PESHAWAR, Jan 26: The vegetables and agriculture crops grown in Peshawar city are three times more contaminated than the World Health Organisation standards, making them extremely toxic for human consumption.

Consuming such vegetables can cause severe nervous system disruption, lethargy besides being a causative factor of cancer and premature deliveries.

This was stated by Prof Dr Ikhtiar while presenting his latest research on the vegetables and crops grown in and around Peshawar at a lecture at the Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar on Wednesday.

The lecture was part of a series of informative seminars and symposiums in light of the United Nations decisions of celebrating 2011 as International Year of Chemistry.

Prof Ikhtiar said in order to give awareness to the locals, he conducted the study and was astonished to know that much of the irrigation to farming inside Peshawar was being done through city sewerage water and much of this municipal water came from hospitals and industries with a high ratio of toxic metals.

Adding salt to the injury, the indiscriminate and untimely use of pesticides and fertilizer has made the crops vulnerable to toxicity resultantly reducing the nutrient content in them, he added.

In the study we took three areas, two were those which were being irrigated by the sewerage water and one control group which was irrigated with canals located in the peripheries of Peshawar, he maintained.

Dr Ikhtiar said that although the canal irrigation crops were also not up to the WHO standards but the level of toxicity in the sewerage water needed to be rectified immediately otherwise ‘we will be facing many different viral and bacterial diseases and infections in the provincial metropolis’.

It was also noted that due to grazing of cattle on these fields the quantity of lead in urban milk and meat is far higher and is a severe threat to health, he added.

Dr Ikhtiar said that if the irrigation department has no other option but to offer sewerage water for agriculture in Peshawar, then it must be treated properly to eradicate its pollutant and harmful effects.

About the use of pesticides he said that a proper Integrated Pest Management technique must be adopted. — APP