How Nice - FL Grapefruit Growers Use Lead & Arsenic
To Ripen Fruit
- A very scary article.
By Noel Peterson, ND
Grapefruit: Leaded or Unleaded?
In the produce business, getting the first crops of the season to market is so profitable that growers will do almost anything to beat the competition. In Florida, for example, citrus growers pick grapefruit from September to November--a full two months earlier than normal--by ripening them with lead arsenate.
A combination of lead and arsenic, it is used on 30% of Florida's grapefruit crop. The resulting grapefruits contain average lead levels of 170 parts per billion (ppb), compared with the new drinking water standard of 15ppb. What's more, residues of inorganic arsenic average 130ppb in fruit and 50ppb in the juice, both of which exceed drinking water standards.
Lead causes brain damage and mental and physical growth retardation in children. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and causes severe nervous disorders, and is a gastrointestinal, kidney, liver and blood toxin.
The Environmental Protection Agency has been conducting a ten year "Special Review" of the use of lead arsenate. However, results of the study are not expected to be released until the current supply of the toxin has been "consumed". Since the EPA has been asleep at the wheel, the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP) has been urging consumers to not buy grapefruit until the main crop comes in December. It probably wouldn't hurt to let the produce people at your local market know how much you appreciate having been spared the difficulties of knowing your fresh produce has been ripened with lead arsenate.
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