Pesticides in Food: An Unavoidable Reality —— Onyshenko Offers Advice
In the first half of 2025, more than 111 tons of tea containing pesticides were detected within Russia. These pesticide-containing teas involved the "Three Friendly Elephants" (Три дружных слона) brand, and pesticide residues were also found in products from multiple brands such as Kioko, "Golden Cup" (Золотая чаша), "Dialogue" (Беседа), Eastford, "Russian Cities" (Города России), "Unusual" (Необычайный), and TeaTale. Russian State Duma member and epidemiologist doctor Gennadiy Grigoryevich Onyshenko stated: "The presence of pesticides in food is an unavoidable reality."
"When it comes to food, people need to have a normal diet, consume enough calories, and ensure a balanced nutrition — including dietary fiber, protein, fat, and carbohydrates. However, to feed 8 billion people around the world, we must use chemical toxins and pesticides, with the purpose of improving agricultural production efficiency and increasing yields, among other things. Moreover, now we are involved in the field of genetic engineering, and increased yields are not only achieved through the use of fertilizers and other materials, but also through gene intervention technology. This kind of technology also needs regulation. If you ask whether we can avoid these (pesticides and genetic technologies), the answer is no, we cannot completely avoid them."
The doctor said this.
Pesticides pose a threat to human health, and their toxicity depends on the dose, duration of exposure, the individual's health condition, and other factors. Once pesticides enter the human body, they may cause acute poisoning or chronic poisoning. According to data from the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Public Health Surveillance (Роспотребнадзор), children, adolescents, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are most sensitive to pesticides. Pregnant women and nursing mothers face particularly high risks from pesticide exposure.
Onyshenko explained: "The use of pesticides requires science and reasonableness. Of course, the state must be responsible for this — even if the relevant industries have been privatized, the state still needs to regulate and standardize, and set standards. Therefore, we need to continuously improve the regulatory mechanism, avoiding excessive intervention while ensuring effective regulation. This is a very complex comprehensive issue that has already received attention from the scientific community and at the national level. However, regardless of how the state and the scientific community try, if the public lacks related knowledge, does not understand (the necessity and risks of pesticide use), and most importantly — does not pay attention to aspects such as purchase channels, purchase time, and shelf life, the effectiveness of regulation will be greatly reduced. This step is essential."
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559094653417538089/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your attitude by clicking the [Upvote/Downvote] buttons below.