Transcript: Norovirus Food Poisoning from Pesticides
Although the most serious causes of food poisoning like Salmonella come mostly from animal products, for example, most foodborne-related deaths were attributed to poultry; millions of Americans are sickened by produce every year, thanks to noroviruses.
Noroviruses can be spread person-to-person via the fecal oral route, or the ingestion of aerosolized vomit, which may explain most norovirus food outbreaks, but a substantial proportion remained unexplained. How else can fecal viruses get on our fruits and veggies? The pesticide industry may be spraying them on. The water that’s used to spray pesticides on crops may just be dredged up from ponds contaminated with fecal pathogens. The application of pesticides may therefore not only be a chemical hazard, but also a microbiological hazard for public health. So what’s their solution? Add more chemicals. The inclusion of antiviral substances in reconstituted pesticides may be appropriate to reduce the virological health risk posed by the application of pesticides. Or we could just choose organic.
Either way, though, we should always wash all fruits and veggies under running water, as one solution to pollution is dilution.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Ariel Levitsky.
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