Petsfanatics Forums - View Single Post - Parrots, Produce & Pesticides

It is a well-known fact that parrots are especially sensitive to environmental toxins. Chemicals that normally are only irritating to humans and other animals can be acutely toxic to parrots. The inhalation of carbon monoxide exhaust or fumes from overheated Teflon products, which would cause no apparent damage to humans or other animals, can be fatal to parrots. Their immune systems constantly are challenged by air pollution, exposure to heavy metals, water contamination and the adulteration of their foods by pesticides. A shocking four million tons of pesticides, numbering 20,000 different products, are fogged into the air in the United States each year! We must control additional exposure of our birds to these products by not using any fumigants in their presence. Similarly we must educate ourselves as to the level of contamination of the foods that they consume.

Many of us like to provide a bountiful harvest of vegetables and fruits along with the other staples of our parrots' diets. Yet, produce is the food group with the highest incidence of pesticide and chemical residue, linked with potential cancer, neurological problems, hormonal imbalances, and immune system disruptions. The likelihood of toxicity is more serious for birds than for humans because of their smaller size and their increased sensitivity.

Due to all the unanswered questions that parrot breeders have concerning infertility, dead in shell chicks, neurological problems, and even feather plucking, I currently am researching the possible contribution of pesticides and their "endocrine disruptors" to all or any of these problems. We all remember the devastating effects of DDT on wildbird populations, including Bald Eagles that laid soft-shelled eggs until they almost became extinct. Endocrine disruptors in wildlife populations have caused increased mortality, failure to mature sexually, and inability to reproduce. I believe that the hormonal disruption caused by pesticides may prove to be just as devastating to our domestic parrot population as DDT to wildlife.

Hormones are chemical messengers working in near infinitesimal amounts, molecular keys that fit into molecular locks at receptor sites, carrying signals that trigger and regulate processes ranging from formation of a fetus to development of gender, from behavioral bias to the formation of reproductive organs. When these receptor sites encounter synthetic chemicals that are enough like the hormones it was expecting, the organism responds to the signal it thinks it has gotten, with sometimes disastrous effects! Research on wildlife populations, especially in the Great Lakes, has demonstrated that endocrine disrupting chemicals profoundly impair animal reproduction and development. Birds with deformed beaks, female birds that nest with females, and fish eggs that do not develop all have high levels of endocrine disruptors, PCB's, dioxins and DDE's. Effects on wildlife cited by researchers include thyroid dysfunction in birds and fish, decreased fertility in birds, fish, and mammals, decreased hatching success and gross birth deformities in birds, fish, and turtles, behavioral abnormalities in birds, and compromised immune systems in birds and mammals.

Why, when the foods that we give our parrots contain toxic levels of pesticides with endocrine disruptors, should we be surprised at all the reproductive and other problems they exhibit?

If you were asked to list a dozen of the fruits and vegetables that you offer your parrots most often, how many of these would be included?

1. Strawberries
2. Bell peppers (green and red)
3. Spinach (tied with 2)
4. U.S. grown cherries
5. Peaches
6. Mexican grown cantaloupe
7. Celery
8. Apples
9. Apricots
10. Green beans
11. Chilean-grown grapes
12. Cucumbers
The above list contains many of the foods that that we feed our parrots daily. Unfortunately, according to a study by the non-profit Environmental Working Group, they are the most toxic conventionally grown fruits and vegetables! This report, Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, is based on data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration studies. It found that more than half of the health risks associated with pesticides are concentrated in these twelve fruits and vegetables! Of the 42 fruits and vegetables tested, strawberries were by far the most toxic. They were given a toxicity score of 189 of a possible 200 points, far greater than bell peppers and spinach, which tied at a score of 155. U.S. grown cherries rated 154 and peaches 150. The least contaminated food in this group, cucumbers, scored a disturbing117 of 200 possible points.

Strawberry growers everywhere use large amounts of pesticides, particularly fungicides. The FDA detected thirty different pesticides on strawberries, second only to apples with thirty-six. Based on a two year sampling, strawberries were found to contain captan, benomyl, vinclozolin, iprodione, and endosulfan. These pesticides not only are carcinogenic in humans, but disrupt the endocrine system as well. Unless one is lucky enough to locate a source of organically grown strawberries, in my opinion, they never should be fed to parrots! Other fruits with far lower pesticide residues can be offered. Substitute blueberries, raspberries, oranges, grapefruit, watermelon and kiwis.

Bell peppers are more heavily contaminated with neurotoxic insecticides than all other crops analyzed. Although green peppers are high in vitamin C, and red peppers add vitamin A and carotenoids, there are several less toxic alternatives. Substitute broccoli, romaine lettuce, green peas, asparagus, brussel sprouts or carrots.

Spinach contains DDT, permethrin, chlorthalonil and other carcinogenic pesticides. Because of this and its calcium binding properties, Popeye the Parrot would not be a very healthy specimen! Substitute broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus and romaine lettuce.

Cherries from the U.S. are three times more contaminated with pesticides than their imported counterparts, which are among the cleanest fruits and vegetables analyzed. Domestic cherries were found to contain twenty-six different pesticides! Except for their marginal amounts of vitamin C and their value as a treatment for gout, they are not as nutritious as many other fruits. However cherries DO contain a powerful compound known as ellagic acid that counteracts carcinogens, so it is worthwhile to seek out imported cherries. Substitute oranges, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries and kiwi.

Peaches are heavily contaminated with cancer causing fungicides and neuro-toxic pesticides. Peaches contain low amounts of vitamins A and C, but many other less contaminated fruits provide as many or more nutritional benefits. Substitute nectarines, watermelon, tangerines, grapefruits, oranges and kiwis.