I would like to point out some misconceptions contained in the article ‘Are there any pesticides on your plate?’ (April 18).

The testing for pesticide residues started some 15 years ago. Samples from fruit and vegetables on sale were collected and reached a laboratory in Sicily within hours. Results were sent by e-mail within three days maximum.

Whether the samples are analysed locally or abroad makes no difference because they would in either case have long been purchased and consumed. One cannot test the products in the field as the pesticides degrade in time and might not be present in the produce when consumed.

What is important is that when some produce is found to be over the maximum limit established by law, measures are taken to inspect the grower’s code of practice. Any incorrect use, such as not observing the safety interval between applying the pesticide and the harvesting of the crop, incorrect dosage of pesticide, applying a pesticide not recommended for a particular crop and so forth, should be corrected.

Pesticides are water soluble, so the washing with water of produce before consumption will drastically reduce any pesticide residue that might still be present on the crop.

In Malta, the persistent organochlorines pesticides, such as DDT, have long been banned and the pesticides in use here, consistent with EU directives, are non-accumulative and degradable after a short period of time. The soil sterilant pesticide methyl bromide has also been banned upon accession to the EU. One ought to be more concerned with the high levels of nitrates in the soil than with the level of pesticides.

What one ought to be concerned about is not the local produce on which only pesticides approved by the EU are permitted but rather, the fruit imported from non-EU countries where more dangerous and persistent pesticides are permitted to be used.

Finally, of more worry is whether tests are being carried out for aflatoxins, especially on nuts and grain.

These tests used to be carried out locally years ago and I do not know whether they still are. This is a simple test with immediate results that can be carried out before the release of the importation of such crops. Aflatoxins are highly carcinogenic.

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