Georgia Teen Sirish Subash Crowned 'America's Top Young Scientist' for Innovative Pesticide Detection Device

Oct 18 :
The honor of "America's Top Young Scientist" was bestowed upon ninth grader Sirish Subash of Snellville, Georgia, who triumphed in the esteemed 3M and Discovery Education Middle School Science Competition. The innovative PestiSCAND initiative, developed by a young Indian American, solves a major problem that many people face while shopping for produce: the possibility that pesticide residues would remain on the food even after washing.

PestiSCAND, a portable gadget driven by artificial intelligence developed by Subash, enables users to detect pesticide residues on produce without leaving their homes. Concerning statistics from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reveal that 70.6% of food items have residues of pesticides; this new approach is based on those findings. Brain cancer, leukemia, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease are only some of the major health hazards associated with these residues.

This is where the residues can linger on products even after washing, and Subash said that this is where they have been linked to various health problems. "We could avoid eating them and lessen the likelihood of those health problems if we could identify them." With an accuracy rate of over 85%, PestiSCAND demonstrated great effectiveness in Subash's device tests conducted on tomatoes and spinach. He took first place in the St. Paul, Minnesota competition because his project was both efficient and quick.

Lawrenceville, Gwinnett is home to Alton C. Crews Middle School, where Subash attends. He has penned two volumes addressing scientific topics including climate change.