Abstract
The purpose of exploring the potential naturally occurring toxic hazards in food plants is not to persuade a person to avoid these common foods. Rather, it is important to put some perspective on these chemicals (natural pesticides) in our foods, and to clearly show that their toxicology, which is unknown in most cases, needs to be better understood. Many natural pesticides function similarly to synthetic pesticides or other biohazard chemicals. The natural pesticide concentration in our foods may be as much as 10,000 times higher than that of synthetic pesticide residues (Ames 1983). In some cases, these natural chemicals are prime candidates to be monitored by plant producers and plant breeders.