in comparison with adults breathe more air, eat more food and drink more water per unit of body weight and so among all the most vulnerable are children. A recent report points out that since 2005 there has been a general increase of 11% in ADHD, while there has been a 175% increase in cases among children between 3 and 17 years of age. The final consequence of the presence these pesticides in human body is death. It is reported that in developing countries nearly 800,000 people have died due to pesticides since the onset of Green Revolution and every year the death toll due to pesticide consumption through their food is about 2,000. There is also a continuous increase in the disease burden of human beings. Increase in ill-health results in increase in health-related expenditure [7].

It is our duty to keep the environment clear and the world intact for the future generation. The question here arises is: can our crops survive without using or at least without overusing these pesticides and insecticides? The simple answer for the question is: ‘yes’, andour crops can survive without these agro-chemicals. There are different methods to control these pests and insects. Some measures are sustainable and eco-friendly. The best method to stop the use pesticides is organic farming, in which most of the damage-causing pests and insects can be kept away from farms without creating any damage to the environment. For example, in Tamil Nadu, India, Nam Alwar, a perfect organic farmer, solved many problems of farmers without using any pesticide.

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Irispublishers-Global Journal of Nutrition & Food Science (GJNFS)

 

Food and Nutrition Trends: Eternal Life or Our Extinction?

Authored by İsmail Hakkı Tekiner* 

Abstract

Four thousand years later, Gilgamesh’s story still tells us valuable things about meaning of life, our inescapable mortality, and fighting for eternal life. Since the end of the World War II, food industries and stakeholders have been writing again a contemporary Epic of Gilgamesh offering nutrition and health challenges as if alleged paradigm-shifting divinity.

Keywords: Food; Nutrition; Trend; Eternal life; Extinction; Health challenge; Paradigm; Paradox

Introduction

Gilgamesh and his beloved friend Enkidu start a journey to conquer the god Humbaba. Our heroes battle Humbaba and kill the god with the help of another god Shamash. Things go so badly, and Humbaba curses them before dying. Enkidu becomes sick and dies shortly after. Endiku’s death bludgeons Gilgamesh into making a second journey to discover the secret of eternal life, and then finds the magical plant of immortality. However, a serpent steals it. Eventually, Gilgamesh stops looking for youth-giving secret bows to the inevitable and goes back to Uruk in Mesopotamia to spend the rest of his life [1, 2].

The 1950s were a turning point, and clearly started transforming and re-orienting our food systems and societies. This transformation dramatically accelerating in the 1970s triggered mass-production and overconsumption, including food and nutrition systems, throughout the world by means of the neoliberal economic model [3].

Here we need to ask that question to ourselves; how food and nutrition systems evolved after the 1950s? After the end of the WW II, the stakeholders or neoliberal economic model in the need to generate profits intensively began to develop and implement new culture-based tools, including mass consumption, consumer, image, media cultures to be able to market newly invented products [4].

Lifestyles along with food and beverage purchase decisions in the world are mainly shaped by demographic changes, widespread electronic network, and shifting personal values. For instance, specialty foods and drinks are the third fastest-growing luxury category worldwide, after electronics and cars. Global consumers look for new products and solutions driving growth of health and wellness such as prevention of stress and anxiety, mild vision impairment, mental development, and gut health, and so on [5].

Interestingly, we see the reflections of this transformation in five Nobel Prizes Winners. Each made significant contributions to the history of food and nutrition such as; Pavlov on mammalian digestive systems, Eijkman and Hopkins on vitamins for health and disease prevention, Orr on equitable distribution of food and nutrition, Borlaug on disease-resistant crops to improved yields, and Amartya Sen on prevention or mitigation of famine [6]. This chronological order reveals that after 1945, Nobel Prizes also shifted from pure and health researches to economic, food and nutrition security related policies, as obviously seen.

We actually evaluate the probability of our species extinction from naturally occurring processes, as Snyder-Beattie et al. said. Such processes contain well-characterized risks such as asteroid impacts, super volcanic eruptions, mega earthquakes, and pandemic diseases as well as other risks that still remain unclear. However, However, Snyder-Beattie et al. warn us to focus on the risks from our own design rather than spending on existential risks. Being honest, many of today’s food production systems and nutrition trends compromise the capacity of our blue planet to meet the food needs in the future [7]. Food and nutrition trends don’t just have an impact on the human health, but also on the health of the Earth and all other existing species.

