How to limit exposure to pesticides and toxic chemicals in Thailand?

[AtoZ]

I'm no farmer, and have no idea about farming in Thailand. What bugs or diseases affecting crop they have here, and so on.

But I do like to eat healthy food and lots of vegetables.

 

That makes me worried about living in Thailand. Here is massive lack of healthy food or supplements and if you find some it's usually criminally overpriced.

 

Several times I bought the chilled pineapple they sell all around and got allergic reaction - red flush of face and upper body, difficulty to breath and feeling heartbeat in my ears. 

I have no food allergies or health issues.

 

It was well reported that Thailand is still using pesticides and chemicals which are banned in western countries, in some cases even in China.

 

Couple that with the corruption of any kind. If they don't give two <deleted> about stealing money from their own disabled and children they sure won't care about general's population health. For that reason I refuse to buy organic/BIO products here. These tend to be MUCH more expensive than in the US and there is no guarantee that it actually is bio.

 

So my question - what can we do to limit our exposure to the toxic chemicals? What types of vegetables and fruit are lest likely to contain them?

 

Any other tips and tricks?

 

Thanks!

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, AtoZ said:

what can we do to limit our exposure to the toxic chemicals? What types of vegetables and fruit are lest likely to contain them?

Grow your own organic stuff I guess in 17 years we have always bought from local market fresh or frozen from Makro now never had any affects on health. 

[wgdanson]

A Big Mac has got tomato, lettuce, cucumber & onion on it.  555

[Fex Bluse]

13 hours ago, AtoZ said:

Couple that with the corruption of any kind. If they don't give two <deleted> about stealing money from their own disabled and children they sure won't care about general's population health. For that reason I refuse to buy organic/BIO products here. These tend to be MUCH more expensive than in the US and there is no guarantee that it actually is bio.

 

So my question - what can we do to limit our exposure to the toxic chemicals? What types of vegetables and fruit are lest likely to contain them?

I agree with you. For sure, Thai producers cannot be trusted or relied upon at all. Even in the supermarkets, if you start looking at Thai labels, you will find that many have impossible math on their nutrition information. 

 

Thai culture allows for lying too easily, and the face saving culture and wholly inadequate authorities provide no checks and balances against corruption and dishonesty. 

 

That said, I think all we can do is try not to worry too much and hope we are lucky. I control the things I can such as

 

1. Avoiding involvement with most locals which helps me avoid dramatic issues and stress 

 

2. Minimize alcohol consumption 

 

3. No smoking 

 

4. Exercise 

 

5. Keep weight under control 

 

I figure if cancer or something gets me after doing all the above, it was going to get me anyway. 

[giddyup]

Wash all fruit and vegetables thoroughly before consumption, add some vinegar to the water first. No guarantee it will be 100% pesticide free even after that, but better than doing nothing.

[AtoZ]

20 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Grow your own organic stuff I guess in 17 years we have always bought from local market fresh or frozen from Makro now never had any affects on health. 

The last research I saw said 64% of vegetable and fruit sold here is unsafe to eat. 

 

Contain up to different 35 chemicals.

[Kwasaki]

16 hours ago, AtoZ said:

The last research I saw said 64% of vegetable and fruit sold here is unsafe to eat. 

 

Contain up to different 35 chemicals.

From that list I only regularly eat cabbage, watermelon sometimes but tomatoes we grow our own, lemons to. 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

Move to another place, where such chemicals are strictly regulated or even prohibited, such as Sikkim in India. It would be less injurious to your health than staying in Thailand and obsessing about what you eat twenty-four hours a day. 

[Froggybanrai]

I am not a farmer, nor a chemist... But I follow the news and live half the time in an agricultural tambon. Presently there is a heated debate in France and other countries about the use (and possible future ban) of Glyphosate. Nothing of the sort here, every village has some kind of shop that displays glyphosate in a variety of packaging and brands. It just sells like hot cake being havily used in the fields (mostly pineapple in my area) and anywhere else to clean vegetation around houses etc...It takes my neighbour 15 minutes to spray glyphosate once or twice a year around his house while it takes me half a day to clean the same area by hand around mine. Crazy farang the think...

I once asked one of my neighbour how he was measuring the doses. The answer was that "he knows". Given that a very large chunk of the population around here cannot read their own language I wonder how they can even try to follow the manufacturer's preconisation.

Problem goes further than the quality of fruit and vegies because eventually the excess of pesticide goes in the soil, than in the water we drink...Until the governement sends agriculture specialists to educate the farmers, that situation it is very unlikely to change.

So to answer your question I do not think you can avoid being exposed to this pest, just try to limit by throughly cleaning what you eat, may be vinegar helps, not sure though, and install a serious filtering system if you live in the sticks. 

[elgenon]

On 1/19/2019 at 8:11 PM, wgdanson said:

A Big Mac has got tomato, lettuce, cucumber & onion on it.  555

Surely they are imported from the US. 5555

[khunPer]

On 1/19/2019 at 11:21 AM, AtoZ said:

what can we do to limit our exposure to the toxic chemicals?

I've seen organic vegetables in the super market chains like BigC, Tesco-Lotus and Tops; just like at "home" in our Western countries, you can buy organic food instead.

 

Where I shop there are lots of various organic, or natural, products available. However, if you live in a rural area, organic products might not be as common as in tourist areas, like the one I live in. Then you might either avoid anything you are allergic to, or grown you own stuff, or move...????

[thedemon]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

I've seen organic vegetables in the super market chains like BigC, Tesco-Lotus and Tops; just like at "home" in our Western countries, you can buy organic food instead.

