by Catherine Haug, March 1, 2012
Fourth-grader Elise is onto something, with her science experiment using sweet potatoes. The YouTube video is only 2.5 minutes long and definitely worth the watch. Do you want your family to eat veggies and fruits sprayed with Bud Nip (Chlorpropham)? It’s not only used on sweet potatoes but also regular potatoes and many other types of non-Organic produce.
Watch: My Potato Project; The Importance of “Organic”
See also Mother Earth News: The Dangers of Bud Nip in a Compact Sweet Potato Project. From this article:
“According to the Pesticide Action Network, the dangers of bud nip include toxicity to amphibians and honeybees, important pollinators of crops we eat every day. Bud nip can be found on potatoes, kale, peaches, broccoli and other common fruits and vegetables.”
Cornell University Extension has more good info on the toxicity of this spray; see Pesticide Information Profile: Chlorpropham
As a chemist, I can tell you that synthetic compounds containing chlorine are almost always toxic – sometimes highly so. And this includes the popular sweetener sucralose (Splenda). Note that common table salt (sodium chloride) is a natural substance that is not toxic at normal levels of consumption.