Pesticides at home and on your food

Look in your cupboards, under the bathroom or kitchen sink, or how about in your laundry room. Chances are, you’ll find a pesticide of one sort or another.

A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. Many household products are pesticides and can include kitchen, laundry and bath disinfectants, and sanitizers. Products that kill mold and mildew are also considered pesticides.

Safe storage of pesticides

Children may have greater contact with pesticides because they play on floors or in the yard where pesticides are applied.

There can be unpleasant effects from pesticide exposure from mild symptoms, like dizziness and nausea to serious, long-term neurological, developmental and reproductive disorders.

Always store pesticides away from children’s reach, in a locked cabinet or garden shed.

Never transfer pesticides to other containers, especially food or drink containers.

Never place rodent or insect baits where children can get to them.

Teach children that “pesticides are poisons”-something they should not touch.

Alert others to the potential hazard of pesticides, including care givers and grandparents.

Tips to avoid the consumption of pesticides

Wash your food. It is a good idea to wash fruits and vegetables with clean water (but not soap!) before they are cooked or eaten.

Peel, if possible. Peeling fruits and vegetables helps reduce the levels of pesticides that may be on the surface.

Trim the fat from meats. Some pesticides collect in animal fat. Before eating meat, trim the fat to help reduce the amount of such pesticides that would be eaten.

Cooking helps. Cooking helps reduce some of the pesticide residues in food that are not removable by washing or peeling.

Eat a varied diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Eating a diet with many different fruits or vegetables prevents us from eating an unbalanced amount of a particular food or the pesticide residues that it may carry.

The DEQ Pesticide Management branch is charged with the responsibility to regulate the importation, sale and distribution of pesticides, legal or illegal to ensure public health and a clean and healthy environment.

Call or visit the Division of Environmental Quality Pesticide Management branch at 664-8512, located along Chalan Pale Arnold at the Gualo Rai Center or visit the DEQ website at www.deq.gov.mp. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 4:30pm. (DEQ)