Hexachlorobenzene

TheDailyMeal: Hidden Poisons in Your Food

Hexachlorobenzene, or HCB for short, is a fungicide that was used initially on wheat, but today is found on all kinds of food. Eating HCB-treated grain has been associated with the development of painful skin conditions, colic, and a rare disorder called porphyria turcica. It has also been shown to pass through from mothers to newborn children and also into breast milk.

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Endrin

Endrin is used on grain crops to help eliminate rodents. It does break down in the body, meaning it doesn't bind to fatty tissues like many of these other pesticides. However, it remains in the environment for a very long time; its half-life is 12 years. And it is lethal to fish.

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Heptachlor

When used on crops, heptachlor helps control termite and grasshopper populations. It is also used to kill malaria-bearing mosquitoes. It is a potential carcinogen and has been detected in trace amounts in cattle in the United States and Australia.

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Hexachlorobenzen...

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Mirex

Mirex is the fire ant killer. It’s also useful against termites. Mirex is a potential carcinogen and is a resilient pesticide with a half-life of up to 10 years. Mirex finds its way into the food supply through meat and fish.

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Toxaphene

Toxaphene is used to combat ticks and mites in cattle, sheep, and pigs and is also sprayed on fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables. Studies on rats have shown it to be a potential carcinogen, and systemic exposure to fish has had lethal effects on reproduction.

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Endosulfan

Added to the list of Persistent Organic Pollutants when the Stockholm Convention reconvened in 2009, endosulfan is a pesticide used to eliminate tsetse flies, parasites, and other pests from a variety of crops, most notably coffee, rice, sorghum, and soy. It has been in use since the 1950s. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and the United States are the top users of endosulfan and utilize approximately 15,000 tons of this chemical each year. Endosulfan is associated with birth defects, impaired mental function, and even death in farmers and villagers in close proximity who have been exposed in high concentrations.

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DDT

Although the use of this chemical has been banned in the United States, it is still widely used as a treatment against mosquitoes carrying malaria in various countries. And just because it isn’t sprayed on crops in this country anymore doesn’t mean that we aren’t still impacted by it. The patina of DDT residue has been found in areas as far-reaching as the Arctic, and the Stockholm Convention maintains that DDT "has been detected in food from all over the world."

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Diedrin

Aldrin, another pesticide, breaks down into this compound, dieldrin, as it decays. Dieldrin is a pesticide also used to control termite populations. In frogs, it causes birth defects even in low concentrations. It has been found commonly in pasteurized milk in the United States.

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