Pesticide residues and estrogenic activity in fruit and vegetables sampled from major fresh produce markets in South Africa.

Food is likely to be one of the major pathways through which people are exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. With the exception of residual effects, there are concerns that a number of naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals exert adverse effects upon endocrine systems in wildlife and humans. The current study reports selected pesticide concentrations and the total estrogenic activity of fruit and vegetables using the recombinant yeast oestrogen screen (YES) and T47D-KBluc reporter gene assays.