Pesticide levels 'excessive' in a third of Guangzhou vegetables: study

Pesticide levels that exceeded national safety limits were found in a third of vegetable samples taken from Guangzhou markets in a new study by the environmental group Greenpeace.

One sample of cowpeas, at a market in Tianhe district, was found to have levels of the insecticide omethoate that were 64 times the national standard.

Vegetables sold in Beijing and Shanghai markets were much safer than those in Guangzhou, said the study, released this week.

Unlike Beijing and Shanghai, which import more than half their vegetables from other provinces, Guangzhou produces more than 90 per cent of the vegetables it consumes. Most are grown by individual farmers in suburban Zengcheng and Conghua districts.

Greenpeace said individual farmers tended to use pesticides more intensively and mixed different pesticides "purely out of experience or based on introductions by pesticide dealers". Beijing and Shanghai relied more on "production bases", where technical staff would calculate the amount of pesticides used.

Pesticide use in Guangzhou increased by almost 12 per cent every year between 2007 and 2011, the report said. Beijing registered an annual rise of a little over 1 per cent and Shanghai saw an annual drop of nearly 6 per cent during the same period.