Avoiding pesticides

[Sue Shaw]

Hi, I'm pretty new to all this so please forgive my ignorance if it is a well known topic.

As well as avoiding foodstuffs and clothes, one of the things I'd like to avoid are animal-tested products.
So having moved to a mainly vegetable diet, it's worrying to read about the widespread use of pesticide/biocide testing on animals.

Is it possible to completely avoid pesticide fruit and veg (are their any suppliers or does this mean actually growing things myself)?
I've read that organic foods use pesticides too, just 'less harmful' ones. As far as I'm aware, ALL pesticides must be animal tested.
Are there any good sites for reference I might have missed?

 

[Damo]

Hello Sue.

I came across this when I first became vegan and I felt pretty hopeless as it's either starve to death or grown your own food though growing your own food is not an option for most vegans if not all I could be wrong.

Being vegan means doing your absolute best to avoid harming/slaughtering animals and sometimes unfortunately there's only so much you can actually do to eventually you will cause some harm but that doesn't mean your not vegan, nobody out there is 100% vegan It's impossible to live a 100% vegan life.

I live in the UK, medicine here I believe has to be tested on animals but that doesn't mean if I need medicine I wont take it, I wont be a very good vegan being incredibly ill spreading disease or worse dead I'll do my absolute best to find alternatives but sometimes as I've mentioned above some things are out of your control and you can only go so far currently in this day and age to save as many lives as you can.

I hope this helps!

 

[Sue Shaw]

Thanks very much Damo, that's really very helpful. It's depressing to know we'll always be reliant on some kind of animal torture. I'd come to the conclusion that medicine (for myslef and dog) would have to be an area where I couldn't improve much, but I was hoping there might be some silver lining on the fruit and veg front.

I guess grow what I can (easier in summer) and go organic for the rest. Don't think however hard I try, I'd be able to grow a banana!

I'm in the UK too, at least we have the cosmetics ban against testing here in the EU. Things are improving... slowly.

 

[Alexia]

I find that @Damo is being realistic and we all do what we can. Knowledge is power in many ways, because people don't know how meat is produced and other things or they don't want to know.

As much as pesticides can cause allergies and aren't healthy if ingested (if not properly cleaned) we must remember without them generations will have starved. Think of the Irish Potato Famine and blight, millions died because there were no pesticides and it forced people to starve and leave Ireland. We cannot go back, but learn to minimize use. I'm sure if we went back to 1845, the starving Irish would rather have had pesticides rather than starve.

 

[davyg]

Just found this thread which I found interesting.
I have an allotment where I have grown vegetables for many years and do not use pesticides .But I do have to suffer certain pests because of that .
Since becoming a Vegan just for health reasons ,( which seems to be working as my cholesterol has dropped and I have lost 10lbs ) I am now starting to look at the bigger reasons for being Vegan.
I have perhaps left it a bit late at 66 yrs of age but I'm going to give it a go and do it to the best of my ability.

 

[winter.frost]

It's never too late!
You can give yourself lots of positive feelings about your choice if you take a look at this thread here.

 

[davyg]

Lost for words.