The picturesque countryside of Prince Edward Island, the setting for the well known Anne of Green Gables TV movie that aired first in Canada in 1985 and then in the US in 1986, is hardly the place you would think of as a cancer inducing environment. But it is.

Three years ago 57 year-old Dr. Ron Matsusaki returned to Canada after two decades of hospital and clinic work in Texas, Alabama and Indiana. He was convinced that he'd seen everything a doctor might reasonably be expected to come across—until he went to Prince Edward Island.

Despite the province's appearance as a peaceful, rural isle, it provided him the biggest shock of his professional career. The rare cancers he encountered were more like one would expect near a hazardous waste site. He concluded, "I have no doubt about it. Pesticides are what is killing our kids" (Martin Mittelstaedt, 'Pesticides are what is killing our kids,' theglobeandmail.com, 06/12/06).

The problem stems mainly from pesticides sprayed on the local potato farms. Prince Edward Island is a potato producing island and the industry has been booming in recent years because of the growing market for French fries. But the production process is alarming.

Growing potatoes demands a heavy use of chemicals. Each crop needs up to 19 sprays in a single growing season. Farmers often spray their potatoes on a weekly basis, or even more frequently to prevent blight, the crop-ruining fungus that caused the Irish potato famine between 1845 and 1849. At the end of each growing season, to make the underground potatoes easier to harvest, herbicides are used to kill the tops of the plants.

It is likely that in summer the entire population of the island is exposed to airborne pesticides. Researchers report traces of the fungus killer in the air of a remote monitoring site jutting into Northumberland Strait where there is almost no nearby potato cultivation.

Prince Edward Island residents are not isolated examples of toxic chemical poisoning. For instance, Vivian Maraghi of Montreal, Quebec has considered herself pretty apt at avoiding pollution. She makes a special effort to buy only pesticide free foods. She has nurtured her 10 year-old son on organically grown foods since his birth. Imagine her shock when tests on both her and her son revealed that they had dozens of toxic chemicals in their blood. Several toxic chemical levels in her son's results were even higher than hers!

Environmental Defence released a study in 2006 confirming signs of contamination by toxic pollutants in the nation's children. While some pollutants enter the human body through the environment, others enter through innocuous-looking everyday items treated with stain-repellant chemicals ("Kids Filled with Chemical Soup, Says Study," by Elizabeth Thompson, CanWest News Service, Montreal Gazette, June 2, 2006).

What can people do to lessen this danger?

A good start is indicated by another study (published 2005) that monitored the presence of two commonly—used agricultural pesticides in 23 elementary school students. During that 15-day study students consumed conventional foods for three days before receiving organically grown substitutes of the same food items for the next five days and then the students again consumed the same conventional food items for the remaining seven days.

The results! The levels of the two pesticides immediately decreased to undetectable levels once the organically grown food items were substituted but quickly increased again when the conventional diet was reintroduced. This study shows that consuming pesticide-free foods significantly decreases the body's pesticide burden (Frances Willick, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, 2006).

The point is that we are what we eat. Eating is one of our most pleasurable activities. And our Creator intended it to be so. But the pollution of our modern food supply is causing us to experience many health problems.

Can we do anything to better protect and maintain our physical well being? We certainly can.