Research shows shocking levels of cancer-related pesticides in imported food – and in the fruits most affected

Analysts have raised the alarm about potentially harmful pesticides linked to cancer and infertility found in fruits such as satsumas and oranges imported into Britain.

Campaign group Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) used government testing data to show that 46 pesticides linked to cancer had been found in agricultural imports into Britain at the end of last year.

This was more than double the 19 such pesticides found in UK products.

Similar results were found for pesticides linked to fertility and damage to the nervous system, with two to three times as many such chemicals found on imports compared to British products.

By food group, ‘soft citrus’ (including satsumas, mandarins and clementines) had the highest risk of a multi-pesticide cocktail, with 96 percent of samples tested returning positive.

This was followed by oranges and lemons where multiple pesticides were found in 95 and 89 percent of the samples.

All three fruits contained no fewer than nine different pesticides – and all of these samples were imported from South Africa.

For individual fruits, grapes from Lebanon had the most pesticides of all products, with 13 substances detected in one sample.

Beans from India were also found to contain high levels of pesticide residues that exceeded Britain’s legal limit – detected in 10 of 25 samples tested.

A total of 31 percent of British goods were found to contain multiple pesticides, but this rose to 55 percent when imported.

Nick Mole from PAN UK said: ‘While the results for British produce are also worrying, imports are much worse when it comes to pesticides that pose a risk to consumer health than food grown here in Britain.

‘With the number of diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s increasing, we must do everything we can to reduce our exposure to chemicals.

‘But the UK government is allowing higher levels of chemicals to appear in an ever-growing list of common food products. They urgently need to reverse this current trend.’

PAN UK is campaigning for a review of UK pesticide testing.

Current rules set safe limits for pesticides per chemical, which in practice means that a fruit with a total of thirteen chemicals on it is considered as safe as a fruit with just two chemicals, provided they are all below the limit .

Previous research has suggested that exposure to agricultural pesticides may be as bad as tobacco smoke in increasing the risk of certain cancers

PAN UK argues that this approach ignores concerns about the combined and cumulative effect of eating such substances on our long-term health.

The group also warned that food heavily loaded with pesticides could soon end up on UK supermarket shelves.

They highlighted how Britain is in the middle of negotiating a trade deal with India, meaning food imports from the country, which has looser rules on pesticide use than Britain, could increase.

Mr Mol said: ‘We have long been concerned that the new trade deals signed by Britain since leaving the EU pose a major risk to the health of British consumers.

‘This is especially true when it comes to countries like India, which suffer from high pesticide residues in their food exports.

‘Given that today’s findings are based on imports that have already crossed our borders, we strongly urge the Government to take action to protect British consumers.’

Government testing data analyzed by PAN UK also found that foreign food imports contained twice as many endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which can disrupt the body’s hormone system, compared to British products.

The same was true for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, also called forever chemicals because of the way they persist in the environment, which have also been linked to things like cancer, birth defects, immune system problems and infertility.

Pesticides and their potential role in rising cancer rates have been a concern for years.

Some experts have blamed them for the increase in cases of colon cancer among young people, while others have pointed to prostate cancer as a possible cause.