Cilantro Is One Poluted Herb :shock:

[tex]

Hi All,

I'm just guessing, but apparently, USDA hasn't bothered to check for chemicals on cilantro in over 20 years, and when they finally got around to it, the results were surprising, to say the least:

At least 34 unapproved pesticides showed up on cilantro samples analyzed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the agency's routine testing of a rotating selection of produce. Cilantro was the first fresh herb to be tested in the 20-year-old program.

In all, 94 percent of the 184 cilantro samples tested in 2009 came up positive for at least one pesticide, according to an annual Pesticide Data Program report posted online last week.

Gee, I wonder why so many people are having health problems, these days.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct ... 8450.story

Tex

[sarkin]

YIKES!!! (Tex, please let me know when you'd like me to have something to say other than YIKES and I HAD NO IDEA, lol.)

Well, if I were the sort of consumer the FDA's ex-pyramid had been aimed at, I would conclude: ooh, I'd better switch all my cilantro recipes for basil recipes! Because that has not been tested to be full of pesticides! YAY!!!

Regretting the insufficient supply of seeds I've started already ;) Of course, if I'd started cilantro, it would already have bolted - and I'd be starting over now.

I bet a lot of the 'pests' those pesticides kill on cilantro might be swallowtail butterfly larvae. I bet gardeners who plant 'butterfly gardens' would have killed some of those anyway (you know, because they're bugs). Here's a shout out to my current crop of students, who are definitely a notch above...

I am having a hard time figuring out the icons, but I think today's set of rants calls for some serious study in that area ;)

Love,
Sara

[tex]

Sara,

When you get to a spot in your post where you want to add an emoticon, just click on the "View more Emoticons" link, and the system will open a pop-up window with many more emoticons. Expand it to whatever size you like, so that they're easier to navigate, (there are a lot of them), and just click on the one/ones that you want to add to your post.

Once they are in your post, you can also cut and past them, (to move their location), copy and paste them, (to duplicate them), or whatever else suits your fancy.

Love,
Tex

[MaggieRedwings]

Swallowtails just love the cilantro as exhibited by the crop I am growing. They get 1/2 and we get the rest. Just goes to show that we need to grow our own stuff if possible. Look at the food problem now in Germany.

Love, Maggie

[fudette]

That's one reason why I have my own herb garden; you just can't trust your regular grocer; although in a pinch my local organic store has a great selection. I dry, dehydrate, and/or freeze my herbs for use throughout the year (and to give as gifts).

And Maggie - I see a lot of birds (I think they are common grackles) come down to my herb garden and take rosemary, oregano and others and then bring it to their nest. I wonder if they eat it or use it as a natural insecticide??

Laura

[sarkin]

Laura,

I read a fascinating book about the ways in which wild animals use plants (many different types of medicine, and one species of monkey actually rubs fragrant herbs on themselves for no reason the observers could figure other than to make themselves irresistible to potential mates).

It's called Wild Health - it was focused mostly on wild plants as well, but if I lay my hands on it again, I will see if there are any references to thefts from human herb gardens!

Insect repellent was definitely one of the uses - there were examples of birds using particular plants for lining nests at times of year when an insect pest was more active, and not at other times of year.

Good thinking on your part ;)

Sara