European fruit with traces of most toxic pesticides ‘up 53% in nine years’

Close to a third of all fruits sampled in the study were tainted by hazardous substances in 2019, the last year for which data was available. Photograph: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

Contamination of fresh fruits by the most hazardous pesticides has dramatically increased in Europe over the past decade, according to a nine-year study of government data.

A third of apples and half of all blackberries surveyed had residues of the most toxic categories of pesticides, some of which have been linked to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and birth deformities.