 

Where I shop there are lots of various organic, or natural, products available. However, if you live in a rural area, organic products might not be as common as in tourist areas, like the one I live in. Then you might either avoid anything you are allergic to, or grown you own stuff, or move...????

 

That's true but the problem is that in the Thai context, who defines organic?

[NaDu]

I am wondering if anybody can feel the pesticides when eating ? are some people sensitive to this ?

 

 

[faraday]

3 minutes ago, NaDu said:

I am wondering if anybody can feel the pesticides when eating ? are some people sensitive to this ?

 

 

What do they feel like?

[Krataiboy]

1 hour ago, elgenon said:

Surely they are imported from the US. 5555

Like chickenburgers? US chicken is so contaminated it has to be washed in chlorine before being sold. 

[ryane66]

Soak ALL fruits and vegetables in water with baking soda. Then rinse with clean water.

[NCC1701A]

34 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

That's true but the problem is that in the Thai context, who defines organic?

the same people who give driving tests.

[Nyezhov]

48 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Like chickenburgers? US chicken is so contaminated it has to be washed in chlorine before being sold. 

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha........

 

You know one of the few places I ever got food poisoning in my life was the UK...carry on with your silliness

[canthai55]

50 minutes ago, ryane66 said:

Soak ALL fruits and vegetables in water with baking soda. Then rinse with clean water.

This is what we do also.

The wife lived here all her life, so she knows who sprays like a maniac and who does not. Those that do not are getting hard to find past our front gate. Grow what you can. Cow manure never killed anyone I know about.

That being said - don't eat it ! Put in the garden !

[Nyezhov]

8 minutes ago, Benroon said:

Er not silly - this very issue was a central plank of the Brexit debate (remainers) for a while - the US is banned importing chicken to Europe as it is indeed unfit for human consumption according to European food standards. 

 

Once we leave this crap can get in. 

 

Hmmmm chlorine soaked chicken and chips ...

Well George Monbiot thinks it's bad so in my view it's OK. That's how I judge the world, the opposite of him.

 

Personally I've never got sick from a properly handled and cooked US clucker.

 

[khunPer]

8 hours ago, thedemon said:

 

That's true but the problem is that in the Thai context, who defines organic?

Unfortunately I'm not qualified to reply to that, but seem like user @NCC1701A knows it...

 

[Lee4Life]

22 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

Like chickenburgers? US chicken is so contaminated it has to be washed in chlorine before being sold. 

I would like to see the source of your information?

[Krataiboy]

1 hour ago, Lee4Life said:

I would like to see the source of your information?

Here's one. There are lots more. . .  just a Google away.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4742712/Why-chickens-washed-chlorine.html

[AtoZ]

4 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

Here's one. There are lots more. . .  just a Google away.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4742712/Why-chickens-washed-chlorine.html

Hard to imagine what the average local chick is like 

[unblocktheplanet]

In the 'organic' dept, I like mulberry leaf tea. Mulberry is grown because the silkworms feed on the leaves, ergo, no pesticides. Knight Back Horse makes pretty good plonk. Their dry red is made from mulberries not grapes. Must be unsprayed...

[akirasan]

On 1/19/2019 at 7:55 PM, Kwasaki said:

Grow your own organic stuff I guess in 17 years we have always bought from local market fresh or frozen from Makro now never had any affects on health. 

I've been thinking about doing this. Do you have any problems with insects?

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, akirasan said:

I've been thinking about doing this. Do you have any problems with insects?

I don't do it but it certainly can be done try here.

Farming in Thailand Forum

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/20/2019 at 4:08 PM, AtoZ said:

The last research I saw said 64% of vegetable and fruit sold here is unsafe to eat. 

 

Contain up to different 35 chemicals.

 

If it makes you feel any better, that same organization did a survey in the past year specifically of labeled "organic" produce of various kinds from a half dozen or so supermarkets in Thailand.

 

And the results showed, depending on the specific item, a lot of the produce labeled as "organic" here still tested out with pesticide levels above recommended/legal limits.

 

So my answer to your original question is:

 

--I don't drink the local water, unless I've purified/filtered it myself at home first.

 

--I don't buy local veggies as much as possible, and instead use imported frozen from western sources (and never from China, which is the source of a lot of the fresh imported produce here).  Although, regular cabbage here generally seems to test out relatively clear of pesticides vs other local veggies.

 

--I use HEPA air purifiers at home, and N95 masks outside when the air is bad.

 

--I try to avoid packaged/prepared Thai food products, and try to use imported/unprocessed food items as much as possible to control and know what ingredients are in what I'm consuming.

 

--I don't eat any food from Thai street food stands.

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/22/2019 at 2:25 PM, thedemon said:

 

That's true but the problem is that in the Thai context, who defines organic?

 

I think it's pretty clearly been shown from past testing studies that the label term "organic" in Thailand has little to no meaning.

 

The prices are always higher, of course, but there's little guarantee those products are any better from a pesticides point of view than the regular produce items... May be.... may not be... No way of knowing, and no meaningful enforcement or testing or certification by the government here.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/20/2019 at 4:08 PM, AtoZ said:

The last research I saw said 64% of vegetable and fruit sold here is unsafe to eat. 

 

Contain up to different 35 chemicals.

 

I think the above organization is great, and they're one of the few, and perhaps the only, source of independent testing of food products in Thailand.

 

However, one shortcoming of their work -- from a farang perspective -- is they tend to test produce that is the common items used in Thai cooking, but NOT the common items used in farang cooking/consumption.

 

For example, never seen ANY test results from them on broccoli, cauliflower, corn, squash, potatoes, regular lettuce, packaged salad mixes, bell peppers or red peppers, pumpkin, etc etc....  So, there's a big void there in terms of info about what might be a lot of farang veggie choices.