Harmful pesticides found in vegetables

The Indian Institute of Toxicology Research has found an excess amount of harmful pesticides in vegetables that are being sold in Lucknow.

The Indian Institute of Toxicology Research has found an excess amount of harmful pesticides in vegetables that are being sold in Lucknow.

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Twenty-eight different types of pesticides have been found in more than twenty vegetables being sold here.

"Pesticides are used on vegetables and crops to protect them from damaging or getting infected from pests. Sometimes pesticides are even sprayed on fruits. But these pesticides should be sprayed in a specific amount," said Mukul Dass, Deputy Director, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research.

"If the spraying of pesticides is done in excess of the amount needed, it can most probably affect our body," he added.

Dass warned against the consumption of such poisonous vegetables.

"The pesticides can leave adverse affect on our body in two ways. One, the nervous system that is our brain is affected. In a research on mice and from other research sources, we have found that the neuronal transmission is also affected. Second thing, it affects liver also many times," said Dass.