Food Pollution

Food pollution

Food can influence the human body in many ways, both positively and negatively. Several key elements of contemporary food cultivation and production are presented, along with their potential consequences to our health. The history of food cultivation and consumption is contrasted between early hunter-gatherer societies and modern day societies. Natural nutrient-rich foods produced from the soil in early societies have been replaced with artificial supplements and treated with pesticides and herbicides to control plant disease. The World Labor Organization state that the usage of agricultural chemicals and pesticides has dramatically increased from 65 million tons to more than 400 million tons in a short span of year.
US Food & Drug Association (FDA) issued several reports in 2005 indicating that, in every 150,000 cancer patients, 25% of them are affected by cancer causing agricultural chemicals.

Heavy antibiotics in farming causing super-diseases

Last year, reports surfaced of a super-strain of food-borne salmonella that's resistant to most forms of drug treatments. Some strains are resistant to all known treatments, and other common food-borne diseases also are getting more difficult to treat. Organizations like the
Union of Concerned Scientists say the cause is the heavy use of antibiotics in farming not to protect against disease, but as a cheap and easy way to speed up animal growth.

Fish becoming too toxic to eat

In the past, perch, bass, catfish, trout and walleye have been contaminated with toxic levels of PCBs, lead, cadmium and pesticides. And virulent bacterium and natural toxins can thrive in raw oysters, clams and mussels. If you're pregnant, you might want to avoid fish and raw shellfish. But the
Environmental Working Group offers a startling suggestion that several other commonly sold fish should be avoided entirely if pregnant, and that you should eat still others on a limited basis only. This list includes tuna, halibut, sea bass, cod, pollock, and mahi mahi. See a CNN report on possible effects of too much tuna on developing fetuses.
Consumer Association of United States report indicates that if a child consume too much of contaminated foods, the nervous system can be affected and damaged.