If so, what is the matter? Benjamin Franklin said, “we are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid”. His words would be assumed to be a call against ignorance in the solutions to food systems, which are becoming complex and challenging by time. It is a statement that given the evidence about the extinction caused by overconsumption in the planet, its climate, species and people, continuing to be ignorant equals sheer stupidity, and we do not need to be a genius to understand this. In this perspective, I see that each historical period reflects unique circumstances indeed. However, I criticize the final destination of food and nutrition trends in this era; eternal life or our inescapable mortality? even though the extinction is to some extent predictable.

We are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history, as Stephen Hawking said. All we can say that Hawking’s comments could have come before the nutrition and health challenging Epic of today’s food and nutrition trends. This is a strange paradox, as Elizabeth A. Johnson says [8], and tells us strange things about eternal life such as gazing in wonder at Earth, and in contrary to, our inescapable mortality such as ravaging and depleting the natural world four thousand years later.

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Irispublishers-Global Journal of Nutrition & Food Science (GJNFS)

 

Sustainable Seafood Resources by Applying Industry 4.0: A Short Note

Authored by Chee Kong Yap* 

Short Communication

The First, Second, Third Industrial Revolutions started with the advent of steam and waterpower, electric power and mass manufacturing techniques, and information technology and automation, respectively [1,2]. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, known as Industry 4.0, is a much-discussed topic in the literature nowadays [1]. According to Industrial Internet Consortium (2017) [3], Industry 4.0 is defined as “the integration of complex physical machinery and devices with networked sensors and software, used to predict, control and plan for better business and societal outcomes”. When it is looked as a single interpretation of the above, it is rather difficult to connect how the application of the concept Industry 4.0 can help sustain the seafood natural resources from the coastal environment. Generation of economy with seafood products with high quality will certainly make a country to sustain its GDP per capital at the carrying capacity limit or can potentially exceeding it. The idea of this paper is grounded based on logical understanding between seafood sources and industry 4.0.

Managing sustainable coastal natural resources needs integration of three main elements namely economy, social and environmental perspectives. In the Goal #12 under United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), the three keywords ‘Economy, Environmental and Social’ are mentioned [2]. This clearly shows the interconnection of the three components for sustainable development of a nation. Based on the papers [4] reviewed in this article, although there is no mention of ‘Food’, the food as a major source is actually under the keyword ‘Environmental’. Under UNSDGs, ‘increases in living standard for all people’ in the Goal #9 and ‘a better quality of life for all’ in the Goal #12, have an ecological interpretation of the important of food safety and security in sustaining both mentioned goals. Hence, the public could be misled when the Food is not seen under Goal #9 and Goal #12 under UNSDGs.

Industry is needed and essential for a nation for infrastructure development. The manufacturing industry is much needed to create novel invention and innovation of food packages in addition to nutritional values of the seafood such as the edible soft tissues of marine mussels that contain high level of protein and vitamins [5,6]. For example, the use of fish skins has been patented as a novel invention as a source of collagen for cosmetic purpose [7]. Later, may such related or modified methods of extraction or using other species of marine fished have been successfully patented and commercialized. This has positively created space and opportunities for fish market expansion in response to the collagen demand from the consumers. The data from the needs and demand from the public is highly subjective and become meaningless until there is high demand from the public. The fish suppliers will look for more sources of fish species enabling to high production of fish skin collagens for the cosmetic uses from consumer point of view. This has created a behavioural economic backbone to support the need of Industry 4.0, in which social factor is of paramount importance for coastal management [8].

Based on a Hungary case study, Nagy et al. (2018) reported that application of more efficient production processes can achieve a higher productivity in terms of increased economic sustainability Using the online questionnaire, the proportions of food industry (18.6%) was considered high. The word ‘food industry’ is therefore in the list of Internet of Things.

In conclusion, the security of seafood in quality and quantity is expected to be of high public concern in line with Industry 4.0 especially in Goal #9 and Goal #12 under UNSDGs. There are definite no doubt the natural seafood resources from the fragile coastal environment will determine the life quality of the human population. To sustain the well-being of the public, the sustainability of our coastal environment is not only our responsibility but also our mission to educate our next generations on how to sustain our coastal environment.

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