momoese

I've been doing a little reading about pesticides in food as part of a little research project for my dogs diet and found a few interesting things I thought I'd share.

First off some news about Mercury in High Fructose Corn Sweeteners. Jarred, pay attention to this!

Another Reason to Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup: Mercury | Food, News, Health | FitSugar - Fitness, Health & Well-being

Here is an interesting blurb about pesticides and how innefective they are. I had no idea!

"A 2004 analysis of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data revealed that 100% of blood and urine tests from subjects they monitored showed pesticide residues. Two insecticides — chlorpyrifos and methyl parathion — were found at levels up to 4.6 times greater than what the US government deems acceptable.18
In a joint study conducted by scientists from the CDC, the University of Washington and Emory University, researchers found that pesticide levels in test subjects dropped to undetectable levels upon switching to an organic diet. When the subjects switched back to a non-organic diet, pesticide residues almost immediately became detectable.19
According to Cornell entomologist David Pimentel, "It has been estimated that only 0.1% of applied pesticides reach the target pests, leaving the bulk of the pesticides (99.9%) to impact the environment."20"

Pesticides, pesticide use on factory farms. - The Issues - Sustainable Table

Here is some talk about the actual study.
Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

lorax

Yugh, Mitchel. Yet one more reason to grow and buy organic, at least as far as pest-control is concerned (I don't worry about chemical fertilizers, I just don't use them because they're more expensive than manure.)

I've always found the most effective pesticide is a live chicken or turkey; they'll eat their body weight in bugs, and generally leave the plants alone.

momoese

I thought the chickens would eat the strawberries?

CookieCows

My experience has been that chickens will eat the dickens out of bugs and your garden produce also.

Being an ex-pesticide user .... (ok, sometimes I panic and still use it in one or two areas now and then) I lean more towards the benificial bugs. I don't like spiders but found that those horrid black jumping spiders that took over last year, seemed to eat up all the bad bugs too. Would you believe that my fear of them is lessening because of that!

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Bob

Hey Mitchel, when my Rottweiler was about 5 mos old he got very sick with pnuemonia and his throat was constricted and he came close to dying. This was right when the rat poison was being found in some of the comercial dog foods that had ingredients from China. I found out my cheapskate wife had been buying biscuits from Wall mart that were on the recall list. I was so mad I immediately switched to a raw diet. I cant figure how to post a link but there is info on raw foods at :trainadog.com (my local store). I'm sure there are some in your area. It worked for me and I think is the healthiest (not most inexpensive) for dogs.
I've grown organic forever for myself, but until then never considerd the dogs.

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momoese

Bob, I'm actually pretty up to speed on RAW and BARF diets. I have to say I'm not a fan of either form of RAW diets, but maybe after another 20 years or so when there is more data to prove whether or not it's beneficial I may switch at that point. I've spent a ton of time researching them and heard too many horror stories from owners (raw feeders) and vets to even consider it. I have also heard from the proponents like yourself who swear by it, and I personally know lots of people who feed raw. I don't condemn you or anyone for feeding it, it's just not for me at this point.

I have for the past two years fed our dogs a half organic kibble and half organic home cooked diet that's high in antioxidants and am very pleased with the results so far. The little project I'm working on is to look at a non organic raw diet which is what most raw feeders use due to the high cost and low availability of organic protein, versus an all organic kibble diet. There are other things to take into consideration like flea control pesticides, vaccines, drinking water, household and yard products, bedding and toy materials, treats, etc etc. My main concern is cancer prevention. I'll do whatever it takes (within my means) to give my pups a fighting chance to live cancer free lives.

Deb, if you need more spiders I've got enough to supply you and probably the rest of the members with them!

lorax

I'm fine on spiders, thanks. If anybody wants tarantulas, though, c'mon down.