Prokchon pointed out that the hydroponic vegetables were found to be more toxic than traditionally grown vegetables, as an earlier test on the latter by Thai-PAN had showed that around 54.4 per cent were contaminated with a high level of chemicals. “People often believe that hydroponic vegetables are safer from chemical contamination than traditionally grown ones, but our examination proves this belief wrong, as soil-less-grown vegetables are also found to contain 25 kinds of chemical used in agriculture,” she explained. “An even more concerning finding from our test is that 17 of the 25 kinds of chemical are absorbent chemicals, which are very hard to clean out,” she added. BioThai Foundation coordinator Kingkorn Narintarakul na Ayutthaya said there was a misunderstanding among the public that organic vegetables, which do not use chemicals during the entire production process, were similar to hydroponic vegetables, but Thai-PAN’s testing had proved this to be wrong. “Hydroponic-vegetable producers should lower their chemical use, as in reality growing hydroponic vegetables can be more easily managed than the traditional growing method, while the Agriculture Department should set up measures to control the chemical use in hydroponic vegetables to ensure consumer safety,” Kingkorn suggested.

Source: The Nation Bangkok January 23, 2018 02:15 UTC