Are Your Veggies on Drugs?

Recent research uncovered one of America's most rampant drug addicts — soybeans. Turns out the protein-rich plants are sucking up more than just vitamins and nutrients from their soil and irrigation water. They're hard-core users of both pharmaceuticals and chemical compounds found in personal care products. Better start writing those intervention letters, tofu-eaters.

Every year, U.S. farmers use millions of tons of treated sewage and recycled water to fertilizer and irrigate crops. While these waste products are treated to remove bacteria and other pathogens, residues from pharmaceuticals and chemicals found in personal care products stick around. Not a whole lot of research has been done to uncover how — or if — these residues affect plants or the people and animals who consume them, but scientists at Ohio's University of Toledo aim to shed some light on the issue.

Led by environmental scientist Chenxi Wu, the team of researchers mimicked real-life agricultural conditions in a lab setting. They exposed soybean plants to water and soil laced with three drugs and two compounds found in personal care products. The scientists found that the plants absorbed these chemicals from the soil and irrigation water. While the discovery is interesting in and of itself, it begs a bigger question: How does the presence of these substances affect the animals and humans who dine on soybeans?

The answer is that researchers just don't know yet. At certain concentrations, the chemicals themselves might be toxic to plants. "Or they could accumulate through the food chain and eventually end up in human consumers," Wu told Chemical and Engineering News. Plus, if these compounds are absorbed by soybeans, it stands to reason that other popular crops could be developing similar drug problems. Much more research needs to be done to determine how widespread the problem is, but based on the fact that soybeans are the second most widely grown crop in the U.S., Americans' salad bowls may already be overflowing with drugs.

The whole scenario puts into perspective how people's consumption patterns impact the agricultural system at large. It reminds me of a similar situation playing out with fish in the country's waterways. As Popular Science reported, chemicals and hormones from pharmaceuticals are released from farms and wastewater treatment plants into waterways. These substances are actually making fish switch genders from male to female.

Now I'm not saying that pharmaceuticals in our veggies will suddenly turn men into women or vice versa. But the fish example illustrates just how serious exposure to a little drug residue can be to wildlife and presumably people. More research is certainly needed in this area, and I'm encouraged by investigative scientists like those at the University of Toledo. Let's hope that with the right research and preventative measures, we can keep vegetables from going the way of feminized fish.

Photo credit: foto3116 via Flickr