Pesticides in our food increasing

THERE was a lovely photograph of Tamsin Borlase standing in Bosley Patch, her organic market garden, on the front page of the Henley Standard two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the story of her farm shop and livelihood being under threat wasn’t so lovely.

By coincidence, that same week the most recent information on the amount of pesticides found in our food was published by the Government’s Food Standards Agency and publicised by the Pesticide Action Network UK.

Pesticides is an umbrella term for thousands of different active substances that are designed to kill plants (herbicides or weedkillers), insects (insecticides) and mould and fungus (fungicides).

All three of these pesticides are used to grow the food we eat. Crops are often sprayed many times during the growing season — as many as 20 different chemicals can be applied to wheat, for example.

The Government has revealed that half of all the bread sold in the UK contains at least two different pesticides. This is a 50 per cent increase on the previous year.

The FSA tests about 3,000kg of food annually for pesticide residues, changing the list of produce selected for testing each year.

This latest survey has shown that more than one third of the pesticides found in products are not approved in the UK, meaning that British farmers cannot use them.

Eleven different pesticides were found in a range of bread products from standard white loaves to scones and crumpets.

Nick Mole, of the Pesticide Action Network, said the Government claimed that it was committed to tackling pesticides but asked why these dangerous pesticide cocktails had been allowed to double in a staple food that most of us eat at least once a day?

Pesticides were widely found in the vegetables and fruits tested in 2021. All of the grapefruit tested was found to contain at least one pesticide, the largest number being nine different types in a 1kg sample. Thirty per cent of vegetables and 69 per cent of fruit were found to contain residues of more than one chemical.

It is true that organic food is generally more expensive, obviously it is more labour intensive to produce but is going for the cheaper, glossy versions sold in supermarkets really the choice we should be making? What price do we put on our health and that of our children?

Our independent traders, such as Bosley Patch, Henley Larder and the Willow Basket, are providing us with much more than just good local food — they are keeping Henley alive, making our town special.

Greener Henley is an eclectic group of local people with various interests and concerns about the climate and environment.

Recent posts on our Facebook community page illustrate the wide range of interests of our members. The subjects covered include:

• A warning that pumpkins left outside are harmful to hedgehogs.

• All you would want to know about heat pumps from our friends at Marlow Energy Group.

• A beautiful picture of a guelder rose introduces Greener Henley’s annual free garden trees offer for residents of Henley and surrounding villages. We have a wider selection this year. For more information, visit https://greenerhenley.org.uk

• Henley Mermaids, Surfers Against Sewage and others highlight the amount of sewage that is being released into the River Thames.

• MPs warning that the UK’s infrastructure is at risk from climate change.

• Volunteers planting a hedge at Badgemore Primary School to help nature and reduce the school’s carbon footprint.

• An appetising recipe for a multi-purpose tomato sauce using a bumper crop of organic tomatoes posted by Bosley Patch.

• Putting doors on supermarket fridges saves CO2 emissions, energy and money.

• A tragic picture of a dead woodpecker shows how this plastic cobweb material that people put on their bushes for Halloween and Christmas kills birds that get caught up in the unforgiving stuff.

• For fans of rewilding, the first wild bison to be born in the UK for centuries.

• Lloyds Bank has announced that it will stop funding new oil and gas projects. Good news indeed.

If you are interested in any of these subjects, come along to our next open meeting at King’s Arm Barn on Tuesday, November 15 at 7.30pm.

Diana Barnett