When it comes to contamination and pesticides we seem to be more concerned with fruits and vegetables than meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. After all most contamination concerns and news center around plant products than the others.

Pesticides seem to be the top concern especially when it comes to cancer prevention. Not only that , but many have said that the pesticides on vegetables and fruits are more dangerous than eating meat, dairy and fish. But what fails to be mentioned is that animal products are also contaminated with pesticides and insecticides.

There is no denying that quite a few contamination outbreaks involving pesticides have been linked to plant products. A 1991 report showed a couple of examples such as the ’62 Turkey episode in which 333 people were killed and 3000 poisoned due to consumption of grains treated with the pesticide hexachlorobenzene and the ’87 incident in which 15 Peruvians were killed and 260 became sick because of bread consumed made from aldrin contaminated flour.

Not surprising these outbreaks happened in developing countries. The startling fact though is that both these chemicals are currently being used by the US and other developed countries for the same purpose, only in smaller quantities. And while their short term effects are well known, their long term effects are not.

The reason why it may be hard to pinpoint the effects of pesticides and insecticides is the effects may be long term and quite difficult to point out a direct source as the culprit. Simply put, we do know the pesticide aldrin causes tumors, cancer, birth defects and liver damage among others when ingested or comes in contact with skin. What we don’t know is how long and in what amount is required to cause long term effects such as 20-40 years when ingested in small amounts by consuming foods that were treated with it.

Generally when you mention pesticides to most people the first thing that comes to mind is cancer, fruits and vegetables. These are the groups we fear most about getting contaminated. Yet we hardly seem to take notice that those used in animal products are worse.

It does not take rocket science to deduct that since animal products contain more parasites, pests and dieses than plant products farmers and cattlemen will have to use more pesticides and insecticides to keep these down. Not only that but the pesticides used for animal products would have to be stronger since they have to fight more pests and contaminates. Not only that but plant foods such as grapes, carrots, lattice, oranges etc. contain cancer fighting properties. Animal products contain none. So the more fruits and vegetables you eat your cancer risk decreases while the more animal products you eat the greater your cancer risk. More importantly, many of the nutritional properties in these foods combat the pesticides used to keep them from the bugs whereas the pesticides and insecticides used on animals while keeping them from one evil causes a whole host of other evils.

Nothing better illustrates this point than the subject of fish. Fish raised on farms and even those from the sea contain high levels of toxins and pesticides. Animals especially fish do not react well to pesticides. For instance, fish do not readily excrete toxins. Instead they are stored in the fatty tissue. That is why doctors like Michael Jacobson from SCPI have reported that toxins in fish can be up to a million times more than in the water they swim. This means a fish with some of the highest toxin levels can be swimming in a virtually unpolluted stream.

From this evidence it’s no surprise that the National Cancer Institute reported that the death rate from cancer among people living in areas where fish has exceptionally higher large amounts of tumors is higher than those who do not live in such areas.

More evidence that animal products are more laced with pesticides and insecticides than plant products comes from your Sunday Steak. In August of ’92 the Government Accounting Office Report released a report on a survey conducted in 1988 in Illinois that which found that 58% of drugs used in dairy were not approved for such use.

Howard Lyman, former Montana cattleman who along with Opera Winfrey was sued for his comments on her show about the cover up in the meat industry, has said that farmers regularly dump antibiotics in all feed instead of giving it only to those infected. What does this cause? Super bugs! Which are extremely resistant to the drugs. Needless to say this is more than disturbing especially when you think that the meat being served to you is filled with bacteria resistant drugs.

But probably the most startling fact is the USDA’s lack of interest in making sure standards are met. Take for instance the fact that out of the 80 antibiotics used in agriculture, only seven is authorized for use in lactating (milk) cows, yet the FDA only checks for four of them. Further analysis showed that milk from the Northeastern states (those in the grocery stores) had 63% detectable residues of antibiotics. – Journal of American Veterinary Association, July 1, 1992.

With this type of evidence if renders the USDA certification quite useless at the very least and arguably quite dangerous. Clearly from research we see that meat, dairy, poultry and fish pose a bigger concern and this is just taking into account the pesticides. We have not even touched BIV, DDT, BSE, Mad Cow Dieses, foot and mouth dieses, prions and SARS to name a few.

While we hear about the outbreaks in plant foods we hardly hear about those from animal products. And history has told us that the silent killers are more dangerous. SO what will it be, the leaf of lettuce or the piece of USDA certified prime steak?